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All Hail the Pantone

  Everyone in the design industry is aware of the Pantone name and most probably even have a Pantone swatch mug gifted to them one xmas. The perfect gift for their “designery” friend or partner. Pantone is the universal language of colour which steers the…

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Apple demonstrates the power of an iconic brand identity

Don’t try this with your branding at home Apple recently announced their upcoming event where the company is expected to announce their latest product developments. Stepping outside their standard invitation design for the event, Apple created 370 customised versions of their iconic brand symbol. For…

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Art with Heart 2018 – A TRUE Success

Last night we hosted our annual charity event, Art with Heart, with all proceeds going to StartOut, a local health promotion charity providing regional outreach and mentorship programmes for young people of diverse sexuality and gender (DSG). StartOut has developed a unique online mentoring program purely from…

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4 website inspiration galleries – Part 2

So the brand is done, the visual language nutted out and press applications approved. The one thing left to finish is the website, a beast, a force to be reckon with and will take no prisoners. Sometimes you find yourself stuck at where to begin,…

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Brand Story and Identity key to the London Bridge Placemaking

  Having recently returned from living and working in London for 3 years I’ve been keeping up to date with the happenings, particularly in one of my favourite areas, around London Bridge. Working almost next to The Shard, I was able to spend many lunch…

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Mailchimp goes bananas with its rebrand

The iconic Mailchimp brand was already lovely with its scripted font evolved from the original design by the talented lettering artist Jessica Hische. You can see the logo revision process here, jessicahische.is/monkeyingaround. The new rebrand created by Collins, evolves Mailchimp yet again to be a…

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Retail Brand Hack; Rethinking the butcher store with vending machines

Applestone Meat Co. turns old tech into a new convenience brand proposition. Applestone Meat Co. is a butcher brand with two outlets in NYC. They are butchers who use their philosophy as a brand differentiator. As they say on their web site: The meat industry…

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The Silo Art Trail : Australia’s largest outdoor gallery

Patchewollock, Fintan Magee Considered one of the world’s top places to road trip due to the never-ending open stretches of road, outback Australia is a dream come true for those wanting to venture off the beaten track. Now there is another reason which combines both…

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A place brand in the making.

  Maker Park is a proposed adaptive reuse park that will revitalize an unused industrial site on the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Conceived by a group of community activists, the initiative will transform the seven-acre site formerly known as the Bayside Fuel Terminal into a hub for…

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Good brand advice is not expensive if you can recognize its value.

The Value of Good Advice. Recently I re-read Confessions of the Pricing Man by Hermann Simon, arguably the best book ever written on the subject of pricing. I’ve always seen the subject of pricing as directly connected to branding. As Simon says: “People have asked…

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A Night with the Blokes in Wagga Wagga, brought to you by Tomorrow Man

Each year us folks here at Truly Deeply hold an annual art exhibition known as Art with Heart which raises money for a wonderful local charity. Last year we had the privilege of donating over $21,000 to the amazing team at Tomorrow Man, an incredible…

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Is your brand identity design frustrating your customers and clients?

fix ur **bleep**ing logo. If I had a dollar for every time a business owner or marketing director has told me their clients and customers don’t care how their branding looks over the years, I’d be writing this article from my private island in the…

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Jack Howl’s illustrations create a world of eccentric and curious characters.

  Jack Howl’s illustrations suggest he’s visited a futuristic world fraught with semi-surrealist demons and characters inspired by Japanese folklore and pop culture. The longer you look at the meticulously hand drawn artworks, the more quirky details you find, adding to the narrative of each…

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6 Inspiring Hand Lettering Artists

Beautiful lettering created by Pellisco An art form that was heavily used during the early centuries in illuminated manuscripts, hand lettering is still strong on the design scene and hopefully here to stay. You probably walk past hand lettering on a daily basis, from artisan chalkboards…

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The retail brand who never used plastic bags

Finally, there’s movement on plastic bags We’ve been entertained by the carry on over plastic bags by the giant retail brands Coles and Woolworths over the last few months. While the brands themselves may see this as them taking a leadership roll in an overdue change…

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4 website inspiration galleries to drool over

As a designer, I’m constantly on the lookout for websites that don’t fit the mould of a stock standard template design. If a site is intriguing, invites me to explore various elements on the page, and looks unique, it goes straight to my bookmarks bar.…

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Is office fit-out the most powerful corporate branding statement?

Recently I spent the day at PWC’s Melbourne Office for a business planning retreat. It was the first time I’m been to visit their new digs and was immediately struck by the first impression provided by their foyer and reception. For a consulting firm with…

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Federer and Uniqlo, an unlikely new brand partnership?

Things were remarkably different at Wimbledon last week when Roger Federer stepped onto centre court for his first appearance of the tournament, surprising us all by wearing new sponsor Uniqlo. Swapping his signature RF brandmark and ‘swoosh’ for the Uniqlo red squares in a lucrative…

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Has Amazon become the world’s most influential brand?

The Amazon Brand Effect It seems when Amazon sneezes, the financial markets of the world catch a cold. Interest in what Amazon announce they are set to do, or what they don’t announce, or even what others speculate they may or may not announce is…

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Colourful creations for Pride month

As June comes to an end, we thought we would showcase 7 colourful designs celebrating Pride month this year. Each year, the LGBTQ community use the 30 days of June to commemorate the Stonewall riots which occurred in June 1969. This particular month reminds everyone…

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No Stranger than the past: Behind the brand titles of Stranger Things.

  I remember sitting on the brown leather couch in my parents ‘den’ watching Goonies on our Rankarena television. It was the 80s and we had a shag pile rug on the floor, mission brown with green striped curtains and circular patterned orange cushions. The…

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Some words of wisdom from designer and illustrator, Zach Hobbs.

  As well as working as a communication designer at IDEO, Zach Hobbs creates experimental, abstract, and satirical artworks that resemble the sharpie rendition of a bad acid trip. I was lucky enough to interview Zach recently and wanted to share with you his insights…

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The Accessible FormBox: Building a Community Through Product.

“We’re building a personal factory that makes creating products as simple as baking a cake.” – Mayku. A team of clever minds at Mayku, Somerset House, London have been busy creating a powerful product that has been designed to make vacuum forming more accessible. The…

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A legal imperative to rebrand and differentiate

It’s been a busy month for new business in Truly Deeply, which we’re all loving. Lots of new clients, new projects and interesting branding challenges for us to tackle. But one new business meeting in particular stands out at the moment, not because the size…

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The woman behind the mac icons

Starting at Apple in 1982, Susan Kare’s first job was to design a Mac System Font. Something bold in order to stand out and take over from the thin jaggedy placeholder font being used. At the end of that first day Kare had worked on…

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Augmented reality brings light to the dark future of print

It was a rather dark and gloomy Monday inside and outside of the studio. Our spirits were weathered from the weekend and we nursed a grievance against the sudden wintry weather. It was around noon that we received a little brightness in the form of…

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Inspiring minds: on creativity, original thinking and work life

Sharing some inspiring TED talks to get you thinking in different ways… enjoy!! Your elusive creative genius Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of…

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Innovative new typeface opens doors for information-equality

It is always amazing coming across ideas which make you wonder ‘how has this never existed before?’, take for example this new braille typeface created by the clever Japanese designer Kosuke Takahashi. The typeface, aptly named Braille Neue, is a collection of both English and…

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Brand leadership for Australia

Brand leaders Every great brand we’ve created or worked with over the years has had one thing in common: great brand leadership. That is the individual or individuals who have the vision for what they want that organisation to be and use brand to tell…

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When it’s time to flip life the bird

A perfect example of our brand culture at work: 1. start with an engaging experience – our weekly mindfulness session 2. throw in a bit of our brand personality – colourful: playful, spirited and lively 3. mix in one of our brand values – the…

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‘Ultra Violet’ named Pantone Colour of the Year for 2018

The colour experts have spoken, introducing ‘Ultra Violet’ as the 2018 Colour of the Year. The experts from the Pantone Colour Institute work hard every year in analysing global trends through design and market research, to find one colour to represent where we currently stand…

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McDonalds billboards prove the value of a good brand mark

The power of the brandmark McDonald’s Canada has proved the value of a good brand mark with it’s playful ‘Follow the Arches’ campaign by Cossette. The campaign consists of four simple billboards that crop the golden arches to provide freeway direction signage that goes beyond…

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Vero – True Social. Just another social app?

First of all, lets start with this disclaimer. If you can’t be bothered to keep up with yet another social media app then there’s no need to find out more about Vero. Because that’s exactly what it is, but apparently ‘with a twist’. Vero is the…

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Why Amazon is forcing retailers to finally pay attention to their customers.

Did retail set itself-up for disruption? In Australia we’ve heard alot of talk over recent years of how tough life is for retail brands. There’s no doubt the category is under pressure as competition increases and consumer behavior and expectations shift. In a recent interview,…

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Truly Deeply Creative – A Timeline of our Brand Identity Projects

A Demonstration of our Credentials as Brand Identity Design Specialists It struck me recently that as a brand strategy and communications agency we’ve worked with a ton of brand identity clients over the years from an amazingly wide range of categories, and yet nowhere have…

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5 Inspiring Sans-serif Typefaces

Fonts are the ruler of the design world. With so many to choose from, it is sometimes hard to break away from your go-to favourite, especially when you know it’s going to work a dream on your current project. Sans-serif fonts have always been at…

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Happy New Year from Truly Deeply

We’re back in the studio and ready as ever for what 2018 has in store. The team at Truly Deeply had a great holiday away (bar the few thirsty studio plants that may need some time to recover), with a few of the team travelling…

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Biophilia creeps into graphic design

Biophilia Biophilia is humankind’s inherent connection to nature. It’s why crackling fires and crashing waves captivate us; why strolling through a park soothes us; and why shadow and light can affect our mood. Biophilia suggests that we have a need to connect with nature and that…

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Department store Myer shows their branding game can still hit a winner

Anyone who’s ever worn heels for a day at the races, the idea of taking them off before you start the long trip home has enormous appeal. At this year’s carnival, Myer were giving away comfortable, practical, and not completely unstylish, branded slides – manna…

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A lesson in design from Japan

I recently visited Japan to satisfy my life long obsession for all things Studio Ghibli and my fascination for Japanese culture. I was determined to soak up as much inspiration from all aspects of the country to feed into my design practice, and there are…

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Death of the Shopping Mall – The changing landscape of retail

The world of retail has changed. Online shopping, online product and brand comparison, and the new shopping habits of consumers have significantly changed the retail landscape. Retailers, shopping strips and shopping centres have had to get agile in evolving the way they connect with and…

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Music on the Brain – Grolsch turns Listeners Emotions into Psychedelic Art

  People are living more hectic lives, where being busy is now a competitive sport. This can cause stress, and stress boosts cortisol, turning us to fight or flight mode. So, to create some peace in the daily grind, Grolsch decided to do a music-fuelled…

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Another successful Art with Heart – 2017

Last night we hosted our annual charity event, Art with Heart, with all proceeds going to Tomorrow Man. Tomorrow Man was founded by Tom Harkin and is supported through auspice by Gotcha4Life. Currently in Australia suicide is the largest killer of men aged 15 – 44, (6 Australian…

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Fontstand, a great tool for widening your brand’s font repertoire

While doing another late night trawl through the different foundries and shops we all spend so much time in (us designers anyway) I came across Fontstand. I couldn’t believe it. A great collection of foundries and fonts that you can really try for free, rather…

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Design for Social Good

  After a conversation with my nurse friend over the weekend, I was suddenly reflecting on the significance of my role as a designer. We talked about the differences between our daily routines in the workplace and I concluded that running out of coffee beans…

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Banksy strikes again

Banksy has popped up in the heart of London this week, unveiling two new murals close to the capital’s Barbican Centre. Banksy has described the murals as an “(unofficial) collaboration” with the upcoming centre’s exhibition of Jean-Michel Basquiat, an American artist who started his career off as…

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The Lost Art of Spacing Out

Previously, in Creativity and the Art of Zen, I explored the concept that by slowing our overactive minds and creating some inner stillness, ideas and intuition have the space to flow. Boredom is another way that allows our mind to wander, and gives our creativity a…

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Green Day Tops the Charts with Audience Engagement

Hyde Park July 1st, 2017 Green Day are the headline act to a sold out concert. Over 65,000 fans wait in anticipation… Queen’s 1975 hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, starts to play, and the audience creates the most spine tingling sing-a-long… an iconic song, over 40 years…

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Kudos to Illustrators

With the steady increase in readily available free stock imagery, I often wonder about illustrators and how they are staying afloat in the growing pool of image libraries. Are illustrators being put on the back burner because stock imagery is so easily obtainable? Or is…

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8 Amazing Creatives to follow on Insta

I’m sure we have all been there, sitting in front of the computer hoping for some divine creative inspiration to get the design juices flowing. You have trawled through your normal go-to inspiration sites but came up empty. You have made plenty of excuses to…

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UberBoat – A Brand extension Masterclass

E for Excitement… and Brand Extension. Brand Extension isn’t always about launching more products with great sales potential in themselves. Sometimes the smartest brand extension plays are those that reinforce brand excitement and the values that made the brand loved in the first place. Uber…

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Creativity and the Art of Zen

Have you ever had one of those moments where you’re drifting off to sleep and a great idea or solution pops into your head, only to be lost the next morning, unless you take time to get up and write your thoughts down? Or maybe…

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Bollard Art: The Positive Force of Melbourne’s Latest Street Art

Graffiti and street art have long been an engaging medium for voices of social change, protest, or expressions of community desire, proving it can be a positive force in our community. A good example of this is the response we have seen on the streets…

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Are business cards a dying breed?

In a fast changing digital world, we often get asked if business cards are still a necessity for your brand. While some people may see them as old fashioned, you would be surprised at how many people still like to carry cards and how important…

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Brands we love – Royal Botanic Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens is one of my favourite places in Melbourne. Famous for their beautiful gardens, conservation of plants, and their visitor and education programs, the organisation does great work around sharing the importance of plants to life. To me it’s the gardens that…

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Emerging Artist, Sahil Silk Roy’s Debut Solo Show

Melbourne based multi-disciplinary artist and much loved ex Truly Deeply Designer Sahil Silk Roy is opening his very first solo show ‘Surface Tension’ at BSIDE Gallery in Fitzroy tonight and we as proud as punch for him. Silk Roy’s confidence as an artist, after painting hundreds…

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Culture eats strategy for breakfast

It doesn’t matter how much you spend on strategy, branding, creative, media or reputation if there’s something wrong with your culture. As Uber is currently proving. It’s impossible in today’s society to mask an internal culture with brand. Sooner or later the truth will out…

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Top 5 Tips for Creating Inspiring Workplace Culture

  With the average person spending around 1842 hours at work per year we believe happiness and a healthy work culture are an imperative part of day to day operations. Happiness at work has become serious business these days with more and more workplaces wanting…

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Deus Ex Machina Individualism Branding

What is it about motorcycle brands? Harley Davidson has long been held-up as an example of branding at its finest. There’s something about the emotional connection between people who love to ride motorbikes and the brands who effectively tap into that emotion that adds a…

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Say hello to our new branding work for Wade Institute

Inspiring audacious entrepreneurship for the next generation of business leaders Background The Wade Institute for Entrepreneurship is a new Institute that offers a Masters of Entrepreneurship course at Ormond College, Melbourne University, named after successful Australian entrepreneur, Peter Wade. ‘We are a smart nation but still too few…

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