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Sex Brand seeks to grow the category with cheeky Valentine’s ads

Sex Brand is attempting to shock and encourage young Brits to start bonking again.

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Truly Deeply rebrands 357 Collins St to create a uniquely Melbourne precinct

Located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, 357 Collins St is a prestigious office address that has been transformed into a vibrant new precinct. Working closely with Frasers Property, their architects, and the property management team, we set out to redefine the experience of 357…

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Morrison and Shorten fail to build brand differentiation

Spot the difference: Neither of the leaders has an engaging or distinctive personal brand. While the polls have consistently pointed towards a narrow win for Labor, they also highlighted very small differences in whom Australians prefer as their PM. The last Newspoll before the election…

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For the love of colour : 8 cool colour inspiration sites

Creating the best mix of colours has never been so daunting. From print to digital, books to apps, the decision to finalise a particular colour palette for your project can be overwhelming at times. Colour combinations are a tricky business so why not gather the…

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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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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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Brilliant Brandertainment from John Lewis & Partners + Waitrose & Partners

Wonderful Brand Story-telling. The UK retail landscape has recently welcomed a notable rebranding with launch of the new John Lewis & partners and Waitrose & Partners. Complex architecture and relationship between the two brands aside, the brand design work and typography are stunningly elegant in…

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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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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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Short film; a brilliant brand storytelling asset

The Power of Brand Storytelling on Film. Goodwin & Goodwin are a creative sign company based in North London. They recently worked with film makers; Reuben Armstrong and Jamie Neale to create a short promotional film about their business. In this short film we get…

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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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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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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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Truly Deeply named best Branding Blog in Australia and the fourth best Agency Branding Blog in the world.

A little recognition It’s always nice to get some external recognition of the something we are so passionate about. We’ve been channeling our insights, interest and love for all things brand design into our blog since 2009. We have built a community of almost 200,000…

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Brilliant Brand Positioning from The New York Times

Taking a stand to stand out. The New York Times’ recent campaign has created something of a storm on social media where this clip has had more than 37 million views alone. A newspaper taking the high moral ground for truth in such a complex…

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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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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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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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AFL Footy Fever, Brand Loyalty and Team Culture

It’s been footy fever here in Melbourne over the last few weeks, in the lead up to the grand final being played on the weekend. With the Australian Football League (AFL) having it’s origins in the Victorian Football League (VFL), the game of ‘Aussie rules’…

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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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12 Signs that made me laugh – Building brand with humour

Friday Funny – Signs with a sense of humour. The business of business is enough to make most people lose their sense of humour, but there are some wonderful souls who keep their smiles-up through the rough and tumble, and when that humour is allowed…

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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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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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Clooney and partners cash-in, but will Diageo realise the brand value of Casamigos?

Diageo Plc to acquire Casamingos brand for $US 1 Billion. In four years, Clooney and Co have managed to create impressive brand value. Sure, they’ve achieved massive sales growth but take the people out of the brand and what are you left with? Diageo might…

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Creative Industry Collaborates in #DesignToUnite Campaign

Last Thursday evening the finalists of the DesignToUnite campaign were announced at Eureka Tower to a crowd of over 100 guests. #DesignToUnite is a campaign that challenged creatives to design a poster calling for solidarity with Australia’s First Peoples. Next month marks the 50-year anniversary…

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Why Consumers Love a Brand that Stands for Something

I recently came across this pic in my Facebook feed; it’s of a label sown into garments produced by a small U.S. brand for sale in the French market. The translation from French says: Wash with warm water Use mild soap Dry flat Do not…

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Fashion brand Calvin Klein launches their new logo.

Calvin Klein’s Instagram account announced over the weekend that the brand has decided to “return to the spirit of the original” and acknowledge “the founder and foundations of the fashion house” by launching their new logo to mixed reviews. With the new appointment of creative…

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Yellow tail launches major US brand push with Super Bowl ad

Yellow Tail uses Aussie humour and cliches to promote their wine brand to Americans. Aussie wine brand Yellow Tail is making headlines as an outsider buying up big on the US Super Bowl. It’s also the first wine brand to air a Super Bowl ad…

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If big brand Google was a guy

Everything you ask Google sounds a lot more stupid when you actually ask Google. A common phrase around the office is ….. “just google it!” This great little Youtube 5 part series brings to light some of the silliest & funniest google searches. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3  …

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H&M’s wonderful new Christmas ad shot by Wes Anderson

  Come Together – A Christmas Brand Gesture As the ‘content as entertainment’ train continues to gain momentum, Global retail brand H&M have teamed-up with film maker Wes Anderson to create a Christmas ad that is as quirkily cinematic as it is retail oriented. True…

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Qantas rebrand – new era spirit or just spiritless?

Australia’s national carrier just launched its refreshed brand identity. It’s being positioned as “a new era, same spirit”. The Qantas rebrand is being linked to the airline’s new fleet of Dreamliner aircraft. It follows a series of service and product improvements. “This is not just…

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Optus differentiates from the market with a flexible rebrand

Optus is the second largest telecommunications provider in Australia offering mobile, fixed, and broadband services to consumer and business customers. It has repositioned itself in the market with a flexible rebrand. You may remember their recent rebrand back in 2013 that received many mixed reviews and…

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The Toast Maker – A gently amusing poke at brand story telling

Does this amusing parody of brand story telling diminish the effectiveness of this branding approach? OK, so we’re the first ones to rave about the virtues of authentic brand story telling. We love to discover a passionate, artisan craftsman sitting at the heart of a…

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More than a car? Not more than a brand

When is a car more than a brand? Never! Specially when we don’t want to talk about the car, but we still have to sell them? Volkswagen latest campaign #morethanacar focused directly on the value of brand heritage to stir the emotions in the car…

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Is brand personality the most underrated way to build brand engagement?

The Brand Strategy of Stand Out Personality In the world of retail and hospitality, so many businesses get caught-up in the operational whirlwind of attracting, serving and delivering product to their customers that they find it challenging to take a breath, step back and assert…

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99 designs rebrands and leaves us wondering if quality over quantity is a thing of the past?

99 designs‘ business model puts emphasis on quantity over quality with their multiple designers and claims of “incredible results”, as designers compete to give you a “great custom design solution”.  Yes, I said COMPETE. With 4 offices in Australia, USA, Germany and Brazil, 99 designs…

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Jeep leverages Batman Vs Superman brand association in first ad release

If you’ve got a positive brand association, flaunt it! Brand placements in feature films is big business. Brand owners like auto maker FCA who own Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and FIAT brands in the US market clearly see a Hollywood blockbusters as an A grade engagement…

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A New Day for branding disruptive thinking to engage new audiences.

Would you launch a new newspaper brand today? Newsprint is dead, or so we keep hearing. So what do you do if your business is Newsprint? This is the kind of challenge lots of brands have. What do you do when your whole category is heading…

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Trends in Social Media Branding – The Cinemagraph has arrived

New social media trend for brands amps-up brand engagement. Facebook is now promoting the use of cinemagraph profile photos in the form of short loop videos. A cinemagraph is a mix of a photograph and a video. It creates a visual where one or a…

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What’s in a (brand) name (or brand identity)

  (Brand) names have baggage When creating a new name or identity for something there’s always the challenge of seconding guessing due to current associations. But by knowing you’re following a plan, backing yourself and a little patience it can all work out. Names are an…

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Quotes on Shit – Creative inspiration for design sake

NYC design pair Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman combine to create this ripping side project. They describe what they’ve created as: “We all use so much shit. We collect shit, buy shit, steal shit, trade shit and then throw shit away. So what happens with…

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Bland Identity – Microsoft Launches their New Brand Identity Design

A Branding Challenge for market Leaders Microsoft has launched the latest evolution of their brand mark at the opening of its new store in Boston. The task of keeping a brand’s visual language fresh and relevant to the market is critical (we recently wrote a…

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Nike Masters the 80:20 Rule of Branding

Not all brand activities are born equal. This is a brand principle that Nike know better than most brands as the recent release of the ‘Nike sole’. The Nike sole has been developed to fit onto the ‘flex-run’ prosthetic running blade, designed for by Nike…

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Johnnie Walker Blue – Taking a top shelf brand to the next level

A High Class Brand Problem So what do you do when you’re the global market leader? When your brand and packaging is recognized in almost every corner of the world? When your product and brand already command a premium price? What on earth do you…

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New Retail Theater – 7 of the World’s Best Store Designs

Welcome to the New Retail Era The world of retail is changing more rapidly than ever. On-line stores compete with off-line stores, fashion boutiques feature new ranges every month, and it seems almost everything can be made in China for next to nothing, creating undifferentiated…

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Apple Vs Microsoft – A Battle of Brand Association

All Brands Have Meaning Whether carefully and strategically considered or by default, all brands hold associated meanings in the market place. Well considered brands establish a competitive brand proposition (their brand strategy) with layers of meaning to both differentiate themselves from their competitors and to…

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25 Killer Custom Typefaces – A Brand Design Asset

Building Your Brand’s Visual Properties When creating a corporate image for our clients brands, we focus on building unique brand properties that can be leveraged to become brand assets. A brand’s typeface is one of the visual properties we incorporate into the brand design process,…

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Unlocking the hidden code of your brand’s Visual Language

The hidden code All brands project an image through the visual language of their brand identity. Customers and markets use the code contained within their visual language to make logical and emotional associations that drive their responses to trust, lust, aspire and desire the brand……

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