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The Union Room & Projector Photography Competition – February 2010

March 15th, 2010 at 5:43 pm | Posted by Jordan

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The Union Room & Projector team have been out and about again, trying to improve their photography skills. This time with the theme of ‘Depth of Field’.

The Union Room & Projector team have been out and about again, trying to improve their photography skills. This time with the theme of ‘Depth of Field’.

It was only last month that Union Room & Projector braved the Arctic (OK, not that cold but pretty chilly) conditions to grab some great shots of the cold weather, with Projectors very own James Machin claiming the first prize for his shot.

James set the theme for Februarys shot and went for depth of field, which according to Wikipedia, is “the portion of a scene that appears acceptably sharp in the image. Although a lens can precisely focus at only one distance, the decrease in sharpness is gradual on each side of the focused distance, so that within the DOF, the unsharpness is imperceptible under normal viewing conditions.

Here are a few examples of how it should be done:

So…..with that in mind, here are our attempts this month.

James

Steven Gibbons

Jordan

The eventual winner was Steven Gibbons with his lovely shot of the water just about to fall from the branch. There are quite a few of the team involved in next months competition so keep an eye out for more of our shots in April.

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10 Amazing & Fresh Brand Identities

March 9th, 2010 at 12:06 pm | Posted by Jordan

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We have the pleasure of working with an amazing brand communications company every now and again and some of our favourite websites we’ve produced are based on the branding that Projector create.

We thought it was about time we dedicated a blog post to the creative efforts of the guys over at Projector and highlight ten of their best identities they’ve produced.

We have the pleasure of working with an amazing brand communications company every now and again and some of our favourite websites we’ve produced are based on the branding that Projector create.

We thought it was about time we dedicated a blog post to the creative efforts of the guys over at Projector and highlight ten of their best identities they’ve produced.

1. National Apprenticeship Business

The arrow marque symbolises a fresh, more radiant change in direction, moving onwards and upwards from an older path. We’re excited by the flexibility that this graphic gives us and look forward to producing some strong graphical work for NAB in the very near future!

2. Business Impact

The new identity clearly defines what they are about and gives them a positive, approachable and professional look. By combining business like purple and grey colours with a vibrant pink we ensured the brand will appeal to everyone from Managing Directors to the ground floor staff. The three lines represent the three groups involved in the business 1: Business Impact 2: The Client and 3: The Trainees.

3. Skyrocket

A simple, unique logotype was developed to represent the unique nature of dealing with human resource issues and staff related training. The elongated descenders were created to symbolise the value of the business - demonstrating the effect Skyrocket has on their client’s bottom line.

4. Otter Recruitment

We created a logo marque that subtly reflects the ‘O’ of the company title and has a dynamic, corporate feel to it that looks fresh and positive. These elements are also reflected in the modern typeface which is classy yet friendly and has good legibility. A warm black used alongside secondary gold colouring completed it’s prestigious feel. We then went on to roll the brand out across the online and printed elements which included a full stationery set and Direct Mail campaign to help raise awareness.

5. Zenith People

Changing from Zenith Recruitment to Zenith People our first task was to re-energise the brand personality by adding more emotion and charm – without diluting the serious capabilities of Zenith. Building on this we created an integrated look and feel to bring the companies communications under one umbrella – using the 6-point star as the focal point for all client and candidate dealings, we created a set of 6-point processes for the business.

6. Access

Access are one of North East England’s most successful training providers and have been around for over 20 years. They have supported employers to develop their workforce and have helped over 4,000 young people into employment on their chosen career ladder through apprenticeships. We wanted the new logo to be representative of the support Access provides to all it’s stakeholders and created an abstract marque to demonstrate this.

7. havetolove

havetolove was an adaptation of an existing logotype already in existence for havetohold. We developed the logotype for the new business to include the heart and symbolise the values of the new boutique in a graphical treatment. It was a gift, sometimes these things are.

8. Mobilx

We created the Mobilx logo to symbolise their core area’s of trading: importing and exporting. Working with a business like colour palette we wanted to show the grown-up, confident side to this new business to help establish it within the US marketplace – and the silver was used to represent the technology sector they focused on.

9. Managed Lets

The Logo is based upon the passing of knowledge throughout the franchise of the Managed Lets brand. For example, the Managed Lets system is passed on to the property owner, who then passes on their knowledge of the area to the person renting the property. This is represented as a benevolent relationship between two people. The typeface chosen suits the logo and gives an overall feeling of friendliness.

10. Cathedral Lettings

We introduced a graphic finger print design within the shape of a house. This reflects the personal service that Cathedral has become known for and also clearly defines their offering as a business. A traditional, dark green colour used alongside a vibrant green kept the brand professional but with a modern freshness and a clean legible typeface completed the brand.

Head over to the Projector Website and take a look around.

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We’ve Launched The Proform Website

March 8th, 2010 at 1:31 pm | Posted by Jordan

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Hot on the heels of our Cathedral Estates website launch, we’re pleased to announce we’ve put the Proform website live.

Hot on the heels of our Cathedral Estates website launch, we’re pleased to announce we’ve put the Proform website live.

Back in January we began work on the designs of the website, once again working in conjunction with Projector who created the branding and some fantastic offline work.

David was a pleasure to work with throughout the project and his constant input into the website content ensured that the final product is something he’s very happy with. We’d also like to thank David for the copious amounts of chocolate he brought into the studio last week as a thank you for our work, half of which has already ‘disappeared‘.

Check out the site.

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We’ve Launched The Cathedral Estates Website

March 4th, 2010 at 11:06 am | Posted by Jordan

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We’re pleased to announce the latest addition to our portfolio, Cathedral Estates.

We’re pleased to announce the latest addition to our portfolio, Cathedral Estates.

After working with Cathedral in 2009 on their Lettings website, they returned to work with us earlier this year to add a new element to their business.

The Lettings website was such a success and a hit with their customers that Cathedral decided we’d hit the nail on the head first time around, opting for an Estates-branded version of the Lettings website.

We worked closely with Projector on the project and the brand they produced for Cathedral Estates is as usual, fantastic.

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Pick of the Links #5

February 5th, 2010 at 11:13 am | Posted by Jordan

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A nice mix of links this week covering tutorials, fireworks and UX links.

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The Union Room & Projector Photography Competition – January 2010

February 4th, 2010 at 4:37 pm | Posted by Jordan

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All good designers at some point in their careers get bitten by the photography bug and it’s well and truly working it’s way through the Union Room and Projector studio at the moment!

All good designers at some point in their careers get bitten by the photography bug and it’s well and truly working it’s way through the Union Room and Projector studio at the moment!

At the start of this month we decided that we needed a bit of motivation to use our cameras so we devised a monthly competition to help us improve our photography skills. January’s theme was ‘Winter’ (not the most original theme we’d admit but we thought it’d be a waste to ignore the amount of snow that had been falling around the time).

Only the four of us managed to brave the conditions to take some shots but the standard was still high.

1. Steven

2. Jordan

3. James

4. Paul

We had our own vote and the office selection this month was James’ photo, a pretty picture indeed!

We’d love to hear your feedback on which is good, bad or ugly.

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Pick of the Links #4

January 29th, 2010 at 2:54 pm | Posted by Jordan

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Some really good articles coming out of the blogosphere this week including an interesting take on the new Apple iPad.

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Pick of the Links #3

January 22nd, 2010 at 10:22 am | Posted by Jordan

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Time for this weeks best design links, fasten your seat belts!

Time for this weeks best design links, fasten your seat belts!

We’ve got a good mix of design, free stuff and photography this week so have a gander below…

Web Design – Pricing Tables

25 New High Quality Free Fonts

33 Absolutely Free E-Commerce Icon Sets

40 Inspiring Single Page Websites

25 of the Best Photography Portfolio Sites – Part III

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/18/25-new-high-quality-free-fonts/

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Pick of the Links #1

January 8th, 2010 at 11:57 am | Posted by Jordan

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In a new set of articles here at Union Room, we’re planning on publishing a list of the best things we’ve came accross every Friday. Hopefully this will help highlight some of the best news, articles and tutorials that some of our favourite people are posting.
Here’s our very first pick of the links, let us [...]

In a new set of articles here at Union Room, we’re planning on publishing a list of the best things we’ve came accross every Friday. Hopefully this will help highlight some of the best news, articles and tutorials that some of our favourite people are posting.

Here’s our very first pick of the links, let us know if there’s anything you think great we’ve missed this week!

16 Popular Website Redesigns Of 2009

10 New Year’s Resolutions Every Freelancer Should Have

Getting Started with jQuery

22 Design Freebies to Kick-Start the New Year

13 Simple CMS Options

What’s In A Price: The Guidelines For Pricing Web Designs

200+ Big and Beautiful Highly Detailed Icons

Great Reads for 2010

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5 New Web Icon Sets For 2010

January 5th, 2010 at 5:07 pm | Posted by Jordan

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A great web icon set can help inspire a tired designer, and help transform a good design into an exceptional one. We’ve already highlighted some amazing icon sets last year, so lets take a look at some of the best new web icon sets to take us into 2010.

A great web icon set can help inspire a tired designer, and help transform a good design into an exceptional one. We’ve already highlighted some amazing icon sets last year, so lets take a look at some of the best new web icon sets to take us into 2010.

1. Once

2. Admin Panel

3. Mini Icons

4. Little Box of Ideas Icons

5. 8 Icons

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Our Most Popular Blog Posts This Year

December 21st, 2009 at 11:44 am | Posted by Jordan

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After our ‘year in search’ blog post a day or two ago, we thought it’d be interesting to see which of our blog posts have been the most popular with our readers.

After our ‘year in search‘ blog post a day or two ago, we thought it’d be interesting to see which of our blog posts have been the most popular with our readers.

We’ve tried to write a mix of content this year, mixing news about Union Room, news about web design, galleries, round-ups and the odd tutorial. Lets take a look at what’s been popular with our readers…

1. 21 Fonts That Shouldn’t Be Free…But Are! – 57, 328 pageviews

2. 10 Super Simple Web Designs – 12,003 pageviews

3. 15 new jQuery Plugins To Help You Conquer The Web – 8,040 pageviews

4. The Webs Best Designers and Their Favourite Fonts – 7,393 pageviews

5. 10 More Super Simple Web Designs – 6,383 pageviews

6. 10 Free Amazing Caligraphy Fonts – 5,355 pageviews

7. 7 New Free Fonts That You Should Definitely Download – 4,014 pageviews

8. 16 Beautiful Black & White Websites – 3,841 pageviews

9. 20 Eye Catching and Colourful Websites – 3,398 pageviews

10. 16 Innovative and Inventive Header Designs – 3,332 pageviews

As you can see, our free fonts blog post we posted back in July was extremely popular and really helped launch the blog. Even four months after publish, it remains to be our most popular blog post month to month by quite a distance. Since its publishing in July, the post has attracted over 5,000 pageviews every month.

We’re going to try and keep posting a great mix of content in 2010 with some larger articles as well as the usual roundups and Union Room news.

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