Hello hello!

So it takes a global pandemic to make me write a blog post? Apparently so. Which is very daft as I really enjoy writing.

I’m still here, and still open for business — though having landed some very exciting theatre work before this lockdown struck — it’s a very quiet spell for me, as it is for much of the creative industry. So if you do need some help with branding or design generally do get in touch!

So what’s new since last I blogged? Well I got married in 2019, so that took up a lot of headspace — and got to design the single most important piece of print to date!

Photograph of a wedding invite, an A6 thick card of Cobalt colorplan hot foil pressed with copper foil. Behind the card is the metal plate used to imprint the invites

I realise looking at wedding photos of people you don’t know isn’t very interesting so I’ll limit myself to just one (I’m the one with blue hair in case it needed saying!) we also love/loaf bad puns.

Photograph of Mark and Tim on their wedding day in front of huge letters which spell out LOAF as a play on LOVE.
Photograph by Michael Townsend

For our honeymoon we travelled to Stockholm and Copenhagen, fell in love with both cities, and completely failed to avoid last year’s heat wave! But had a brilliant time and soaked up lots of design inspiration — the Design Museum in Copenhagen is a bit good (not just graphic design — all things crafted and designed).

So what’s next?

A new Squid site showcasing lots of what I’ve been working on in the last few years. (Delayed sadly by the current world situation but it’s coming along.)

Started out as a quick update and soon spiralled into a need to redesign the whole thing! But Squid is here to stay just with some lovely new changes and lots of lovely work for folks.

More blog posts?

I do hope so, and if I don’t I’ll get rid of the blog entirely, as it’s very bad practice to have a blog and ignore it for years at a time (something I’d have no problem telling a client, but then struggle to maintain myself!) as I mentioned I really do enjoy writing, I take part in NaNoWriMo every year — creative writing is a little different but I’m planning on keeping the blog here a little friendlier and more personal than just pure business and client updates.

Behind the scenes

Digging through projects and visuals I realised there’s a lot of work I never share, the client might see it as part of the process — but no one else does — and while it might not be polished or perfect, some of it’s rather fun, and shows how a brand comes to life through iterations and exploration, not fully formed and immaculate.

That’s all for now, hope you’re all keeping well!
Mark.