Putting yourself out there

Authenticity in art and business rules – as witnessed with ‘The Spark – Volume One’ book launch event and exhibition, held earlier this year at Tap Gallery, Sydney.

‘The Spark – Volume One’ is the first project from the collective label Story Nation (founded by Matt Cowan, Garth Lidbetter, Jeremy Shaw and Paul Hanna, with other members of Cowan & Partners having key roles.)  In the book and on display at the exhibition we featured raw, evocative photography of people with their anecdotes about their personal “a ha” moments – what first sparked them to set off on their journey and make an impact in various fields.

However, the personalities featured in “The Spark – Volume One” are not high profile celebrities – they’re everyday people from the worlds of music, health, retail, community development, hospitality, law, training, importing, personal development, fair trade, mail logistics and charity.  By creatively presenting a very real picture of these personalities, Story Nation invited people to discover and interpret meaning from each subject for themselves.

We were rewarded with a terrific, capacity attendance for the launch event (rated “9 out of 10” by the Tap Gallery managing director Lesley Dimmick), along with a healthy turn-out for the weekend of the exhibition – all people curious at heart who appreciate quality photography and honest, interesting stories that they can relate to and connect with.  

For business owners, putting yourself out there and letting people in on your story and beliefs – in a compelling way - will garner a similar reception from others.

‘The Spark – Volume One’ photography is by Jeremy Shaw, recently recognised as a National Photographic Portrait Gallery Prize Finalist for 2013:

portrait.gov.au/site/exhibition_subsite_NPPP2013_photos.php#start

More at:

http://www.storynation.com.au/the-spark.aspx

http://storynationaus.tumblr.com

http://www.facebook.com/storynationaus

Applying the design lens 'up front'

Partner blog by Mark Maric (of Electric Pixels.)

The development and management of a company’s identity and visual assets can be overwhelming and complex - which is why the designer needs to be involved at every stage of the process to ensure a consistent and successful outcome. 

During the infancy of any project there is a genuine excitement and positive atmosphere with discussions about aspirations, expectations, direction, key outcomes, positioning and strategy amongst other variables. 

Once the project has started, with the task to capture the energy that was felt at the start, inevitably there are suggestions made from outside the core group that can change the plan and cause the project to divert on a completely different course.

By the end, exhaustion and frustration has reared its ugly head and the project looks nothing like the original plan, and a compromise has been made somewhere down the track as time runs out. The ultimate vision and enthusiasm that was felt at the beginning has all but diminished and not been carried through to the end.  

A designated group has a stronger focus and a more powerful outcome than a ‘design by committee’ attitude. The designer can guide that process and maintain the integrity of the design, without any compromise in the standards that have been set, avoiding any unnecessary roadblocks along the way.

The designer has the foresight and understanding of the complexity that goes with developing a company’s identity and how all the elements should combine. A company identity has many subsets and is required to accommodate supportive material across a variety of channels - the designer has the capabilities to provide the cohesion of the identity across websites, merchandise, promotional material and a wide gamut of touch-points where an identity needs to be integrated.

For more about Mark:

cowanandpartners.com.au/who-we-are.aspx?id=4

For more about Electric Pixels:

electricpixels.com.au / mark@electricpixels.com.au

Loyalty, through thick and thin

Meet Robert Coleiro of Computer Help Sydney.  Cowan & Partners has been working with Robert since late 2012 on the CHS profile and newsletter content, set-up of social media channels and website.

You will be hard pressed to find another IT support professional with such an absolute devotion to his client base and home city of Sydney. Throughout the last Christmas and New Year break -when many businesses traditionally wound down - CHS's busy work schedule continued.  Clients sought Robert's dedicated services to optimize their IT systems for work and play. He has been helping them take full advantage of the revolutionary Windows 8 platform, back up their essential data and information and prevent their networks from being targeted for both ransomeware and scareware - to name just a few of the CHS solutions.

Robert's loyalty to his clients is only matched by his die-hard support for his favourite football team Sydney FC. A club member since the team's inception, Robert has attended pretty much all Sydney FC home games. Yes, he witnessed their dreadful start to this season (rock bottom of the table at one stage) but months later is now seeing his team on the cusp of qualifying for the A-League 2013 Finals!

The moral of Robert's story is that when you are genuinely always there, through thick and thin - for clients, a sporting team, a cause - rewarding experiences follow.

www.computerhelpsydney.com.au