Gingerbread houses 2012

Gingerbread house decorating has become a bit of a tradition at Boheem, and for the past week this studio has had about as much sugar in the air as Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. This year to add an extra challenge for ourselves we decided to decorate our houses according to movie themes... you'll have to guess who do what and based on which movie!

Merry Christmas to all of our treasured friends. We're closing the door here in about an hour and will be opening it again at 9am on Monday 7th January. Till then, thanks for all your support and for being one of about a thousand regular readers of this blog, take care and enjoy a fabulous festive season...

A baby BOY for Kass!

Sorry I've been off-air for the last week or so... we've all been a tad busy since Kass checked out to have her baby! Little lovely man: I'm one of the lucky few who've met him already and he is very cute indeed. 

Peoni typeface used for this a little girly I know, but I love it and have been waiting for an excuse to try it. The boy thing is a bit new for us all... Sullivan is the first baby boy at Boheem after a run of four girls!

Font Design Master Class

My obsession with type began many years ago when as a small child I used to watch my grandfather set lead type for printing with his clunking, trusty Heidelberg letterpress machine. I also used to pour through my dad's type books – he had a great little collection since hand-lettering signs was a hobby of his, and I believe he used to make a few extra dollars making signs for local business around town.

Which is why I'm pretty excited about the upcoming Masterclass being run by DIA – the last of three workshop days in the series. It's an all day event at the Australian Museum 17.11.12 (soon!). The lineup includes Dr Louise McWhinne from UTS plus type designers Wendy Ellerton and Dan Milne. Cost is $200 for DIA members or $250 for non, and they're saying that participants have 3 years' experience in the industry. If you're interested, drop a line to my dear friend Jacqueline Hill: jack@designasaw.com to let her know. Be quick, places are limited.

Put the Spray Away

We recently developed this campaign for the Asthma Foundation of NSW, the challenge being to encourage teenagers in school change rooms to switch their hair and deodorant sprays for non-aerosol equivalents. Asthma is a disease which we are all familiar with, and it's particularly rewarding to have the opportunity to help increase awareness for these issues.

Lauren De Lange from AFNSW shared some of the feedback with us in a recent email:

"I just wanted to touch base with you to inform you that we have received an incredible response to our schools aerosols and asthma campaign. Below is some feedback from teachers:

'Thank you very much for sending through the “put the spray away so we can all breathe a little easier” posters!  What a great idea, we have placed the posters in both our change rooms. Being an all girls school we are constantly reminding the girls to not spray - the great thing about the posters is that they give the reason why students shouldn’t spray the deodorants/body spray/hair sprays in a very easy to read appealing manner.'

I just wanted to say thanks for much for all the efforts you and your staff made in developing the posters for us; they have really hit the mark with this group and have appealed to both teachers and students."

Thanks to Siobhan from The Writers' Group who helped out with the copywriting for this project as well. It was a wonderfully successful team effort!

Tiempo Packaging shortlisted for Desktop Create Awards

Creatives, if you haven't picked up a Desktop magazine lately I recommend you do so. Australia's favourite (only?) graphic design publication of its kind has recently undergone a facelift and I for one really enjoy having a flick through its uncoated pages filled with relevant, interesting and well organised content when our copy arrives each month. If you're not near a newsagent this minute, check out their website which is a great source for info on trends, events, tips and other handy designy stuff.

Seems too that some of the big names in Australian graphic design are sitting up and taking notice, and this year the level of competition for the Create Awards seems to have reached new heights. I'm so proud to see that Boheem are still in there; this year we have been shortlisted for the packaging we designed for Tiempo Coffee by Scottie Callaghan.

Prints now available at the Boheem Shop!

We are really excited to announce the launch of our new range of typographic prints, now available at the Boheem Shop as well as at our Etsy Store. We've framed a couple of them and have them hanging in our own homes, and they are already proving to be really popular. Some of these ideas have been bubbling away in the background in between client projects for a while now, so it's really nice that we're finally able to share them with you. We hope you like them!

Farewell Chantel, we will miss you so very much

The studio is so quiet this morning. I'm not really sure how to start my week without seeing Chantel's cheery face and hearing all about her weekend. Friday was her last day here, after 4 1/2 years she's moving on.

What a girl, what an absolute treasure. We consider ourselves very lucky for having had her as such an integral part of the team for so long. Chantel's beautiful work is a result of a perfect combination determination, dedication and care for what she does. We will miss her so very much, and undoubtedly our clients will miss her too. 

Thank you Chantel for your sincerity, for bringing your smile every morning, for the thousands of cups of tea at 9am and 3pm, for embracing whatever craziness is going on – client fun runs, blog entries, Rizzeria printing, AGDA nights, book club, gingerbread houses… we sure have had some good times.

The Art For Jungle Project

Just letting ya'll know about a little art show which is on for one night only next Thursday 28th June, 6pm at the Lo-Fi Bar, 383 Bourke Street (above Kinselas on Taylor Square), Darlinghurst. It's called The Art For Jungle Project, and it's an eclectic collection of art, design and jewellery with contributions from artists across Australia. The purpose of the exhibition is to raise funds for Greenpeace, so they're collecting $5 donations at the door. I've handed over a couple of my etchings as well as two of Boheem's not-yet-launched typographic screen prints. Hope to see you there!

How International Design Awards

Another feather in the cap – Hurrah! One Tree Coffee Co. branding continues to show its popularity with its 'Miscellaneous Merit' award in the How International Design Awards.

Roads & Maritime Services

Perhaps one of our proudest achievements to date (hard to say really, it's hard to compare highlights!) is that we have been selected to be on the design panel for the Roads & Maritime Services – previously RTA NSW – for a five year appointment. We're really looking forward to working with the team at RMS, we feel sure that there'll be wonderful challenges ahead. I want to do a little dance – to the tune of 'We got Annie'...

Graduate position at Boheem

Pssst. We have our eyes peeled at the moment for impressive graduate portfolios and are keen to meet with the wide-eyed, enthusiastic, talented people behind them. Haven't officially advertised yet, but get the feeling that very soon a Junior Graphic Designer position will become available at Boheem. No experience necessary; just a clever, conceptual approach to design, a happy disposition and a preparedness to help out with anything and everything. Send a pdf to Claire and Kass at jobs@boheem.com.au.

We be the judge

This year, I am most excited to have been invited to sit on the judging panel for the DIA (Design Institute of Australia) GOTYA (Graduate of the Year) awards. I love seeing the work produced by wide eyed, passionate students: I always find it really inspiring to see their fresh creativity, and interesting to see what trends are working their way through design schools. The work will be judged in two phases, and we will be meeting with the shortlisted students in the second phase. I intend to be as intimidating as I possibly can!! He he...

Last one 'til 2012!

Thank you to all of our faithful blog followers for sharing another fantastic year with us. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and see you in 2012!

The Distillery Letterpress Excursion

On my past few visits to New York City, I have paid a visit to Greenwich Letterpress in the West Village (visit their blog greenwichletterpress.blogspot.com). I have wondered why we didn't have a similar printing press/store in Sydney, this was true until now.

Last Thursday evening, Chantel, Kat, Mei, Jo and I went on excursion to the grand opening of The Distillery Letterpress in North Sydney.

The smell of ink greeted us, and after a short demonstration where we saw the 1959 Heidelberg Windmill Press in motion we were sold! There is a special place for letterpress in every graphic designers heart, the textured, pillowy paper subtly debossed brings design to life.

We were impressed by the team at The Distillery, they really seemed to know their stuff - and their passion for the fine art of letterpress was inspiring.

To put it simply, letterpress printers are to printing what artisan bread makers are to baking - yum!

www.the-distillery.com.au

It's a girl!

Claire and Aaron welcomed baby D'arcy Ruth into the world during the early hours of Saturday 10th September. 4 weeks early she took us all by surprise, but we are so happy she arrived safe and sound.

D'arcy is as cute as a button, and has become the 3rd Boheemian baby girl to add to our growing list.

Regular visitors to the blog will realise Claire does most of the posting for us… However with Claire now out of action for a few months, you are stuck with the rest of us! We are not as articulate as Claire and are sure to have apostrophes' out of place and possibly the odd spelling misstkae, but stick with us and hopefully we will come up with some insightful bits and bobs.

Just a thought, if anyone would like to be included on the Boho Bandwagon send through your info and a couple of pics to studio@boheem.com.au

PS 'It's a girl' featured card can be purchased at

www.etsy.com/listing/47710894/its-a-girl-letterpress-notecards-set-of

On Saturday...

Kat and I headed to The Papermill on the weekend for our type drawing workshop with Gemma O'Brien. We spent three hours working through some pretty fun exercises with Gemma and 20 or so other creatives - and we left feeling inspired and like we'd achieved a lot for a Saturday morning! It was lovely to get off the computer and use our hands to generate type - and it definitely made us want to draw more. This is a not-so-great photo of the result of Saturday's final exercise where we each had to focus on a letter. Bet you can't guess which ones are ours!

Bondi Beach House

I'm always telling people how lovely Kass's home is, and what an amazing eye she has for interior styling. I thought it was about time I shared some pics of her pretty little pad online. She took these photos as a bit of a keepsake, because she's (+ her man Matt + daughter Luca) on the move. Their 2nd floor art deco apartment is currently for sale – pass it on!!

Fancy joining the Boheem Team?

All good things must come to an end, or so they say. Bec's moving on at the end of the year: so we've begun the steady, careful hunt for a replacement. It's not going to be easy! But we're hoping that an oober-organised multitasking manager extraordinaire is out there, somewhere. If you think that you might just be that person, please check out the position on Seek to find out more.

Shortlisted!

Just a little cheeky brag to end the week: Boheem has been shortlisted in 4 categories for this year's Desktop Create Design Awards. We are tickled pink. These are the images which went with our entry for the Sustainability category, which is judged on "how the entrant is improving their “Triple Bottom Line” – social, economic and environmental footprint". Check us out in the Sustainability category, Identity, Commercial Print and Creative Print. Winners will be announced 22nd September 2011.

Support UnitingWorld in the 2011 City2Surf

Asking any of the Boheem Team members if they're interested in running the City2Surf is like asking if they could please run a quick errand to North India. I put the question out there, and all it does is start a conversation about what running "used to be like", and the comparing of notes of when the last time any of us actually ran for a bus.

I digress. Rob Lutton of UnitingWorld is taking one for the team and running the City2Surf to help raise money for Relief and Development and their work among those living in poverty in Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Click here if you'd like to donate.