It has become such a fundamental issue of this time. As so many of us I love reading eco blogs and from time to time I even try to chip in some green tips.

Little tips big difference.

I have listed a tiny proportion of the eco blogs I enjoy visiting and with great difficultly narrowed it down to my top 10 favorite green blogs.

Here is my top 10 eco-friendly & green blog list of 2012:

1. Treehugger
2. Inhabitat
3. Real Climate
4. EcoGeek
5. World Changing
6. Green Options
7. EcoStreet
8. Haute Nature
9. Eco Friend
10. Eco Living

Jessica W.

The process of achieving a successful museum or exhibition showcase design, build and installation is not created in isolation or a vacuum.

It requires a team of dedicated professionals all working together to create something which is far more than the sum of its parts.

Nevertheless it is how other details are designed, engineered and executed which determines whether the display showcase is truly invisible to the individual.

Now depending on your role will greatly determine where you step on this display showcase journey? Let’s say for this blog it’s from the exhibition organisers stand point that has been given the task of housing a new, existing or travelling collection.

Once the first ideas are formed or pen is put to paper, this is the time to involve a specialist museum designer specialising in museum display showcase design. I have to be honest there are not many of us out there; in fact you count them on the fingers of one hand and only two if you want to include in your showcases eco lighting design that delivers quality lighting solutions.

One of my own crusades is for museum display cases to have elegant, flexible and strong shelving which visually floats in mid-air with no physical support.  Yes it’s possible and with the added bonus that when the shelving is removed there is no sign that either supports or shelving were ever there.

No more of those clumsy triangular brackets that look like they should be holding up your garage shelving, not priceless artefacts.

The museum designer should sit down with you and work through your wish list and goals for the project given insight as you progress finally allowing him to produce concept design that will realise yours and the projects expectations.

For me I like to take ideas that we have developed already and then move the goal posts a little to see if we evolve them to the next level making them better and edging ever closer to that goal of a truly invisible display case, aesthetic flexible shelving and lighting to die for.

One of the most asked questions from our readers is which material is best for a display cases to made from, glass or acrylic? So next time we will be looking at this.

E-L.T

• Can’t Touch This – Part 1
• Can’t Touch This – Part 2

It’s a fresh start to a new year and our creative design studios are once more in full swing.

One of our latest graphic design & branding projects is for Frank Europe one of the top 10 museum showcase manufacturers.

Frank’s board directors were looking for a creative agency that would deliver a fresh, exciting and instantly recognisable brand.

Our creative design agency was chosen to roll out a full branding package, including new logo design, marketing literature, website design, SEO and corporate guidelines etc.

The Frank brand provides precision engineered museum display showcases to designers, architects, museums, private collectors and those needing a protective display solution with emphasis on flexibility and quality.

SMA wanted to project the truly uniqueness of the product in the branding. By visiting the factory and carrying out extensive research to understanding the market place we were able to fuse essential elements together to realise Franks and our own aspirations.

Designing a simple, fresh and instant recognisable brand was our primary aspiration whilst incorporating 4 key objectives:

1. The brand name. Represented by the initial F.
2. The primary service. Symbolising a basic shape of a case whilst the F also provides the profile for their unique product.
3. Different service options. Corresponds to the different colour scheme.
4. Slogans:  “uniquely frank” & “frankly better than glass”.

From the out set our corporate graphic designers produced a clear direction including concept logo designs & digital implementation which received instant positive client feedback.

At its first showing at Exponatec Exhibition in Cologne Frank were delighted with the positive response from the museum & heritage world, even their competitors were extremely complimentary about the new corporate branding. 

Yes, FRANK were delighted with the end result & (frankly) so were we!

The SMA Christmas tree has made its re-appearance this week, after spending another year outside were it has grown approximately 75mm, at this rate we might have to move studios by 2020!

Decked out with some really nice solar Christmas lights and recycled decorations it’s been another job for the lighting designers in the studio to out do last years creation.

It has been one of the busiest years in the studio with a diversity of projects and new clients, fingers crossed we hope next year will continue on in the same vein.

We hope you have enjoyed reading our design blog as much as we have enjoyed sharing our design articles, thoughts, projects and design news with you all.

Everyone here at the studio would like to wish you a very happy Christmas and a fantastic 2012 !

The sma design team

However understanding branding is far more than a nice logo design.

Branding is finding a solution that gets your market to choose your brand (product or services) over the competition.

If you are really clever and can place your company product or organisation as the only real provider for this service or product then that’s a great brand and potentially iconic.   

Your brand should project a clear message, professionalism, stimulate, inspire and eventually build up a customer loyalty foundation.

So yes a quality logo design is a very important part of the branding and something that your company branding & marketing will use as the driving force behind getting market recognition.

However understanding your market place is key to good branding and any creative agency / branding agency worth their sorts should guide you on this difficult passage that will eventually produce a strong brand.

Believe me there is no quick fix to producing a strong brand it takes plenty of research, hard work and creative flair to deliver a clear communicative solution that people have loyalty towards.

Time is a precise commodity and it never comes again so make sure you choose the right branding company to help you standard out from the crowd!

Next time company slogans or strap lines are they a good or bad marketing tool?

It was particularly important for WWF they worked with a design company with environmental & eco-friendly principles & ethos.

SMA design’s own eco evolution started over 7 years ago, which leaves our consultancy uniquely positioned to support the client.

Our designers have researched and adopted the most advantageous new eco technologies and principles from around the world into our various designs.

At the same time SMA design has developed our own pioneering eco innovations, you can read more about these on our design consultancy website.

It’s good to be green.

Our logo design agency was chosen by an established Belgium museum display showcase firm to roll out a new corporate branding package, including logo design, website design and blog.

Our creativity, knowledge of the museum and design sector and SEO techniques where instrumental in our appointment over other London-based creative design agencies.

The qube brand evolved to fill a requirement in the market for high quality affordable protective display showcases (vitrines) in the world of art, museums, displays, exhibitions, events and many more.

“Please don’t leave it to us” might seem a strange title for a blog but it’s very appropriate for the subject of lighting design especially for retail and architectural lighting.

Part of our yearly activities is to attend Mipim the leading real estate exhibition and conference in Cannes, France where property professionals from all over the world congregate.

Whilst at Mipim we meet with lots of well-known international architects who say the same thing;

 “We know the lighting isn’t good but we are not lighting designers and our client just push lighting design into our remit of services or let the M&E Contractors take on the role”.

This approach of leaving lighting design to the untrained or turning your back on good lighting must be one the biggest mistakes any client can make!  They only seem to realise it once the building is completed, then we are called in to try to resolve the problems.

Unbelievably this is true for some of the world’s most prestigious architectural masterpieces, buildings & projects.

Luckily some forward-looking property developers have woken up to the fact that good lighting design is not an after thought but an essential ingredient to enhance great architecture and provide wonderful environments that provide a wow, pop or well-being factor.

Next time we actually discuss when and what you should be getting from your lighting designer and to use their abilities to the full.

DHALI\DMX

With the Government initiatives to cut carbon emissions Parker Bromley decided to enter the photovoltaic solar panels installation market for residential properties.

SMA design were asked to brand this new division with a fresh, funky and eco take on the established logo and brand. This branding has been so well received that the client now has decided their commercial logo design / branding should be evolved to reflect this new and exciting style.

The winner by a long way is: (drum rolls …) Enjoy a waist free lunch!  Well done to all those who munch and eco lunch, with zero packaging left at the end & thank you for your votes.

Soon I`ll be posting a new blog list including my favorite top 25 eco-friendly & green-minded blogs, embracing content & aesthetics. Any eco blog suggestions please do drop me a line so I can include your favorites as well.

Happy eco luncheon to you all.

Jessica Winter

Ok so you have a new exhibition, museum or visitor centre that requires new glass display showcases or acrylic vitrines.

Now if you were paying attention you might have noticed that I can’t make up my mind whether to write museum display showcases or exhibition vitrines or both?

The reason for that is that in the UK we tend to call showcases made from glass “museum display showcases” and if they are from acrylic like Plexiglas or Perspex they seem to then be called “display vitrines”.

Now I hear you say not always and you would be right but it does seem to be the case more often than not. However, if you are in Europe and normally in the USA they tend to use the term vitrines whether the showcases are made from acrylic or glass.

The main land Europeans will use both when speaking with anybody from the UK, well that’s been my experience to date. The bottom line is that both are correct just vitrine comes from the French language.

By the way did you get the logo stop signs for this blog?

Next time we will be getting down to the finer details of display showcase design.

E-L.T

Can’t Touch This – Part 1

Jessica Winter

In August I followed a fascinating eco building design course, which I will talk about more in an upcoming blog.

NEWS FLASH :  Our blog is 1 year old

Hooray to blogging and keeping it up, especially when we all are so very busy with various design projects.  I hope you enjoyed the design topics discussed and as always feel free to email myself or our design team with suggestions and comments.

Our visitors flow is going up up and up, much more than we ever expected so thank you all very much for your time and visits through our blog-door!

Some blogs to follow in due course are:

• More eco fun tips
• Commercial & architectural lighting design
• Branding
• Can’t touch this (part II)

So pop back soon for a new blog full with eco tips. As this is my first day back behind my desk I must now really dash off and commit myself to an endless list of emails and paperwork eagerly waiting for my attention.  It’s time again to dive back into my green mean working routine!

Jess.

From its very nature, once you place a piece of glass or acrylic between the visitor and the exhibit a barrier has been formed and something very special has been lost to the observer or visitor.

I always feel very lucky that through my carreer as a museum exhibition designer I have had the privilege to see, feel (with cotton gloves) and examine documents, paintings or objects that have been in great historical collections without these essential barriers. 

However it has also made me very sensitive to how museums, trusts and various organisations start the process of purchasing museum display showcases.

Over the next few blogs we will be going on a museum showcase journey of discovery looking at the many processes it takes to produce the perfect museum display showcase. Also how it is possible to purchase bespoke museum showcases that allows the visitor to enjoy what’s on display in a far more appreciative and communicative way, at no extra cost to off the shelf showcase option.

E-L.T

Can’t Touch This – Part 2

Logo design project update:

It’s been eight years since our corporate team branded a slightly different multi-disciplined building contractor with eco at the core of their business. Our team have now been appointed once again to take UrbanIS to the next level of corporate exposure.

UrbanIS logo design | 2003

 

UrbanIS logo design | 2011