Card Games

At last the other day I was offered one of those beautiful pastel French Macaroons - they cost an arm and a leg so I knew not to scoff it too fast! (and you know it's spring the shops are filled with pastel coloured fancies).
I'm not one to be ungrateful but I thought they looked better than they tasted... but all was not lost as I came back to my desk feeling totally ispired by the colours and started on some new stationery...
I sat remembering sunny afternoons as a child playing in the garden in tents made from sticks and looking at Dad's huge wellies by the back door... Alas, my bottom wouldn't get through the door of that wigwam these days.

Hello Monkey now has an Etsy shop so you can buy these cute cards!

Just My Type

I know there are others out there who, like me, are a wee bit bonkers about fonts. And if you find your pupils shrinking at the sight of Comic Sans or Mistral, I'm talking about you. But there are those who feel it's perfectly fine to use said typefaces..."oh it'll do". NO it won't do, and to prove it there are even organisations out there who want to ban comic sans altogether.

So if there's anyone reading this in need of inspiration do us all a favour and have a play with WORDLE. Ahh, that's better.

Tangible Assets

When it comes to advertising, I seem to spend most of my energy producing graphics that are for web which means I never actually get to touch them. Every so often however, someone comes along who would like to advertise the old fashioned route - on paper. Information printed on to nice glossy paper which you can sit back and read to your leisure (or on the loo if that's your cuppa). And it's quite exciting to collect the printing - there's something about the smell of stationery that's very comforting.

So because I get so excited about it I thought I should add Brochure Design to Hello Monkey's list of services. Oo oo oo.

Very Tasteful

This blog entry comes with a warning: if you're hungry don't read on.

If you happen to be in Southampton you may be wondering where those delicious cooking aromas are coming from. It's quite likely that the master chefs at Add Zing are responsible for getting tummies rumbling with their latest culinary creations.

Hello Monkey were asked to create a colourful, bright and modern website that captured the essence of the menu whilst showing off their wonderful food. Keeping their original logo it made sense to play with the strong pink and yellow which resulted in a surprisingly good colour combination. It was a pretty hard job to keep focused but eventually the website was complete and I only managed to eat one of my fingers in the process.

and here's for something completely different...for Valentine's Day

Apparently I'm unique. That's what my husband tells me. So I'm guessing that 'ers and 'ims indoors all over the land are being told this so naturally this Saturday we'll all being patiently awaiting that 'unique' magic envelope from our unique other half. However I'm aware that it's all a bit of anti-climax when you open said envelope and there's a Hallmark card, pinkly adorned and quite honestly something you'll not be putting in your keepsake box. Imagine all those delighted squeals if we had a beautiful Mr Robert Ryan Valentine masterpiece to treasure. He's a clever monkey that Mr Rob - he painstaking cuts intricate shapes into paper to create wonderful and whimsical works of art. You can read all about him here:

Sadly even the Valentine Screenprint a bit pricey to substitute for a card but we can dream.

Still, it's the thought that counts and I'm crossing my fingers that my husband actually remembers let alone thinks!

It's wonderful, to be Frank

Whilst it's cold outside and I'm still nursing my bruised bottom from slipping on the ice, I am parked firmly indoors where no damage can be done. So naturally with the Parental Control fully set to 'No Dodgy Sites' I can safely cruise the Inter Super Highway in search for some inspiration. And not a remedy for penile malfunction to clog the pop-up blocker.

Today's crusade was to find something individual for two upcoming birthdays. Bored of the usual foodie gift or perfumed wotnots, imagine my delight when I chanced upon Frank! Totally unique handmade items, very quirky indeed. Oh somebody please buy me that croched leaf necklace. To be Frank, I NEED it.

It's the year of the...Monkey!

Here we are, at the start of the Chinese New Year and what better way to start 2009 with a totally revamped image - out with the old, in with the new and all that. However we decided to pay homage to the monkey - we felt the ox would be getting enough limelight for a while.

So, yes, it's Hello Monkey and goodbye Dotty. He had one too many sausages and we felt it was time for a different, more athletic little friend to grace our webpages. So apart from our dear Dotty departing for a life of the couch potato and the new funky monkey settling in, everything else remains the same. Except better.

Bloomin' great

Highly talentled Rebecca Frere does wonders with flowers. We're not just talking arranging fine blooms into pretty pots and wrapping elegant stems into floral masterpieces (she does that effortlessly) but what Rebecca does that separates her from the rest is that she also cultivates and grows the flowers too. Of course it's not always possible with our unpredicatble British weather so Rebecca ensures she only uses fairly traded flowers or flowers that haven't had to travel too far to her Kent base.

So when Rebecca decided it was time for a new website she opted for Dotty Dog to design it as we too are proud to be an ec0-friendly company and even have an carbon neutral website all of our own!

We set about creating a new brand for Rebecca to reflect her unique style keeping it modern and fresh. You can the initial concepts here. Now her shiny new website is up and running and Rebecca couldn't be happier - she now has her own blog and can keep her long list of fans up to date with all her latest news and ramblings... watch this space!

Just Peachy

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There's no working outdoors for us now we're heading into winter (and it hasn't ceased raining for at least a week) so we've packed away our solar batteries and are putting on an extra layer rather than cranking up the heating to keep warm. But just because it's no longer sunny it doesn't mean we have to 'think' in grey!

Londoners Chloe and Stephen are planning their wedding for next September and have called on us to design some stationery for their sunny* day (*Guaranteed, apparently!). Their chosen theme is 'peaches and cream' after Chloe fell in love with a stunning peach coloured Rodarte dress worn at a premier by keira Knightly. Chloe chose our existing bird design with which we altered a few elements to suit the couple exactly.

One of the momentoes the couple plan have in mind as a wedding favour is a bag of chocolate seashells - as their wedding ceremony will be held on the beach in Cornwall close to Trevone, a place close to their hearts. They asked for a simple, rustic closure for the bags encorporating the bird design and you can see the result in the picture.

Inside their canvas Yurt there'll be pretty birds and soft peach hydrangeas adorning the tables. And with peach bellini cocktails being on offer on the day, even the drinks are in harmony!

So with all this talk of sunny days and beaches, I hope you're feeling warmer now.

What a wedding!

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I was very honoured recently to be asked by our good friends Aidan and Bhavna to design their wedding stationery. (Even labels for their wedding favours - a jar of chutney- were to be done!). Of course I couldn't wait to get started!

Being an Anglo-Indian wedding, the couple wanted simple stationery with an Indian theme but it also needed to reflect the groom's English heritage. The font needed to be in red to adhere to the Indian tradition and Ganesha and Om needed to be present too. After consultations with the bride and her mum, I set to work to incorporate the ideas. It was great to see the stationery arrive on the doormat, addressed to me, for the first time!

The wedding was delightful, many a smiley face to be seen! The venue was perfect and tastefully decorated with the peacock theme running throughout. Bhavna worked wonders on finding a cake maker who even reproduced the peacock and hearts for the top. She worked endlessly on arranging the beautiful flowers which were red, velvet-like and encrusted with sparkly diamonds. The tables were scattered with rose petals and even the chutney looked regal in sparkly sari fabric.

And the bride herself truly looked a billion rupees!