gracefultaylor

The past is the story of now

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:18:00 +0000

Dale Campisi, co-founder of the Melbourne-based publishing pearl Arcade Publications, has just told The Graceful Taylor why he’s so fascinated by the past. It’s “the story of now, you know; it’s the reason why.”

Clearly a fan of time travel, Dale quotes the early 1990s TV show Quantum Leap, with Scott Bakula in the role of a time-travelling Fonzie, as part of the inspiration for Arcade’s focus on the stories of Melbourne’s past. Launched in 2007 with a biography of EW Cole and his book arcade, this divine small press has found a growing niche market for its beautifully designed A6 books and related must-attend events that bring the history of Melbourne to glorious life.

Dale began Arcade Publications with fellow publisher/editor Rose Michael after they’d both spent years in the publishing industry. Keen to find their own path, they brought in designers Michael Brady and Peter Daniel and the distinguishing characteristic of Arcade’s titles took shape; their size.

Like the little gems of stories told within their pages, the A6 size of each book is a testament to the enduring pleasure and attractiveness of small things. They’re fit for devouring. And The Graceful Taylor is partial to the odd devouring...

... We digress. The size is of course a point of difference. “We ... wanted to challenge established publishing norms,” says Dale. “It’s an interesting editorial and design challenge.” The associated events also set this press apart, especially the walking tours of Melbourne that link to their published stories.

With so many fabulously quirky characters populating Melbourne’s past, The Graceful Taylor is keen to know: does Dale have a favourite? EW Cole rates a strong mention, and so does the devilishly handsome and possibly narcissistic choccy maker Macpherson Robertson. Anyone who makes chocolate gets our vote too. And, just to show that history can also be recent, the singular Don Dunstan, former South Australian Premier, appeals to Dale for the delightful fact that he resigned after sleeping 40 hours straight. And because he wrote a cookbook while being Premier.

At least it wasn’t called Sh*t on my Hands, the aptly named parenting guide which is a recent publication. We’re keen to learn what’s afoot in 2012 and excited to discover that there’ll be a title by culinary author Charmaine O'Brien on Melbourne's nineteenth century cafe scene, a verse history about a baby farmer by the inimitable Judith Rodriguez, and a biography by Jenny Sinclair about Edward Oxford, a man who tried to assassinate Queen Victoria, then moved to Australia after 20 years in an insane asylum. We did attract the right sort of people to our shores, didn’t we?

If you’ve not discovered Arcade Publications, The Graceful Taylor respectfully suggests that you hot-foot it to the website now. As Dale says, “...history for me is vivid and fun and memorable - as life should be. “ Bless.

The key to Grace

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:05:00 +0000

We’re very proud that Grace has just been included in a new book, Conversations with Creative Women, published by Creative Women’s Circle. So if you’ve ever wanted to know what makes our talented creative leader tick...

The Graceful Taylor even learned a few tidbits about Ms. G that we didn’t know – like there isn’t anything she can’t tell you about rubber car hoses.

Now we bet you’re interested! The book’s available in limited edition. Check it out here.

And go go Grace!

Welcome to T&G’s very own art exhibition, Revamp.

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:52:00 +0000

The road to a final creative concept is littered with alternative routes and unforeseen sidesteps. While not to be the final destination, these detours represent the ideas that get us there.

Rather than let them languish in the archives, we’ve freshened up a selection of these designs to present as an insight into our process and a reflection of the creativity of our designers. Further pulling back the curtain, we’re presenting them in our studio, right in the heart of our engine room.

The exhibition opened last Thursday night and will run until next Thursday 20 October 2011. Please view the artworks here online alternatively call the office on 03 9416 2566 to make a time to visit the office during office hours until Thursday 20 October. Purchases can be made over the phone or in person by credit card. All proceeds will be donated to Mind Australia. For more ordering information click here

All Profits go to Mind Australia. Mind is a leading provider of consumer-focused mental health services in Victoria and South Australia. Mind works with people experiencing mental health difficulties, to help them live well in the community.

ABOVE: 18. Pride of Shoes

Illustrated by Jane Roberts and Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 15. Soul Sista

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 13. The Odd Couple

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 16. She Got The Boot

Illustrated by Jane Roberts, Art Directed by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 17. Single white female

Illustrated by Jane Roberts, Art Directed by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 02. Friends 4 Eva

Illustrated by Jane Roberts - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 30. Full Hand

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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28. Typefaces

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 27. Typeface

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 10. Star Jump

Illustrated by Simon Taylor, Art Directed by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 29. I Think A Lot Of Thoughts

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 30. Full Hand

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 09. Baggage

Illustrated by Jane Roberts & Grace Camobreco Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 06. Christmas 02 (Also available as an unframed A1 print)

Illustrated by Jane Roberts - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 05. Christmas 01 (Also available as an unframed A1 print)

Illustrated by Jane Roberts - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 19. Wall Flower

Illustrated by Alysha Sandow, Art Directed by Grace Camobreco - Media: Mixed - Ink & Digital

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ABOVE: 23. A Spot of Passion

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 21. Public Display of Affection

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 22. Rash of Emotion

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 07. What the Rorschach? (Also available as an unframed A1 print)

Illustrated by Simon Taylor, Art Directed by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 08. Taylored Blob (Also available as an unframed A1 print)

Illustrated by Simon Taylor - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 12. Ms Pantalette

Illustrated by Alysha Sandow Media: Digital - Media: Pencil

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ABOVE: 01. Scrambled eggs

Illustrated by Jane Roberts, Art Directed by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 03. Baked goods

Illustrated by Simon Taylor, Art Directed by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 31. Round and round and round and round and round and round

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco and Jane Roberts - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 04. Deep Blue Sound

Illustrated by Alysha Sandow - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 33. Flower face

Styled and Art Directed by Jane Roberts, photographed by Andrew Gough - Media: Photography

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ABOVE: 32. Bucket of Flowers

Styled and Art Directed by Jane Roberts, photographed by Andrew Gough - Media: Photography

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ABOVE: 24. Girl with Kaleidoscope Eye

Illustrated by Grace Camobreco - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 26. Impossible Enigma

Illustrated by Jane Roberts - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 25. Coffee Brothers

Illustrated by Simon Taylor - Media: Digital

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ABOVE: 20. The Girl in the Tucker Bag

Illustrated by Alysha Sandow - Media: Mixed - Ink & Digital

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Grace asks: does colour really exist?

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 04:09:00 +0000

Well, yes and no. The banana in my fruit bowl is yellow to me. But it might not be yellow to you. In fact, neuroscientist Beau Lotto says that, when it comes to colour, we’re all delusional!

Light is real. It can be measured. But colour doesn’t actually exist. It’s completely manufactured in our brains. We use our memories to help us know what colour something is, and we have strong emotional associations with certain colours.

For example, in an experiment designed by Beau Lotto, nearly every adult assigned yellow to happiness, blue to sadness and red to anger. (Kids were similar, but a bit less predictable.)

There’s also an emotional association between colour and sound, with most people, including kids, thinking of lower notes as dark blue and higher notes as bright yellow.

Even though these relationships don’t exist in nature, human beings have, over time, developed a kind of memory that this is the case.

And we can use that to our advantage in branding and marketing. When you want to create an emotional association with your brand, it pays to think about the colour of that emotion, and the sound of that emotion.

For more info, and to read the full description of Beau’s experiment, head to the BBC website.

iIllustration by Gwenola Carrere

And you thought flowers were for vases

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Clearly these people beg to differ. They may however have been influenced by Madam Peripatie, the German photographer who put together this beautiful and strangely disturbing collection. Check out her website for more extraordinary images. We love them all!

Discovered thanks to the always excellent yellowtrace blog.

Food that looks good must be good for you

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 01:50:00 +0000

Yes, it’s winter and our thoughts have turned to warm kitchens and cosy dinners by the fire. Grace keeps finding great combinations of food and art to satisfy her twin passions and what’s a girl to do but share the love?

Her latest find is the Great Food series from Penguin – the best food writing from the past 400 years (mutton anyone?) with an exquisite set of book covers by renowned cover designer Coralie Bickford-Smith.

You can get an overview of the series here, and a closer look at CB-Smith’s stunning work on her website. She’s a fave of ours and you’ll see why.

Now, the menu for tonight is:

Asparagus Pudding

Mutton Kidneys, Musketeers' style (merci M. Dumas)

Shrewsbury Cakes and Ginger Cream

Buono appetito!

An urban mirage

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:38:00 +0000

I’m often inspired by artists who transport me to another perspective. This amazing photographic installation in a Stockholm city square from Swedish artist Erik Johanssen looks so real it gives me goosebumps! What a fabulous, unexpected gift to the city’s workers and visitors!

I love the end result, but I’m also impressed and fascinated by how he’s overcome the technical challenges. In his blog, Johanssen describes the work involved in selecting the right perspective, triumphing over the limitations of his equipment, and respecting the time it would take to achieve a quality result.

It reminds me that, in my own work, the best result can never be rushed and it’s so worth taking the rime to get it right.

Discovered via Cup of Jo.

Why the right branding is critical

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:23:00 +0000

The mere exposure effect is not a Hollywood blockbuster starring Matt Damon (although now that we’ve had the idea…)

It’s a well-known psychological phenomenon that says humans prefer certain things simply because they’re familiar. Anyone who’s tried to make headway a market dominated by one or two brands will know what we mean. Creating familiarity through repetition is critical in the marketing mix.

This was proven in a fascinating study, published in the British Medical Journal a few years ago. The study looked at whether branding could actually make a difference in how effective people thought their headache tablets were. No prizes for guessing – it did!

The women in the study reported that their headaches were relieved more effectively by the branded tablet that they knew and trusted than by the unbranded one, even though some of the branded tablets were actually placebos and some of the unbranded ones were real headache tablets.

In other words, the brand had an analgesic effect on the women as powerful as the active ingredients in the actual headache tablet. And while you might think that, after some time the headache would reappear, the effect was actually even stronger when more time had elapsed.

So next time you’re thinking about your own branding, think about the mere exposure effect and the power of the mind to preference what we already know.

To view some examples of the Taylor & Grace branding work click here

Campaign below designed by the very talented Christine Wisnieski for the The 34th Cleveland International Film Festival

sewn up

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:35:00 +0000

You can always rely on artists to identify the gaps in society and fill them…in this case, literally!

Maybe Juliana Santacruz Herrera was sick of tripping in the potholes in her local arrondissement. Or maybe when she looked up as she walked along the streets of Paris she despaired of the sea of grey at her feet. Whatever inspired her, we LOVE her response. The colour and softness of these rivulets and puddles of yarn against the hard rock is pure artistic inspiration.

She’s one to watch.

discovered via: design milk

The rewards of random surfing

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:51:00 +0000

Hard though it is to believe, Grace had a spare moment the other day, and she spent it indulging in a fave pastime; randomly searching the net for little gems to bring to us. This is why we love her! (And also because she’s talented and warm and witty…)

She rang me very excitedly about her latest find, Scottish illustrator and animator, Lesley Barnes. And I know why. Lesley’s work is brilliantly colourful, deeply layered, beautifully drawn and with an infectious sense of fun. Her video work is stunning too. Check out her site and blog.

Here mr. kitly!

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:25:00 +0000

It’s not a pussy cat, although it’s named after one, and if you’re lucky when you visit you may meet the eponymous and ever so elegant feline in person.

mr. kitly is a fab new shop and gallery, tucked away above an old fabric store on evocative Sydney Road. It announces it’s presence on the street with an absolutely gorgeous vintage-inspired floral carpeted staircase. Wonderfully enticing!

Climb the stairs and enter mr. kitly’s world: a stunning selection of Japanese inspired art, ceramics, crafts, books, magazines & plants. Grace’s idea of heaven.

There’s an online store too, but it’s worth the trip to Brunswick to indulge in everything else this pulsing part of Melbourne can offer.

We love Brunswick, and we love mr. kitly!

Broadsheet creates the ultimate coffee heaven - A pop up coffee shop

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:01:00 +0000

It’s no secret that Grace likes her coffee. In fact we often share a morning brew as we peruse our favourite daily read, Broadsheet. (If you haven’t found out about Broadsheet yet, check it out here, it’s a little shiny gem!)

So imagine Grace’s excitement when I told her that the clever Broadsheet bods are opening a pop up café for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (March 4-14). And, like late-night telemarketing, it just gets better. The café will be run by some of the best coffee-dudes in Melbourne – Dead Man Espresso, Market Lane, Proud Mary, Seven Seeds, Five Senses and The Premises. Sigh. We are in coffee heaven.

Stay tuned to the Broadsheet website for details of the location, and daily events like cuppings and tastings. See you there!

Above: Dead Man Espresso 36 Market Lane, South Melbourne

Above: Proud Mary, 172 Oxford Street, Collingwood

Above: The Premises - 202 Bellair Street, Kensington

iPad, therefore iAm

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:10:00 +0000

So you have a Mac (or not). An iPhone (or not). Jury still out on whether you absolutely, positively need an iPad? I say go for it.

My current obsession is the magazine apps – while the Australian publishers aren’t yet on board, those overseas that leapt first are defining the possibilities of the medium. And they’re pretty extensive.

Above: The New Yorker Ipad App

Text and image suddenly become interactive, so now as I read the words or view the photos of an article I can go deeper into, say, a 360º rendering of a product, or a video showing me how it looks in motion, or a more extensive audio interview with the maker, or to hear testimonials from customers. I can link directly to a related website, I can shop at an online store, I can find the answer to my questions immediately. The image rendering is exquisite, the colours stunningly rich. I’m really excited about the possibilities.

Above: UK Vogue Ipad App

The marketing potential for advertisers in these publications is enormous, with the option to integrate multiple swipe screens of information into every ad, direct linking to websites and online stores - even integrating music & and film to tell a story.

Here’s a few of my current favourite reads:

The New Yorker

The Martha Stuart lifestyle magazine

UK Vogue

Marie Claire Fashion A to Z

Above: The Martha Stuart ipad lifestyle magazines

Flood Aid – how social media can help

noreply@blogger.com (Graceful Taylor) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:38:00 +0000

Like everyone else, the Graceful Taylor has been shocked by the scale and ferocity of the floods across Queensland and Victoria. It’s been a hard start to 2011 for many people. Yet it’s the crisis moments which can also produce great innovation and ingenuity. And it’s social media which can break down physical borders and let the whole world help.

Our online marketing expert Teresa Sperti has been involved in the development of a website, floodaid.com.au, which simply puts two groups of people in touch with each other: those who need help, and those who can offer help. Sounds easy, but anyone who’s built a website will know that getting it right is hard work. And the story of how this simple, effective, well-designed creature was born in less than 72 hours is a lesson in the power of social media to be so much more than a celebrity giving shopping advice.

Floodaid was put together by a bunch of young Queenslanders who could see that the existing online resources were struggling to cope with the scale of the flood disaster. An online callout elicited 500 responses in less than 12 hours from techies around the world. They narrowed this to a team of 30 people from 9 countries and the website went live less than 60 hours later. All for free.

And they didn’t sacrifice design in their need for speed. We love the logo!

Check it out, and please share it widely. The internet is a wondrous thing.

Happy New Year!

gracefultaylor

The past is the story of now

The key to Grace

Welcome to T&G’s very own art exhibition, Revamp.

Related Stories

Grace asks: does colour really exist?

And you thought flowers were for vases

Food that looks good must be good for you

An urban mirage

Related Stories

Why the right branding is critical

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sewn up

The rewards of random surfing

Here mr. kitly!

Broadsheet creates the ultimate coffee heaven - A pop up coffee shop

iPad, therefore iAm

Flood Aid – how social media can help