I awoke the other morning to a truly fiery sunrise. The dawn view over the Cheviot Hills to the south looked absolutely spectacular.
The fields in the foreground jet black, the sliver of cloud capped Cheviot purple grey, and a dazzling strip of orange fire arching diagonally into the sky above.
I rushed down stairs to grab my Canon only to find the battery (and the backup) flat. Luckily my Nokia Lumia 1020 didn’t let me down; as a camera phone it’s ability to capture stunning high resolution photos, especially in low light, is amazing.
Affinity Herbals, Cornhill on Tweed Affinity Herbals is a new business that was set up to produce, market and sell a comprehensive range of organic herbal remedies. All of the remedies, be it a lotion, oil, cream or ointment, are made from completely natural ingredients using traditional techniques, and it was important to the client that both these elements came across in the logo design.
Scottish Borders Website Design were tasked to design the new logo, but also provide advice on the brand and packaging options. The starting point was the client mentioning their appreciation of Indian design, typography and illustrations. Having researched the subject, a serif font was selected to emphasise the traditional nature of the business, and a number of possible icons were illustrated to highlight that natural source of the products.
The icon that was selected is based on an Indian lotus flower, with the stem growing out of the H and intertwined around the Y; a central focal point that binds the two words together. The soft, muted blue grey and greens complete the logo; a design which is clearly linked to nature, and a unique new identity for a traditionally run business.
I think it’s safe to say that it would be nigh on impossible to take a photo of Dunstanburgh Castle with a perfect reflection mirrored by the North Sea. Therefore this photo required a little artistic license, and with the help of the Nokia Lumia 1020, I was able to stand in the middle of a large tidal pool and photograph the silhouette of the castle, the scattered overhead clouds and a near perfect reflection. With the camera phone held just millimetres above the salt water pool, it almost appears as if the sea has been calmed to a near glass-like state.
The bulk of the credit for this photo has to go to Imogen Cloët, an award winning designer and visual artist based in Newcastle. The art installation featured within Cragside House – the former home of Lord Armstrong, a Victorian inventor, innovator and landscape genius – which is now managed by the National Trust. It was photographed by pretty much everyone who passed by, but taking a good photo of a room filled with light bulbs, windows and tourists proved a little tricky. Thanks to careful balancing and the adjustable screen on the back of the camera, I managed to take a photo from directly underneath the light bulbs with the metal mounting plate and Victorian wood panel ceiling in the background. A lot of my textural and black and white photos feature unusual subjects, but I never thought that a room full of incandescent light bulbs powered by Victorian hydropower would be something that I’d ever photograph.
At Cothill we’re always treated to amazing sunrises in winter. As each day shortens and the sun rise is that little bit later, it also moves closer to the summit of Cheviot. When the sun breaks over the Cheviot Hills and the clouds mass overhead the sky simply looks vast. If the timing is just right, it’s possible to capture the vivid intensity of dawn in yellows and pinks, with the dark grey blue of night still overhead.
Castle Gunmakers, Norham Castle Gunmakers was formed in 2008 just over the border in Norham, Northumberland. They’d had a basic website for a number of years but contacted Scottish Borders Website Design with a brief that set out the need for a professional new website with more targeted content and ongoing online marketing support. With a business such as this, it was important to maintain the existing brand but elevate it to a more professional level. Also of consideration was the fact that the clientele were largely of an older generation, so the new site design needed to retain the older audience, but also engage and encourage a new generation to take interest. Understanding how the business worked and what could be achieved online was also essential (stepping into the shoes of the client). All these elements come through in the newly designed Castle Gunmakers website; the brand is strong, there are elements of the traditional combined with more modern touches (for the young and old site visitors), and the site content is promoted and formatted in a manner that is clear, concise and easy to navigate.
I returned to one of my favourite haunts at the weekend and in between the showers I managed to capture this photo of Dunstanburgh Castle (with Lilburn Tower in the foreground) from Embleton Bay. The clouds, lighting and mood were changing by the second, and I made the most of the shallow beach to photograph the castle with the camera just a few inches above the retreating water in order to capture a reflection of the sky. It’s been a few days since I took the photo and I think my feet have just about warmed up again!
I managed to visit a couple of my favourite childhood haunts at the weekend; Dunstanburgh Castle and Embleton Bay. Just shy of the castle I turned to see dark glowering storm clouds churning overhead and captured this rather brooding photo.
Fusiliers Museum of Northumberland, Alnwick Scottish Borders Website Design only output design work that will delight the client, but this logo design is very special because it’s not often you get the chance to come up with an identity and logo design for an establishment with such heritage (having meetings in the Falconer’s Tower in Alnwick Castle is pretty cool too).
Tallantyre Interior Design, Morpeth Having an established shop in the north east of England, the Tallantyre logo was already well recognised. An evolution of the logo was required for the forthcoming website however, and this new logo blends the original Tallantyre style with a new, crisp, classical feel to help promote the online interior design store that Scottish Borders Website Design is developing.