Client: Culture Culture    2017

Description: Branding, Design

Culture Culture is a new small business based in Fitzroy, Melbourne.

Selling fermented products such as Kefir and soon Kombucha, the concept for the brand references broad design styles we see associated with home goods, cleaning products and big brand grocery items.

This visual reference aims to contrast ironically with the homemade aspect of the fermented products.

With its Espresso / Kefir milk drink, Culture Culture wanted to place itself outside of the general aesthetic of coffee beverages.

They wanted to introduce a new product to market with a sense of style and simplicity.

Client: DG Fit    2016

A sole operating personal trainer. The man behind DG Fit has almost 30 years in the industry, from surf lifesaving to traditional strength training.

The target clientele being the semi-experienced to professional athletes, DG Fit wanted to differentiate from the rest of the pack. With a sleek and minimal aesthetic we want to stand apart from the noisey visual landscape.

Get your sneakers on!

Client: Blume

Blume is a Hobart based musician and events booking agency. 

Working closely with the business, we finalised the name and design to give a sense of investment (the bee with his sting) and subsequent growth. 

Hand rendered lines and off registration of colour aid in creating an organic aesthetic - congruent with the music based market in which Blume sits.

Client: Page 27    2018

Description: Brand Identity, menu design

Sitting in the middle of the Australian desert is a little cafe called Page 27.

A favourite among the Alice Springs local and tourist crowd, Page 27 had no clear concept or direction in their identity.

The scope of the project was very limited. The client needed a clear concept to inform the logo update and menu design. No business card or other marketing collateral was required. It was stressed that they needed it to be cheap to print and without the ongoing help of a designer.

Conceptually Smith Studio called on the eclectic and chaotic aesthetic that Page 27 cafe has. Given the literary edge within the business I thought of the 'Cut Up' method developed by the surrealists and Beat Generation writers / artists such at William. S Burroughs and Brion Gysin.

The top layer of the menu is a rotating schedule of text taken from the 27th page of whatever book or text that might take someones fancy. The randomised attribution of text leads to an interaction beyond the menu items and may leave a reader with philosophical profundity or a glimpse into how to change the oil in a 1976 BMW.

These texts are printed on transparent paper and transformed simplistically and within the confines of the average word processor available to the non-designer. 

Case Study: The Hobart Music Store

Premium Chops was an exercise in re-branding a local music store. My approach was directed towards the primary demographic to which their marketing was focussed.

Skins, Strings, Keys encompasses the vast array of musical instruments that comprise the store. Furthermore, the overall aesthetic not only references the store in literal terms - it also enhances a pre-existing "Rock Edge" persona.

Supporting visuals coming soon...