Akula Kreative

We’re so excited to share with you the new branding of Becky Bing Photography! Becky is a talented photographer based out of Los Angeles, California. Right now, she focuses on family portraits and engagement sessions, but she’s hoping to add weddings into the mix very soon!

Tell us a bit more about your line of work.
I love capturing candid moments…between a couple, kids, and families at play. I’m a very romantic and whimsical person…it makes me happy to see these moments captured in a photo because it’s so easy to miss them in our everyday lives.

How do you want your brand to come across to people?
Modern and romantic…is that contradicting?

What colors are you drawn to?
Teal, plum, white, sage, and seafoam.

If you were to describe yourself in a few words, what would they be?
Modern, romantic, natural, sweet, and whimsical.

Though Becky already had a logo, she decided it was time to establish a more professional, cohesive look. So, we went to work and came up with a new logo, color palette, and coordinating pattern. Double letters are always fun to play around with, so we did some sketching and created a double-heart/double-B icon. To play up the whimsy and give a nod to her love of nature, we hinted at trees in a few subtle ways but kept it modern with her favorite colors and simple, straightforward graphics.

* Becky’s photo was recently featured on Green Wedding Shoes! See it HERE. *

Check out a few of her beautiful shots below:

Today, we’d like to introduce Yoga Bound, a boutique yoga studio coming soon to Carlsbad, California!

Alana, the owner, came to us looking for branding that would suit her down-to-earth personality, optimistic outlook, and love for clean, modern lines.

Little did we know she was very well prepared! By supplying us with the two top photos seen above, as well as a specific font request (Helvetica Neue), we knew exactly what to do when we hit the drawing board. After developing the dreamcatcher graphic and color palette, we came up with a few logo variations, and, after only two rounds of revisions, her mark was born!

Check back soon for the official launch of her website!

Remember the luxury stationery suite we made for My Private Jeweler, Inc.? To coordinate with the sapphire-inspired color palette, we recently put together some custom jewelry packaging for them.

Since they only needed a few packages for upcoming charity auctions, we decided the best plan of attack would be to do everything by hand. After all, it would be highly unlikely we’d find a manufacturer willing to make four 5 x 5 boxes in a variety of white and silver patterns. On top of that, we needed separately wrapped tops and bottoms to allow the jewelry to be displayed then packaged quickly and easily after each event.

In the end, we decided the best solution would be to create the boxes from scratch using high quality card stock. Using a custom box template, we were able to create exactly what we needed.

Sometimes you have to get creative (and crafty) to find the best solution that fits your time-frame, budget, and branding. While it was tempting to buy pre-made packaging, we decided this was the perfect opportunity to reinforce the new brand – even if it required a little extra effort.

What an amazing day at Caroline Tran’s Propel Photography Workshop – and it’s not even over yet!

As the graphic design sponsor, Akula Kreative made the Propel-branded paper elements, which included mini presentation folders, maps, custom-labeled moleskine notebooks, table tent cards, swag bag tags, and hanging name tags (pictured above). It was so cute seeing the life-size camera name tags around everyone’s necks today. :)

What’s funny is that after I got home I realized I had not taken ANY pictures of the event. There were so many photographers around I suppose I figured the picture-taking was covered…only…I don’t have anything to share now. (Oops.) I’m hoping the professionals post some of their shots soon so I can link to those…

Anyway, I am so honored to have been a part of such a wonderful, CREATIVE event filled with so many talented people. Working with Caroline is a dream, and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us. It was also incredible seeing such a well-planned event come to life. Ngoc of Skybox Event Productions is one of the most organized people I’ve ever met! I wish EVERY workshop/educational experience involved gourmet french toast, afternoon tea, and an entourage of event professionals at a 5-star hotel!

Remember this logo post from a few weeks ago?

We were beyond excited when Caroline Tran asked us to design a logo for her new photography workshops. She told us she wanted something text-based that felt refreshing, uplifting, clean, modern, and a little feminine. So, we went to work, and voila! A light and airy, fun and free design. We hope we get to do more with her in the future…it’s so inspiring working with other creative people.

If you’ve ever wondered what goes into our logo design process, perhaps the images below will give you a better idea! Click on the first image and you’ll be able to view them in order as a big slideshow.

ROUND 1 : Initial Concepts based on client-provided information and inspiration

ROUND 2: Revisions based on client feedback

ROUND 3: Additional revisions based on client feedback…getting closer!

ROUND 4: Time to pin down some text placement and color…

ROUND 5: A finalized logo!

For more information about The Branding Process, click HERE.
For a list of our branding packages, click HERE.

For more information about PROPEL // photography mentoring by caroline tran, click HERE.

What better way to celebrate the official launch of Butterfield Racing than with Nikki Butterfield’s win in the United Arab Emirates on March 3rd!? That’s right…Supermom Nikki took first place in the Abu Dhabi Triathlon just hours after she was emailing us final edits.

Congratulations to our amazingly talented and determined clients! (Yes, that is athletes, plural. Tyler Butterfield ALSO won his first race in 2012 on January 13th.)

Butterfield Racing is composed of a husband-and-wife team: Tyler and Nikki. Both stellar professional triathletes represented by Wattie Ink., they needed a new website to share their training updates, schedules, photos, and press releases with current and potential sponsors, friends, and fans. As a busy couple juggling training, racing, and raising a baby, the couple wanted to parallel the Wattie Ink. WordPress site so that press releases and news updates could be easily—and readily—updated by their writer Holly, assistant Aspen, and agent Sean. The solution? Use the platform of Wattie Ink., but customize it to Butterfield specifications.

Butterfield Racing provides a massive amount of information: biographies, schedules, race results, photos, press releases, detailed sponsor information, contact information, and more. It’s a dynamic website that keeps the Butterfield following informed and up-to-date. Above is a screen shot of one of many features: a lightbox pop-up window of a YouTube video. Check out their gallery by clicking HERE – simply click on a thumbnail to view photo slideshows and watch video!

One of Nikki’s priorities throughout the process was to give proper credit to their sponsors. In addition to creating pages for them, we built a custom html footer complete with sponsor logos that change color on rollover and link directly to external websites.

To check out the site and read more about these amazing athletes, click HERE.

To view larger versions of the images below, just click on them!

Introducing My Private Jeweler, Inc.—a new, exclusive private jewelry consulting company in San Diego! Grace, the GIA accredited small business owner, needed business cards and stationery that could live up to her client’s high expectations and refined tastes. She wanted a clean, sophisticated look combined with luxurious textures and quality paper.

In lieu of standard letterhead, we created a stationery postcard for everyday correspondence. For her A2 notes we used 100% cotton paper off-set printed with a single Pantone. The design is clean and simple, with limited text on the front and a diamond weave pattern lightly screened on the back. A return address is elegantly printed on a Curious Metallics envelope in Lustre, calling to mind the sparkle of precious metals.

The business card, however, is the star of the show. Here we have a glue-mounted piece using Strathmore Writing Wove 130# cover in Ultimate White. This card is literally two cards in one, making it one-tenth of a millimeter thick. On the front, the slim, detailed text has been letterpressed, giving it texture that exudes quality. The sapphire ring has been off-set printed—it was simply too complicated to print any other way—then clear foil stamped to give it a subtle sheen, then embossed with a multi-level sculptural die. On the back, the diamond weave pattern has been clear foil stamped to complete the elegant-yet-understated look.

So there you have it…off-set, letterpress, foil-stamping, and embossing in one piece!

Here is a bold and bright invitation suite we designed for some friends here in San Diego.

The bride’s requests:

• Incorporate red and orange.
• Use the swirly graphic seen above.
• Make it elegant and chic.
• And…finish the design in less than week!

With that, we went to work and came up with a few key elements that would tie the pieces together: we picked gray as the neutral and Sloop as the script, then drew a bright red banner to give it some pop. The combination of gray and red was unexpected, yet somehow it worked…it softened the ceremony invitation, but at the same time gave the welcome party insert a younger, more modern appeal.

Just because you’re a bride on a budget, it doesn’t mean you can’t afford custom wedding invitations. THIS bride had us create the designs, but she took care of the printing, paper purchasing, and assembly. What a great idea!

* CUSTOM WEDDING INVITATION DESIGN GIVEAWAY *

We’re cooking up a giveaway valued at $500 for custom wedding invitation design. Join the mailing list or like us on Facebook for news about how to enter!

After over 3 years, we finally gave our business cards an upgrade!

Our new cards have been letterpressed in two Pantones on 118# cover (Savoy in Brilliant White). The cotton has such a wonderful feel to it…and this card in particular has been given some extra zing with a light dusting of metallic powder.

If you’re curious about letterpress (and printing in general), here are a few facts:

The most popular “printing” techniques for business collateral are digital and off-set, followed by foil-stamping and letterpress, followed by screen printing, laser-cutting and metalpress. (Laser-cutting isn’t exactly a printing technique…but it gets the same job done.)

How much do they all cost? Well, that’s a complicated question. Print pricing is VERY specific to each and every project; it depends on a number of factors, including (but not limited to): the quantity you need, how quickly you need them, what kind of colors you’re using, how important color is to your brand, what kind of paper you want to use, etc.

Here’s a BASIC breakdown:

Digital // Great for low quantities, quick turnaround, and full-color layouts

Off-Set 4-Color-Process // Minimum usually starts at 250 or 500 pieces, relatively quick turnaround, full-color layouts, and great image quality

Off-Set with Pantone(s) // Minimum usually starts at 250 or 500 pieces, relatively quick turnaround, great if you need a specific color

Off-Set with 4-Color-Process and Pantone(s) // This works well if, for example, you need to print both a color photo and a logo that needs to be a very specific shade of navy blue. Of course, each time you add a Pantone color, the price goes up.

[ Hot ] Foil-Stamping // If you’re looking to print in neon or metallic, OR apply a “light ink” on dark paper, this is probably the answer. Minimum is roughly the same as off-set. And, you guessed it: each time you add a color, the price goes up. A custom die must be made for each color you use. Basically, what happens is a machine stamps a thin sheet of heated foil into the paper. So, instead of ink being applied, a layer of foil is essentially “cut” and bonded to the paper.

Letterpress // Letterpress has a turnaround more like foil-stamping because custom plates have to be made for not only each color you use, but also for different types of graphics. It’s great if you want something a little more tactile, vintage/classic, or upscale, but if you need something printed in full-color this won’t work.

Keep in mind: You can always combine several techniques!

Here’s a quick video about letterpress using the same machine our printer uses:

Ceremony 2012 is here!!!
Read all four editions online: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, & San Diego

Below is a sampling of some of our ad designs. (The first one is my personal fave.)

Read Ceremony in print, online, and from your mobile device.
To connect with Ceremony Magazine on Facebook, click here.

P. S. If you check out the LA edition, you’ll see a little surprise on page 226.

Step One: Receive photograph of client’s family dog. (Isn’t the photo awesome, by the way?)

Step Two: Design an imaginary bar logo based on the photo and create a 19 x 13 fine art print…

Step Three: Send to client to give to beagle-and-beer-loving husband as a surprise Christmas present!