Hi and welcome to Swansea’s handiest, home-grown design shop!The Colour Mill is Benjy Stanton’s one man graphic design studio. I help businesses make an impact both in print and on the web. I care about quality and the environment. Learn more about what I do.
… or, just read on for my latest news, articles and design work.
These festive icons were designed for Norwood House Hotel’s a la mode finer dining restaurant website, as part of an overall redevelopment. They illustrate the restuarant’s Champagne, Christmas and New Year’s Eve menus.
These urban style illustrations were created for A Sitting Duck; an online shop that sells tshirts, prints and other design related paraphernalia. They were created to be a recognisable mascot that would appeal to the company’s audience and be suitable for printing on various materials.
The Colour Mill was asked to create a graphical concept design for Eurofyre’s new website. The graphics were used by Ballyhoo Commerce to create the look and feel of the website, which was being built on a Content Management System (CMS).
A CMS allows website owners to update their site’s content, without the need of an in-house web designer.
In addition to this, I was asked to design a series of Flash animated headers that showed off the company’s product range.
I designed this email newsletter for Discount Fire Supplies an online supplier of fire alarm equipment, based in Swansea.
The design was optimised and tested so that it was compatible with a wide range of online, desktop and mobile email clients.
The campaign was sent using an online tool that allowed the client to login and view a report, including information on who’s opened the email and who’s followed the links.
The Swansea Local Health Board commissioned me to produce a graphic design for their Health and Well Being Strategy 2008 to 2011.
The 200 page A4 document covers issues that effect the health of the population in Swansea and was translated into English and Welsh. The content was provided to The Colour Mill and I was required to present the information in a more efficient, accessible and attractive manner. Look out for copies at local surgeries, opticians and hospitals etc.
A blog is a perfect self promotion tool. They’re easy to use and are available for free (You can spend money improving it once it’s up and running, if you want).
“create a personal and meaningful relationship with your customers”
Basically a blog is a website. They are meant to be updated regularly, so the most recent info appears at the top of the page, and older less-relevant content is pushed down (but rarely deleted). Over time you’ll develop a large and valuable resource of information.
Blogs can be used as;
They can be part of your existing site or can stand alone as a separate one. Many allow visitors to leave comments on your articles, this gives you a chance to create a personal and meaningful relationship with your customers.
All you need to do is spend a few minutes a week updating it; you can write articles about your business expertise, upload music and audio files (called a podcast), link to your videos on YouTube and much more. Plus search engines love blogs, and since every article you write will create a new web page, you’ll soon have hundreds of links back to your website pushing you nearer the top of Google.
This poster/flyer was created for Swansea based promoters Straydog Music to advertise their upcoming music event. It was designed to work well when printed out at A6, A4 or A3 and to stand out in the busy shop windows and poster spots.
The gig takes place on Friday 28th November at Milkwood Jam, a live music venue based in Swansea City Centre. Milkwood Jam has been open a year this month, so happy birthday to them!
This Roll Fold (also knowns as Barrel Fold or Tri-Fold) brochure was designed for a local manufacturer to be used as a datasheet for one of their products.
This printing method is great when you need to pack loads of info (6 pages worth) into a small space (folds down to A4)!
The Design Council has recently published an article on the importance of design during economic down turns.
It takes an interesting look at how design has improved the profits of organisations and industries using examples like the exports industry in 1830s Britain, the making of the original King Kong and the Apple iPod.
“The record shows that in economic downturns, investing in design is not a luxury, it’s a competitive necessity.”
You can read Good design is an upward sales curve on the Design Council website (but you will need to register first).
This leaflet was designed for the local health board in Swansea to promote National Healthy Living Week.
The leaflet needed to be bilingual, so Welsh and English content was supplied by the client and I designed a double-sided 1/3 A4 leaflet to accomodate all the information.