I was invited to join the NZ Government's Better by Design US Study Tour 2012, a four day tour of the San Francisco Bay Area where "up to 25 New Zealand business leaders are exposed to best practice examples of international design thinking". The tour began officially last night over dinner at the Town Hall Restaurant, but mine began a week ago when Ian and I arrived in SF for some much-needed down time. Relax, re-energise, and No Work was our mantra. But paradoxically, when we're travelling or on holiday my brain goes into overdrive. Thinking about ethics and aesthetics, ideology and human behaviour, To View More >>

Rugby World Cup fever is gripping New Zealand at the moment, which ties in nicely with my topic (sort of). Twenty teams are here to be beaten by the mighty All Blacks. (Go you good things!) OK, all the teams want to win, but only one can. Whereas our goal is to deliver the best possible books and albums, so everyone wins. How's that for cheesy? But we mean it! We have had an influx of press book orders over the last few months and nearly everybody has been over the moon about them. However not everyone has had the same warm fuzzy feeling. Why? Often it's the nature of the product itself. Press To View More >>

It was a very successful evening on Friday for our design agency ALT Group at the New Zealand Design Institute's Best Awards, where they won a total of eighteen awards, three of them, including a Gold, for the rebranding work they did with us last year: The GOLD AWARD was for the overall rebranding and visual identity project, as expressed in our new website, marketing material, logo, product photography etc. SILVER AWARD: For the Queensberry bride book, a promotional booklet designed specifically for our clients to distribute to brides and grooms, to express the Queensberry brand story and highlight To View More >>

For a country with the population of the San Francisco Bay Area, New Zealand has a lot of great photographers, and we're proud that many of them are Queensberry clients. We're delighted to say that one of the best has agreed to write for us. Johannes van Kan of Moda Fotografica has been a friend since 1993, when Heather and I first met him at NZIPP's annual conference and awards judging. Since then Johannes has qualified as a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers and was New Zealand Wedding Photographer of the Year in 2004 and 2005, and winner of the New Zealand Wedding To View More >>

When was the last time you opened one of these? Ours go straight in the recycling. What happens when you (or your customers) decide you're over Facebook, or stop clicking on Google Adwords? In this video Gary Vaynerchuk asks a bunch of event marketers how many of them said five years ago that they'd never have a Facebook account … but now they do. He says we need to ask ourselves where our customers will be hanging out in two years time. Hey, you could be on Snapchat or Vine! There's no point fishing in the wrong spot, and those fish are schooling all over the place. Partly because marketers To View More >>

Reading Dad's post about treating people as individuals reminded me of sitting in Air New Zealand's LAX lounge a few years ago. I was working on my laptop when this attractive woman sat down next to me and asked if I had the wireless login. Sorry," I said, "the wifi is playing up - you'll need a cable from the front desk". She turned her computer towards me and said, "It's OK, I have a Mac". :) "So do I, but you'll still need a cable," I said. "Look, I have to go confirm my seat - I'll get one for you." She smiled and said thank you. A few minutes later I returned and helped her get her computer To View More >>

Fiona and Joey's Valentines day wedding was shot by Gino Demeer of Cactus Photography earlier this year at Woodlands Homestead in Gordonton, New Zealand. Gino designed this 14x10 Duo and added a 7-inch copy album to complete the set for the couple. He also had another set made to for his own client sample collection. Carry case and all. Here's a few shots of his Graphite Leather album... Click here to view a slideshow of Fiona and Joey's wedding album. To see more of Gino's work check out his blog here. Cheers, Nigel To View More >>

Here's why our New Year's resolution is to get on Facebook. Besides being a long time Queensberry client, Australian photographer Greg Mace is a friend and all-round good guy ... and we're not the only ones who think so. To prove that all you have to do is click on Greg's new Facebook page. Better yet, friend him and click "Just Fans". In June '09 6.1m Australians (out of 21m) visited Facebook. In fact three out of four Aussies visited a social networking site of some sort. Same here in New Zealand: almost a quarter of us have used Facebook. Those are big numbers, and of course once people start To View More >>

Let me tell you a story about why we're in the album business, why we believe in brand building, and why you should too. Don't tell anyone but you're looking at two early Queensberries from the days when albums weren't everything we do. It may look a bit tired but the old wallet on top has excellent provenance, as they say. In 1990 Stephen brought his new fiancée home from Brisbane to meet his family in New Zealand. He gave her the Queensberry tour, saw the wallet and asked could he have it? Heather gave it to him. (I hope she gave Sonya something too!) Years passed. We stopped making wallets. To View More >>

Ian spotted a post by New Zealand photographer Isaac de Reus of Perspectives Photography on DWF recently. It was in reply to a thread discussing whether giving your work away free for referrals was good business practice. Isaac shared this great example of how he's leveraged something he can do in return for good quality referrals. The type everyone wants. High-end. It also shows the value of keeping your finger on the wider wedding market's pulse. Thanks for sharing, Isaac - Nigel A month or so ago we approached a very high-end, exclusive venue that only recently started booking and advertising To View More >>