Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook Bad taste takes a while to show up, but as soon as it does it’s embarrassing. How to avoid it? Start by keeping it simple. If in doubt, leave it out. The half life of crap In her book The Mesh, Lisa Gansky talks about “the half life of crap” – about cheap manufactured products and how long they last. Or rather don’t last. Her point is that the half life of crap products is way too short. They get boring or they break. They end up at the back of your garage or as land fill. Our poor planet can’t afford To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook Our brand isn’t a look but a promise kept — not what we say but what we do. Value Imagine if you said, “I want you to pay me what you think I’m worth.” Most people would imagine themselves out of business. We need to tell our clients what we’re worth, and live up to our rhetoric. What is the value of your work to people who don’t know you, or how much they should be paying? The value of a compelling and authentic brand is that it tells people the price of entry and helps them see it’s worth To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next  Download the eBook Be yourself. Everyone else is taken. Be yourself Heather and I have been friends with a particular couple since our kids were pre-schoolers, which is some time ago. She’s got progressive musical tastes. He likes Simon and Garfunkel. She’s been complaining for forty years about Neil Young’s whiny voice. He’s been complaining that Bob Dylan can’t sing at all. I don’t care. What would they know? Not everyone likes Neil’s voice, or Bob’s, or what they have to say, but everyone knows them, To View More >>

Albums are a blank canvas on which to express your personal style and taste, and we love seeing the variety that comes through the Bindery. This week's album caught our attention with its brightly coloured graffiti backgrounds and interesting design. When we asked Daniel if we could feature it, he shared with us the humorous, heartwarming story of how the couple first met – as told by them, from both sides. Talk about a meet-cute! It reminded us of something important — "It's not about the album, it's about the photography." … But dig deeper and it's To View More >>

We saw this album with photography by Simon Darby of Wanaka Photography as it went through the Bindery. It showcases not just beautiful photography of Kate and James' lovely wedding, but the stunning New Zealand landscape. Wanaka is a tourist and holidaymaker destination, and the subject of much iconic New Zealand photography. The album also shows some of the features that make our Duo unique. The album has a Buckram Carbon cover with Futura embossing. The matted pages are Pagemount style, with a keyline around the prints created by carefully hand trimming To View More >>

The winners of the inaugural International Wedding Photographer of the Year Awards have been announced, and the event has been a real success. The six judges from around the world must have had a tough job, with almost a thousand entries from 49 countries, and some beautiful work submitted.  Queensberry was proud to be  principal  sponsor of the album design category, which was won by  Francesco Gravina   (Italy)  with a truly spectacular submission. You can see his complete winning design here. (We recommend you enjoy it on a big screen!) The overall To View More >>

This week's Album of the Week is a 10x10 Classic Flushmount with Silver-Halide printing. The cover features Champagne Faux Leather and Bank Gothic Blind Embossing.  The beautiful wedding photography belongs to Simon Biffen, who got married at the very same venue himself seven years ago. Based in Bath, UK, Simon captures free-flowing and fun photographs of weddings. Couples are often opting for more casual celebrations, involving games and pets in their photographs. "The wedding was held at the fabulous, Maunsel House, in June and the couple went for a super relaxed day." "They opted for a To View More >>

This is the second of four posts from Megan DiPiero with advice about how to build a stronger brand and brand message— to add purpose to your marketing, draw attention to your service, and ultimately increase sales. Click here for Part 1, Identifying the Client Experience. Today Megan offers some questions to help you determine your brand's purpose and passion. Where does success start? It starts with the FUNDAMENTALS. It begins with identifying your purpose and your passion. Creating a mission for your brand is crucial to success, and gives To View More >>

Following on from last week's post, here are a few more album design tips. For all you photographers designing your own.  Let them breathe… We touched on cropping last time, but it's worth repeating! Sure photo-bombing is fun, but generally we like the core elements of an image to have a nice amount of breathing space to the edge of the page, or image "frame". In fact think of it exactly like framing a picture: it gives the subject a sense of intent and importance. Jamming things up against the image edge often looks awkward. But "breathing To View More >>

We caught up with two of the design team,  Simon and Rachel, to talk all things album design. Here are their top four tips for creating beautiful, clean layouts. Less is more Rachel: Unclutter your design. It’s simple. Let the key images and high quality materials of an album speak for themselves. If you notice the design, it’s taking precedence over the images – good design is effortless. Simon: If the design is loaded with images the hero shots can be lost among a forest of images. By keeping the image selection minimal, you’ll free up space and make the rest To View More >>