For us here at Frost*, the dream jobs are the ones that allow us to affect a business holistically, across every touch point, helping to reinvent, refine and define right across the board. Getting inside a project, really understanding where the client’s business has been and where it’s headed, is crucial in reaching an inspired solution. We’re committed to collaboration in a big way. Our work with the State Library of New South Wales is a brilliant example of that, as is Música. And whilst we’re a truly multi-disciplinary studio, our classic design work still makes us proud, the recent Australand annual report a case in point.

For ACON, Australia’s largest gay, lesbian and bisexual health organisation, Mardi Gras is an unmissable opportunity to re-engage the community with messages about pre-empting sex with boundary-setting conversation. But how do we make this refreshing to an audience who’ve heard it all before?

We honed in on the need for communication to become an integral part of foreplay and our strategic approach focussed on articulating this in one clever word: Beforeplay. The strategy unfolded as a series of honest but artful erotic photographs of gay and lesbian Sydney-siders, in the act, as a central device in creating an engaging dialogue with people whose heads (and bodies) were in party-mode.

According to ACON, the reaction has been overwhelming. ”Since the launch, we keep receiving fantastic feedback”, said Education Manager, Yves Calmette. “It looks like this is one of the best campaigns to ever come out of ACON”.

Environmental issues are close to our hearts here at Frost*, so working with Wiltshire & Dimas Management, the Auburn City Council and Parramatta City Council on a digital project encouraging local businesses to participate in a new sustainability program, was an opportunity to be relished.

Taking inspiration from the local stream, Duck River, which was the catalyst for the initiative, ‘Streamline’ was devised as the program’s name. The word also speaks to efficiency and is suggestive of an improved bottom line, a key motivator in inspiring our target audience to get involved. With the naming strategy defined, the visual solution was then obvious – create a streamlined and linear identity based on a line which runs into a series of simple, clean icons representing the various ‘streams’ within the program. Our digital team integrated these elements into a simple, information rich website which has been readily utilised by the local community. www.streamline.org.au

When the State Library of New South Wales approached Frost*, they knew they needed to reposition their organisation to broaden its appeal and become more relevant in the ‘internet age’.

The first step was to develop a brand strategy to tease out existing perceptions and uncover where fresh, exciting opportunities lay. Hooking into the experience of making a delightful and unexpected discovery amongst the Library’s collection, the heart of the brand strategy emerged – ‘surprising’. This thought became the jumping off point for an integrated solution that included the positioning of the Library as an exciting cultural destination.

A typographic punctuation created in 1962, the Interrobang became our inspiration for the logo. The mark symbolises simultaneous question and answer – the perfect solution to embodying the idea of surprising.

The new brand has been rolled out via new look and feel for all collateral, signage, shop, website and their member's magazine. We were also incredibly excited to create a bespoke typeface, developed to celebrate the centenary of the SLNSW’s iconic Mitchell Library.

Visit the Library's website to see how our work is being applied: www.sl.nsw.gov.au

Standing out amongst an already groaning roster of festivals and music events requires a creative idea as sophisticated as the discerning audience that Música, a new series of carefully curated dance music events, hopes to attract. A portugese word literally translating as ‘music’, we discovered the creative cue in the name: with an accent on ú (you).

This embodied the strategy of Música: that even at an event of 5,000 people your personal experience was their priority.

The resulting design system covers the logo, brand toolkit and style guide and the branding exercise has also provided the Música team with a clear focus on how they must deliver the events to their elite breed of punters.

Visit the website to find out more about these events and see the identity in application: www.musicafestival.com

Australand, one of Australia’s leading property developers, wanted a cost effective annual report appropriate for a group emerging from the effects of the GFC but which at the same time, conveyed the resilience of a business model which resulted in the Group being well-positioned for 2010 and beyond. Our response was a smartly designed suite of two-colour publications which employs our signature bold use of typography to take an editorial approach, with headlines that make the text more accessible.

Throughout the document, photographs of buildings and an architectural skyline device reflect the very nature of Australand’s business and text flows through a clean, streamlined grid which harks to the topography of land, another core element of the industry.

We are delighted to announce that our signage work for the City of Sydney’s parks has won the Interpretation and Presentation category in the 2010 NSW National Trust awards.

Vince Frost has created a set of artworks for Inside Out magazine on the theme ‘Heart & Home‘ that are up for auction for the HeartKids charity. Place your bid at homelife.com.au/artauction

To find out how Frost* can make a difference for your business, contact info@frostdesign.com.au

Frost* Sydney
1st Floor 15 Foster Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 Sydney Australia
Telephone +61 (0) 2 9280 4233 Facsimile +61 (0) 2 9280 4266
info@frostdesign.com.au www.frostdesign.com.au