Aside from being a graphic designer, Brooklyn based artist Dana Tanamachi is becoming increasingly recognised as a custom chalk letterer. Dana has been commissioned by clients such as Rugby Ralph Lauren, Google and Adidas – and we think that her work is striking enough to warrant a ‘we’re loving that!’ So, see what you think – and if you want to see some more of her work, then visit www.danatanamachi.com

Banner for Kings County Jerky Co; drawn on chalk fabric.

The Wes Anderson, Brooklyn

Custom piece for a wedding reception

Wine label that Dana created for Nagging Doubt Wines; Art Direction by Bernie Hadley-Beauregard & Laurie Millotte of Brandever.

Just a quick blog post especially for those of you feeling a little peckish!

We have just finished amending a menu we designed for Bridgnorth based ‘Peepo Pizza’. matm Designer, Neil Dicken updated the menu artwork to include the new dishes along with the new ‘Super 7 Pizzas’ offer.

So if you live in Shropshire, have an eye for design and the stomach for a pizza, click on the menu below and perpare to salivate!

In late 2011, Arsenal Football Club introduced a Facebook app for its fans. Supporters are able to customise banners which show support for their team.  Designs are entered into a competition, with the lucky winners having their banners produced and displayed around the Emirates Stadium during certain home games throughout the season.

The campaign uses social media to allow Arsenal supporters from around the world, who are unable to attend a home game, to show their support for the London club.

Hal Stokes, of media agency Essence, said:

“A supporters commitment to their club is embodied in their thinking, communication and behavior, and is a passion that is often impossible to truly reflect in marketing activity. Capitalising on the social interactivity of the medium, the app harnesses the culture of Facebook to bring supporters together around the club online as well as offline. I think this is a fantastic initiative by Arsenal FC that will be widely embraced by their huge global supporter base as they try to create online content that comes alive in the excitement of an Arsenal home game.”

Maybe we’ll see a similar use of social media at one of Shropshire’s football clubs, Shrewsbury or Telford…?

We have just finished the design, print and copywriting of the latest newsletter for Telford based company, IPS (Independent Parts and Services), who are Europe’s largest supplier of parts and service to the Access Industry. The A4 newsletter is 4 sided and uses the company’s corporate colours of black and yellow throughout.

With a nod to the Olympics taking place in the UK this year, matm graphic designer Neil Dicken used the silhouette of a sprinter on the front cover. The figure appears to be crossing a finishing line away from any visible competition – a representation of IPS’s position in the powered access parts and service market.

matm has designed, written and printed newsletters, often to tight deadlines, for a number of companies – from small local operations through to large international companies.

Get in contact by clicking above on ‘contact us’ and we can discuss how we’ll help you produce a first class newsletter.

There seem to be a lot of exhibitions taking place during the autumn season as orders on our range of printed roller banners have definitely been on the up this month. The matm design department has been busy creating eye-catching designs for a range of clients throughout September and October.

Here’s a few examples of pull-up banners we’ve designed and printed over the last month – note the QR code added to one of the designs – an interactive feature that’s becoming increasingly popular.

We offer a wide range of portable roller banners, including the grasshopper, barracuda, mosquito, axis, orient and impact. We can also supply a wide range of other exhibition material.

We can usually turn around projects very quickly. Also, these banners are now very affordable. And, of course, they’re reusable.

Ironbridge teddy bear maker Merrythought has launched its official London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Teddy Bear – exactly a year before the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on July 27th 2012.

The cuddly bear is based on a design from 1948 – the year London last hosted the Olympic Games – and is made from from the finest gold mohair.

London 2012 Olympic Games Commemorative Teddy Bear

The teddy comes with a choice of three different coloured ribbons – blue, green or pink, rather than bronze, silver and gold – and only 2012 bears sporting each colour have been made. So a limited edition of 6036 bears are available to buy.

That’ll make them almost as rare and sought after as an Olympic ticket.

International luxury freestanding bath manufacturer Victoria + Albert Baths sells its products worldwide. This means each piece of printed material has to be reproduced for each country in its native language. This is to ensure the V+A brand has a consistent message, tone of voice, and that the complex technical specifications for these luxury products do not get lost in translation.

Consolidating the technical specification sheets resulted in reduced print costs as we combined 5 languages English, German, French, Spanish and Italian into one universal sheet. Icons, technical diagrams & images replaced multiple descriptions, thus gaining valuable space to include the important native descriptions.

Multi language document benefits:

• saving on print costs
• save on setup costs – one set of plates
• unified brand identity across the whole of Europe
• ease of updating across multiple languages
• single file update for European language web site
• reduces carbon footprint – less print runs

The recently completed overhaul of the European materials includes luxury brochures, specification & fitting sheets along with reusable e-shot templates through our bespoke e-shot system called Coffeemail. We are also working on a multilingual price list which includes Russian & Polish along with the 5 other languages above.

Matm can offer a complete translation service – all text is translated by people who speak in the native tongue, right through to recreation of artwork and websites.

Why not contact us today and find out how much you could save on print and artwork cost – Merci, Gracias, Grazie, Danke & Thank you!!

Following recent refurbishments, YHA Coalbrookdale and YHA Coalport, both in Ironbridge, wanted to promote their sites with a joint leaflet giving information on the activities available within the Ironbridge area.

We were asked to produce the leaflets and, with a very quick turnaround for both design and print, supplied 2,000 finished leaflets on time.

Cath Young, YHA Manager Ironbridge, said: “We had a tight budget and an even tighter deadline, but the guys at matm really pulled us out of a hole and provided us with excellent customer service.

“The leaflet looks better than I could ever imagine, and I was really impressed considering the short deadline. The leaflet has received positive feedback from both colleagues and potential customers to our sites.”

This poster was designed by London and Los Angeles based graphic design company, Binary & The Brain, in association with the Louisiana Wildlife Federation to raise awareness of the many critically endangered species which continue to be effected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

38 of the coast’s most at-risk animals, some of which face extinction or have already vanished from the state are used to create the shape of the effected coastline and lettering, all are numbered for identification.

Designer Neil Dicken said: “I really like the illustration in this poster – the way in which the combination of animal silhouettes are used to create the shape of the affected coastline – so as well as being very artistic, the poster is very informative at the same time.”

All profits from the sale of this poster go directly to the Louisiana Wildlife Federation to help protect and conserve the endangered species. Visit lawildlifefed.org to find out more and to show your support for their great work.

The Birds

This poster was designed in association with BirdLife International to raise awareness of the 52 UK birds on the endangered red list.

Again, each of the 52 birds were used to outline the lettering and are numbered for identification.

Produced by Binary and the Brain

Available from www.counter-objects.co.uk


We’re really pleased to have helped Victoria + Albert Baths, in Telford, successfully launch a new style of bath. We souces a new typeface best suited for the product name – Barcelona – and a special swirl design element for web pages and an international mini-brochure.

Our web developers then created the pages on V+A’s website and co-ordinated the online launch. We hope you agree, the results are pretty classy, just like the bath!