I know the owner of Draftaway and I had a chat with him once about the main reasons as to why they outsource and how they still offer such competitive rates. He explained to me exactly what I said above, that experts will produce better work and clients will be happier. I questioned him and asked him, “Won’t it be more expensive to get experts to do so rather than doing it yourself?” He immediately replied, yes it will be but once we get the work off our hands, the price we relay to our clients will be cheaper because we don’t have the overheads of having to actually do the work plus you’re more likely to retain clients when the work produced for them is of high quality.

I understood exactly where he was coming from.

My next question was regarding the different capabilities that a draftsperson external to Draftaway would have.  My friend said to me that the graphic designing software and general designing software that expert drafts people have is astonishing. The capability of the software and the ease of use make humans almost completely redundant he said and rather than spending weeks and weeks drafting up drawings, these programs do it in the blink of an eye.

All of his explanations were so clear to me and it shows me why Draftaway are in a good position as a business. They have also recently just added BPO Away and Accounts Away to their portfolio which is also outsourcing business processes and account management respectively.

A very impressive company that needs to be recognised for the understanding of how businesses should work!

That’s why I have resorted to ordering my toner cartridges online. I mean why not? I found a website that is totally dedicated to toner cartridges. The fact I can order from my office, as soon as I know we need them and within days they are delivered to the office. It saves so much time and so much effort.

I used to drive around from one office supplies shop, to the next looking for the exact colour and style of cartridge that our printers needed. Such a waste of time! Not to mention how much that used to aggravate me. One shop would have one I needed, and not the other. Then the next would have the right colour but the wrong brand or model.

Now we simply order online and have them delivered. We never run out of our toner cartridges and I save so much money in doing it. Toner Cartridges have free delivery, super fast delivery and offer free returns as well. It is crazy when I hear not everyone uses a service like this. I mean in our industry in the creative field, we print A LOT, and we go through so many cartridges. I need to save money where I can, when trying to run a successfully profitable business, and this is not only a money saver, but a convenient option.

Check out their site and tell me what you think. I know other graphic designers have found them to be super helpful and just another great way to utilise the internet!

I’ve recently had my home kitchen designed by Decor Kitchens and I have never been so impressed with a service from start to finish. Every single step of the process was done meticulously and to highest possible standard. It didn’t matter if it was arriving on time to a consultation, bringing the correct paperwork or the actual design of the kitchen; everything that was done by the people at Decor Kitchens was terrific.

One of the most impressive areas of the Decor Kitchens business had to be the design programs they use to design all their kitchens. They offer free in-house consultations but I wanted to go to their design studio (I heard it was one of the best kitchen display centres Melbourne has ever seen) and see all the possible designs. Everything I heard about their display centre was confirmed as soon as I stepped foot into the Burwood showroom. Everything was so clean and pristinely organised.

So, getting back to that fancy design program; I have never seen anything like it! I’m not so technologically savvy – I don’t have all the Apple Products, I just have a simple desktop that I used purely for business but I could tell that business has come a long way when I saw this program. I can’t remember the name of it exactly but it was like being in the Matrix it was that amazing. It was touch screen and done on an iPad which made it look even better.

I eventually sat down with one of the employees and he walked me through how I was to go about the design process and what he thought was the best design for my house. It takes a while to confirm the best possible design for your house but for me it didn’t take that long and that was mostly thanks to the wonderful help from Decor Kitchens.

Four months later and my kitchen dream was a reality! I don’t know if anyone else has ever experienced such a brilliant service before but if you have I dare you to try and beat my experience with Decor Kitchens!

Now with online searching and with the internet playing such a huge role in the retail industry, rugs online are ever-present and the Hali website is a perfect example of this. When I first went on the Hali website I was extremely impressed with the presentation and its virtual look. There were beautifully taken photos of the feature rugs, the writing around the website was clear and most importantly it was easy to use. This wasn’t even the best part of the whole process!

The best part was viewing the plethora of rugs they have to offer. You can select from traditional, modern, tribal or transitional depending on your taste. I’m a bit of a nut so I like the traditional ones in one room but also like the tribal and modern ones in other rooms. I don’t base the look of my house around the rugs I buy but the rugs I buy go a long way to contributing the way my house looks.

I recently just purchased the Jute – Fire Box rug in red for my front living room because as soon as I saw it I felt like I needed that rug. Made out of 100% jute and hand braided in India, this rug has a fiery look with a charcoal edge and I thought it was perfect for my front room.  The amount of comments I had on this rug was astounding and it makes me want to buy even more!

My next purchase for my back room which I’m disposing of the current rug will hopefully be the brand new Art Deco – Anni (ivory) rug. This rug is an absolute pearler! It’s beautiful New Zealand wool and made in India but the designs are so innovative, so modern and so brilliant!

My rug store of choice used to be Rugs a Million but compared to Hali they are not on the same level so from now on, Hali is my store of choice and may they always offer rugs like they do now!

Her kitchen is now stunning with a modern design that really captures the eye and regularly has her guests asking questions about who designed it. Because of this we are going to redesign our kitchen and use The Kitchen Design Centre to do so.

I know that for months and months Sally (my sister) was plotting what she wanted to do her kitchen. She had second thoughts on about twenty occasions on what she wanted to do and continuously changed her mind because she was never content with her decision. I guess you can say this is where The Kitchen Design Centre stepped in and separate themselves from the other companies who couldn’t offer the same service. When Sally first got in touch with The Kitchen Design Centre it didn’t take her long to find her dream design and the turnaround between her deciding and it being completed was unbelievably quick.

Although it may seem minor, but seeing a smile on my sister’s face because there are decent people out there who want to work hard to provide satisfaction to others makes me feel good! She is one of those house-obsessive females who has to have everything absolutely perfect in her house and she told me one night the only thing that wasn’t satisfying her in her house was her kitchen and now that this has been done – she is so much happier and it’s evident!

Why wouldn’t you use a company that is reliable, affordable and offers a high level of customer service? The answer is The Kitchen Design Centre.

One thing that surprised me the most when I visited them for a meeting was the closeness and unity amongst their team. It is literally like one big family where everyone shares the same vision of working as a team towards a goal. They take pride in their work and have a strong belief that teamwork is essential in efficiently and effectively achieving certain goals. Because this was so evident the first thought that clicked in my mind was that this was a worthwhile business decision to put my brand in the hands of a team who will diligently work together to achieve the optimum result.

The best thing about OBM Advertising is their vision which is to help them help their clients. I believe that this kind of vision is what can make a business tick over and why they have such a good customer retention rate in addition to constantly acquiring new customers. If you put your money in a business you want them to have a passion and a zest for success. OBM certainly do have a passion and zest for success which can be seen from the results they provide to their clients.

I don’t think I could have chosen a better company to put my money and trust in and to this day, I couldn’t recommend another company any more than OBM. Hard-working, prompt and with skilful graphic designers – these three areas sum up OBM perfectly and they will never disappoint you in anything they do.

How important is it then that the graphic designing is done well, is appropriate for the industry, company, product or service and effective for the target market? Extremely important since you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Graphic designing is an important part of today’s business world.  Many of us are brand conscious and as it is such a competitive business world, brands are always trying to outdo each other, stand out from the pack, and try and do something unique.

The amount of kitchen and bathroom renovation companies that are scattered throughout Melbourne can make it tricky when it comes down to choosing the best company for your home. I recently undertook some house extensions and the task of choosing who to complete the jobs was almost as hard as deciding what to put where, in the newly renovated home.

I searched online, chatted to people, searched online again and came up with a few possible options. I searched for house extensions, and came across a company called Home Extend. Their website attracted me as it was clean, modern and easy to navigate through. They are specialists in bathroom renovation and kitchen renovation.  The graphic design on their logo is simple, and elegant. It is in line for what they offer their clients.

The house extensions are the company’s main focus, and they are experts in this field. But how do they attract customers who have no trust in their brand name, who have no past with them? Graphic design can help. It can be used to create a personality of a brand, the face of the brand, and that can influence a person’s decision to contact the company.

I believe Home Extend has been designed in a way to make the graphics seem natural and appropriate and I believe the graphic designers have done a great job with making the website clean and simple, yet elegant and fresh. Would you agree? Do you think Home Extends website stands out from the pack?

How to make your website design remembered for the right reasons is important. You don’t want people’s first impressions of your company to be about how tacky or outdated your website is. Or how overly crowded with information and data it is, that it makes looking at it all too much work.

A website shouldn’t cover every single aspect of your company. Leave some things to the imagination. It should be similar to a book blurb, for example. Give viewers a taste, but don’t blow the entire cover. Depending on your business, the amount of information, images and contact information will vary. Let’s focus on florists. Because I found a great example!

B and M Florist. This florist in Sydney has a website that is both functional, colour appropriate and provides information relevant and appropriate to the company. Sydney Flowers are a very competitive industry, there are businesses competing left, right and centre. There are websites all over the net all providing, seemingly the same thing. How does one company set themselves apart? How does a company ensure people will choose them, over competitors?  In today’s online focused business world, it is common for people to search online, buy online, and never once step foot in the store, or pick up the phone. All the business contact can be made through the online space. That is why it is so important to have a functional, attractive, informative website.

This company has a fantastic Sydney Flowers Delivered on same day option, which is another important point to make. It’s great to have something that sets you apart from your competitors. Many florists do overnight delivery- but same day, impressive. So they have that on the first page. It’s important to attract the website viewers straight away, because if they don’t like what they see on the first page, it might be ‘see you later’. Some people just don’t have the patience to view three or four pages until they find something they are looking for.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this website example and I’d love to hear if you agree with mine. In such a competitive and creative industry, there is always going to be differing opinions so that is why it’s always great to hear others thoughts.

The black and white simplicity of the logo is modern, and is becoming quite a popular choice for branding colours. It is timeless and you are guaranteed it won’t date as fast as some other colour options. The website is stylish and looks great as it displays this company like a professional and reputable company would want to be portrayed.