A Breath of Fresh Air from Penhouse

As we begin to settle down and reflect on 2018, we'd like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of our friends and clients who we have worked with this year, it's been fun! Put your feet up, grab a coffee and have a browse through just some of this year's projects.

2018 in review....

Each year Druids Glen Resort wows us with another addition to their offering. This year was no different. They revamped their lobby area - now the Sycamore Lounge - and extended their bar with the opening of a beautiful new glass viewing and dining space, the Garden Rooms. We branded each space, to tie in with their interiors and in the run up to Christmas. the space has been promoted through their 12 days of Christmas campaign.

It's so exciting to see our first ever logo reproduced in leather! We've been working with Eavaun at Killenure Castle for a couple of years now. She continues to innovate and produce beautiful products which we love branding - from logos for their new leather range, to packaging designs for their chorizo and salami sliced product.

Vodafone Ireland asked us to brand their sustainability agenda. We created a range of infographics and designed a report, independently styled yet neatly sitting under the Vodafone brand umbrella.

In preparing for every eventuality, we think it's all about getting your ducks in a row. This inspired our design for the SBCI Bank campaign. Working with Adam and Ed Creative, we designed a range of graphics and advertising to promote their Brexit Loan Scheme.

Every year we design a number of annual reports, research information and other corporate publications, this year is no different. We continue to design for Tusla and two new clients we have added in 2018 include the National Advocacy Service and Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, for whom we designed a Government of Ireland branded report.

What a pleasure it has been this year working with Niamh in Tully Nurseries and their Bella Bloom brand. We first started working together when Bord Bia introduced us and we designed a gifting product. Since then, we've been updating their communications and packaging in print and digital media. Look out for their huge range of really gorgeous plants in your local garden centre, with special new additions for 2019.

Our musical heritage in Ireland is one we can all connect with and one we are very proud of. The fiddle is often at the heart of a good Irish get-together, or in the background gently playing as a story is told. Working with The Heritage Council, we updated the National Heritage Week identity with a fiddle icon to suit the 2018 theme - Share a Story, Make a Connection - and gave them a number of infographics to promote the event's success.

We designed a new identity for Glamping Under the Stars. If you've never glamped, then this is where you start. If you've glamped before, you're in for an even more glamorous and quirky treat, because it's one very special place. Look up their Instagram page, or visit their website for a good taste of all they offer.

As Portlaoise town grows rapidly, we've been enjoying working with local retailers and Laois County Council to brand it suitably for everybody. We created some infographics for the business investor market and designed a new town logo for consumers, with a suitable tagline 'We'll meet you there!'.

Carlow's Towns and Villages are gradually being enhanced with a range of mapboards, detailing each location's heritage and points of interest. We've illustrated each map and designed the story boards. Keep an eye out for them as you travel through the county!

We love a Girl Boss here! So when Mary Lawlor, CEO of Carlow Development Partnership, told us about this project, we were on board from day one! Piloting in one school in Carlow this year, the 'Girls Take Over' project places transition year students in company leadership positions for one day only. It was/is a huge success from the perspective of the participating students, parents and leaders and received some great TV coverage too.

This year saw us design for a number of clients in the medical area, which was a bit of a new direction for us but it's one we are really liking. From doctors' and dentists' practices  to the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), we have been creating identities and branded communications.

We designed a number of additional identities for our friends at the Dublin Barista School and 9th Degree coffee roasters. Now James has his own identity as the ultimate coffee and business guru, and their Barista School and recruitment division are both also branded as part of the same family, completing their portfolio of services.

Flynns are our favourite Irish tomato growers, owned by a family who have been growing tomatoes for five generations and are suppliers to many of the larger retailers around Ireland. It was time they had their own identity. Together with Bord Bia and the SuperBrands programme, we helped them to create a logo design and packaging suite, composed their story and some different taglines too. You can follow their progress here.

New season, more new beer... Ballykilcavan Brewery have been expanding their beer family. Look out for their Long Meadow IPA, which won an Alltech medal earlier this year and the recently launched Gingerbread beer and Blackwell Irish stout, adding to the griffen crew. They are very active on social media with loads of news of their beautiful brewery build, which just started brewing THIS WEEK!. We particularly like their Instagram page as it has plenty of pics of our branding! Follow their activity here...

This year we helped our friends in Lily O'Brien's with a pretty makeover at their Kildare Village shop where we produced a range of graphics for in-shop display.

We also designed new packaging for their tasty Share Bags and delicious Winter Desserts, just in time for this season.

On World Mental Health day in October, Gillian took part in #MindOverMatter2018 at the Carlow venue. Joining 200 other designers from many disciplines all over Ireland, together we raised over €23,000 for Aware. A huge thank you all of you who kindly donated and booked slots as well as to Anne Kelly for organising the Carlow venue and Kim McKenzie-Doyle for the brainchild and national organisation.

If you think we can help you with any of your design requirements, we'd love to hear from you. Reach us in the studio at 057 8625522, or pop us an email to design@penhouse.ie. In the meantime you can follow us on our Social Media sites for more regular updates.

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