Clarus Design

AEEMA Annual Report 2007

The Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (AEEMA) is the leading industry body representing Australia's information and communication technology (ICT), electronics and electrical manufacturing industries.

This year we were invited to design AEEMA's Annual Report for the eighth time, using content that was expertly prepared by Karen Jamal from KJ Communications.

Following on from last years successful design, this years report weighed in at 56 A4 pages plus cover. The text is printed black plus Pantone 2728 throughout, and the cover prints full colour both sides.

Thanks to Joan Morrell at AEEMA for the positive feedback about the job:

The Annual Report arrived Friday afternoon and I am very pleased with the result. Thanks for doing a great job as usual.

Joan Morrell
Financial Controller & Operations Manager, AEEMA.

We look forward to working with AEEMA on more projects in the future. The report is available for download in PDF format here.

The WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement

Back in 2006 we edited and designed a small booklet for the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry titled The WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement: Why you need to know.

More information is available on the relevant page on the DAFF website.

This year we are producing five new versions of this booklet in five languages: Khmer, Bahasa Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese and Lao.

We are able to produce short documents in-house in foreign languages, with larger jobs outsourced to our foreign language typesetting partners, and managed by us.

A methodology for evaluating ROI from NRM R&D

Following on from the mammoth document produced for Land & Water Australia last month comes another, smaller, document in the same series: A methodology for evaluating return on investment from natural resource management research and development.

This 63 page A4 document describes the methods and templates for analysis used in the main document. We edited and designed both documents.

More information is available on the Land and Water Australia website, or you can download a copy in PDF format.

Australian Army Journal Vol. 4, No. 1

The latest issue of the Australian Army Journal has hit the streets. This issue, known as Autumn 2007, is the first of three planned issues for 2007. The 226 page journal is available for download in PDF format here, or through the Land Warfare Studies Centre website.

LWA Portfolio ROI

We have just completed the editing and design of a mammoth document for Stuart Pearson at Land & Water Australia. This 672 page A4 document, titled Land & Water Australia's Portfolio Return on Investment 2nd Edition, examines the impact that Land & Water Australia's research has had on achieving the sustainable use and management of Australia's natural resources.

More information about this document, along with a link to the downloadable PDF version, is available on the Land & Water Australia website here.

ACIAR Impact Assessment Series

We are regularly called upon to edit and design documents for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Among these documents are ACIAR's Impact Assessment Series. In the last few months we have worked on:

• IAS40: Zero tillage for weed control in India: the contribution to poverty alleviation
• IAS41: ACIAR and public funding of R&D: submission to the Productivity Commission study on public support for science and innovation
• IAS42: Benefits to Australia of selected CABI products
• IAS43: Water management in public irrigation schemes in Vietnam

All these documents are available for download on the ACIAR website.

Happy New Year

The festive season is done, the holiday period is over, and February is here.

Merry Christmas

With the festive season in full swing, and the holiday period about to commence, the time has come to wish all our clients and friends a Merry Christmas for 2006. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2007.

Australian Army Journal Vol. 3, No. 3

We completed the design of 3 editions of the Australian Army Journal this year. The design of Vol. 3, No. 1 was completed in February, as discussed earlier.

The 252 page Vol. 3, No. 2 was finished in June, and was the first to be produced under the direction of new editor Scott Hopkins. Past issues of the Australian Army Journal can be downloaded in PDF format from the Land Warfare Studies Centre website.

The 248 page Vol. 3, No. 3 was finished in December, and can be downloaded in PDF format here.

AEEMA Annual Report 2006

The Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (AEEMA) is the leading industry body representing Australia's information and communication technology (ICT), electronics and electrical manufacturing industries.

For the seventh time in eight years, we were asked to design and manage the print production of the AEEMA Annual Report. This years report is 56 pages long, and was printed two-colour throughout with a full colour cover. The PDF is available for download from the AEEMA website.

Vietnamese Land Policy

This latest Monograph, titled Agricultural development and land policy in Vietnam and produced for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), was completed last month.

Clarus Design were enlisted to design and typeset this Monograph, using information from an ACIAR project, the main aims of which were to assess the impacts of the Vietnamese government's new policies on agriculture and to provide economic models suitable for analysing policy reforms.

The 272 page PDF file is available for download from the ACIAR website.

Australian Army Journal Summer 2005–06

The Summer 2005–06 issue of the Australian Army Journal (AAJ) was finished in February this year, and ended up running to a massive 340 pages. This issue included articles by General Peter Cosgrove (Retd) and Lieutenant Colonel Mick Mumford, as well as an interview with the Prime Minister John Howard.

This was the last issue to be produced by Mr Ara Nalbandian, who has moved to another editorial appointment within the Department of Defence. I worked with Ara for three years on the AAJ, and I look forward to working with him in the future.

More information about the AAJ is available in this previous post. Download a copy of the Summer 2005–06 AAJ in PDF here.

NHMRC Annual Report 2005

After working on the NHMRC Annual Report last year, we were again asked to produce the report this year. The finished job again ended up at around 250 B5 pages, and again included a mammoth single table that spanned over more than 100 pages. A link will be posted once the report has been tabled in Parliament.

SIRP CD and brochure

The Social and Institutional Research Program (SIRP) is funded by Land and Water Australia and provides funding towards research in the humanities and social sciences and how they relate to natural resource management.

Over the years we have produced many projects for the Social and Institutional Research Program. The latest project to be completed is a CD-ROM and brochure titled SIRP — Guide to projects and publications — October 2005.

The 16 page brochure, which can be downloaded here, includes general program information along with details about the various programs that are funded by the SIRP. The CD-ROM, which includes links to some 105 PDF documents, has more detailed information on each funded program as well as PDF versions of fact sheets and reports.

Thanks again to Alice and Joanna at Land & Water Australia for providing us with the opportunity to work on this job, and particularly to Joanna for her kind comments:

Thanks for all the great work you did on the brochure, we are very happy with it.

Joanna Pinkas
Program Officer
Social and Institutional Research
Land & Water Australia

Integrating knowledge for river basin management

One of our primary areas of expertise is the editing and design of large technical documents. Our latest production is the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Monograph titled Integrating knowledge for river basin management. The printed copies of this document were delivered last week, and they look fantastic!

This lengthy document of 224 pages was designed around the ACIAR Monograph standard size of 170x240mm, and features a typical array of technical tables and figures, the majority of which were redrafted to achieve a uniform style.

It's always satisfying to receive positive feedback on a project to which you've invested a fair amount of energy. In this case we received great feedback from one of the editors, Professor Tony Jakeman, Director of the Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management Centre (iCAM) at the Australian National University (ANU):

Our ACIAR publication on the Thai work arrived yesterday. May I say how impressed I am by the quality and aesthetically pleasing nature of the production. I do not recall seeing such a piece of 'art.' … I am very hopeful that the book will gain recognition for ACIAR and the ANU in this frontier area of river basin management.

Tony Jakeman
Director, Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management Centre

Download a copy in PDF format.

Army Journal Autumn 2005

The latest issue of the Australian Army Journal, Autumn 2005, is finally finished. The book ended up a lengthy 314 pages and continues the trend of increasing in length by about 25–30% each issue. We have developed a good working relationship with the editorial team of the AAJ, particularly the Managing Editor Mr Ara Nalbandian, and look forward to working on the next issue.

More information about the AAJ is available in this previous post. Download a copy of the Autumn AAJ in PDF here.

NHMRC Annual Report

We've recently completed work on the 2004 Annual Report for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Actually, we finished work on the job a few months ago, but we had to wait for the document to be tabled before we could talk about it here.

Our contract covered the design and typesetting of the document, including design of a couple of concepts for the cover and the finalisation of one of those concepts. The finished document ended up being 251 pages and included a mammoth table that spanned over 103 pages!

This report can be downloaded from the NHMRC website.

Very large books

We have just completed another enormous book for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The Monograph, titled China's agricultural and rural development in the early 21st century, ended up a whopping 548 pages!. This is one of the largest documents we have completed for ACIAR.

As is typical with these types of projects, we were enlisted to perform the editing, design and typesetting. The entire project was completed in a few months, and the end result is a fantastic book that the client is very pleased with.

This book is available for download or purchase from the ACIAR website.

Ericson's logo design

Logo design is not part of our core business, but occassionally we are called upon to create a logo for a client. We were asked by Eva from Ericson's Massage to create a logo for her new therapeutic massage business.

A great logo is one that can be successfully applied across various mediums. It should be capable of being reproduced in full colour or black, faxed, photocopied or turned into a sign without losing any quality or detail.

We created a few variations for different applications, including a couple of different colour options, a black only design for faxing and photocopying and horizontal and vertical designs.

Ericson's Massage is located in the Yarralumla shops and can be contacted on phone (02) 6285 4407 or email ele@stratman.com.au.

Sustainable Rivers Audit

The Sustainable Rivers Audit is an initiative of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission. We were asked by the Program Manager of the Audit, Dianne Flett, to assist in the creation of a new corporate design that could be applied across the various products that the Audit produces.

The first step was the creation of a couple of rough concepts to be presented to the client. The two concepts were presented, one was settled upon, and work began on adapting this concept across the various items required. This included fact sheets, newsletters, PowerPoint templates and posters.

As part of the brief, a simple logotype was created:

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Followed by a graphic device that could be applied across all products:

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Next up was a factsheet template:

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Followed by a report cover template (left) and a folder template (right):

View a larger version of the report cover template (opens in new window).

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This is an ongoing project for Clarus, so stay tuned for more updates from the Sustainable Rivers Audit!

ACPPM corporate material

We were approached by the Australian College of Pharmacy Practice and Management (website) in early February to assist them in getting a range of new corporate material designed and printed for their new identity launch in early March. This was undoubtedly a huge task with only 3–4 weeks available for the design and print process. More information, including a list of the items produced, is available in the post continuation.

First on the agenda was the design of four brochures for the College’s Accelerated Retail Management Program, Diploma of Retail Management and Graduate Management Program. The main requirement was for these brochures to be easily mailable, which meant DL size was the go.

Download a sample design.

Not many people realise that a DL envelope can be up to 130mmx240mm and still be mailed at the standard small letter Australia Post rate. As it happens Officeworks — and presumably others — sell an oversize DL envelope called the DLX which measures 120x235mm. The decision was made to produce the brochures at a size of 115x230mm rather than the typical 98x210mm. The client gets a brochure that is 25% larger for the same price. Bargain!

The next component of the job was the design and printing of new member certificates. This required the design of a blank which would then be overprinted with the member's details. The blanks were printed full colour offset on Snowflake Linen Embossed 280gsm, a premium embossed board produced with ECF pulp. This stock has a great toothy feel and is sure to look great once framed and mounted.

View a larger version of the member certificate

Due to time constraints we offered to complete the overprinting process as well. We were supplied with a huge spreadsheet containing member details including name and member status. This was imported into our design package, formatted, exported to PDF, and then used to overprint the previously printed blanks using our trusty black only laser printer. The Hewlett Packard printer didn't miss a beat through the whole process.

We also designed and printed:

• inserts for existing course folders
• covers for the course prospectus
• graduate certificate blanks
• signage for the College's office in Barton, ACT. This was completed in house using our Roland vinyl cutter.

Thanks again to Margaret, Paul and Henry for having the faith to place a large job with a small design agency. We delivered on-time, on-budget and received very positive feedback throughout the process.

Nitrogen Fixation in Acacias

We have just completed the editing, design and typesetting of Nitrogen Fixation in Acacias for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The physical size of the document follows an ACIAR monograph standard of 210 x 210 mm, with the final book running to 132 pages plus cover.

View a larger version of the cover (opens in new window).

The design and typesetting included many tables, figures and photos. Where possible figures were redrawn to ensure consistent colour, size and typefaces. Photos were colour corrected and enhanced for print production.

Download the entire document as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file.

You can order a copy of this book through the ACIAR website.

Australian Army Journal

We started working on the Journal back in May 2003, when we were approached by Catherine McCullagh and Ara Nalbandian from the Land Warfare Studies Centre. The journal hadn't been produced for quite a few years, and they were looking for a contemporary design that reflected the importance of the new journal's content while retaining an ‘academic’ feel.

The first task was the design of the new cover. The essential element was the Australian Army's fantastic logo featuring the ‘Rising Sun’ emblem that dates back to the early 1900’s. It was decided that the rising sun should be the dominant feature of the cover, and the colours would be the Army's traditional green and red.

This was one of those designs that happened quickly and relatively easily. When you've got quality elements to work with and a clear direction from the client, it makes design a lot easier. The client was extremely happy with the design — as were we — and it was finalised for the first issue.

View a larger version of the Australian Army Journal June 2003 cover (opens in a new window).

The brief for the B5 text layout called for a tight, technical design with great attention paid to typeface selection, letter and word spacing and hyphenation. The typeface chosen was Minion Pro, an Adobe Original typeface designed by Robert Slimbach in 1990. The full Minion Pro family contains three weights and two widths, each with optical size variants. With its many ligatures, small caps, oldstyle figures, swashes, and other added glyphs, Minion Pro is ideal for uses ranging from limited-edition books to newsletters to packaging. Headings are set in Cronos Pro, another Adobe Original.

The Australian Army Journal Volume 1, Number 1 was completed in July 2003. It is 170 pages long. Download a copy in PDF format.

The Australian Army Journal Volume 1, Number 2 was completed in January 2004. It is 210 pages long. Download a copy in PDF format.

The Australian Army Journal Volume 2, Number 1 was completed in September 2004. It is 293 pages long. Download a copy in PDF format.

Contact Us

Clarus Design is located in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia. Canberra is Australia's capital city and is also Australia's largest inland city. Being the seat of Federal Government, many Federal Government agencies have their headquarters here.

More information about Canberra is available here.

Editorial

Email: ed@clarusdesign.com

Phone: 0412 358 151

Design

Email: sam@clarusdesign.com

Phone: 0402 031 349

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If you would like to mail us something, please address it to:

Clarus Design
GPO Box 661
Canberra ACT 2601
Australia