We have just launched the BeachWatch website. Check it out and tell us what you think!

BeachWatch is a mobile app that alllows you to watch live videos of Cape Town’s most popular beaches and surf spots on your mobile phone at anytime from anywhere.

Check out the website:

Check out the Facebook fan page:

When Spring sprang in September, AMERICAN shutters gave Power of 9 the exciting task of shooting the fresh new season campaign.

The mission: to capture the way early Spring sunbeams sneak into a room through stunning shutters and chase Winter’s nip away. The warm rays cause even the embriodered foliage to bloom. The ultimate campaign to harness the budding vigour of the new season…Invite Spring! This seemed to be a somewhat simple task on paper but when it came to shooting, the mission proved a bit more challenging.

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Ralf is a Pretoria based illustrator who combines German precision with a playful sense of humour. He offers a wide variety of styles from photo-realistic 3D and vector illustrations to water-colour, line art and stipple.

When did you first think “WOW, this is what I should be doing for a living”?

Actually it never seemed to be an option, in my early days of employment during the late 80s, I was advised that illustration is a dying trade and with the onset of computers it would probably become obsolete. Illustration work was limited to Storyboards, marker renderings, and presentation layouts… for me anyway.

It was only in the early 90′s, after finding a job as a graphic designer at a small packaging studio in Johannesburg, that I realised how much illustration was still being done. I became the in-house illustrator, instead of “graphic designer”, so I guess it took off from there.

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If you’re into the social and cultural scene in Cape Town, you might have bumped into Dax Villanueva, the extremely good looking gentleman socialite who breezes in and out of events like a rolling stone.

His website “Relax with Dax” is the platform where social adventures and event newsletters are shared, where the latest and greatest restaurants, pubs, bars and clubs, as well as festivals and shows, are rated. You can also catch up to the minute commentary and restaurant musings on his Twitter feed, where his following boasts something more than a hefty handful. The difference between Dax Villanueva and the average tweeter/blogger, is that people want to hear what Dax has to say. His comments are punchy, powerful and accurate and he seems to have the ability to pinpoint both the lowlights and highlights of a scene within minutes.

Dax Relaxin'

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I have compiled a list of the five tools I believe are essential for managing brand integrity and gauging client perception of your brand.

1. Corporate identity (CI) manual and Pantone colour guide (or other printed reference)

CI manual
Unless you are a multi-national giant, you don’t need a 300 page CI bible, a simple easy-to-use guide will do. At the very least it should cover basics such as:

• Brand background and tonality. This should give some insight into the big idea behind the development of your brand as well as introduce its personality;
• Logo application and usage. Rules such as how the logo should be used on various media, when to use the strap line, minimum size, logo placement in relation to other images, text and colours etc;
• Colour breakdown and usage. This should detail the makeup of all your brand colours in all the various formats: CMYK, RGB, Hexcode, Pantones etc. (See A guide to choosing the correct colours for your brand for a more in-depth look at the various colour formats);
• Font usage. What fonts to use in your corporate communication. It should include size, styles, colours and formats for headings, body copy, etc;

Pantone guide (or other printed samples)
Every printing firm operates differently to some degree, therefore when printing full colour CMYK jobs or simple once-off digital banners, it is essential to have a printed sample of your brand colours as reference. Purchase a Pantone Colour Guide if your brand colours have Pantone references, this will make the colour matching job easier  (See A guide to choosing the correct colours for your brand for a more in-depth look at the various colour formats).

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You’ve chosen fluorescent orange and it sums up your brand perfectly; it’s energetic, bright and fun. No one could possibly miss such a vibrant colour logo.

The problem is that many colours are very difficult to manage over the various printing and production processes. This post will hopefully serve as a practical guide to choosing a managable colour for your brand.

Take into account your budget and on what kinds of media your brand will be represented. Ask yourself:

• Will I be doing mainly paper based printing such as brochures and leaflets?
• Will I be printing things like banners, pens, coffee mugs or doing embroidered shirts and caps?
• Will my brand only appear online?

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Clients are sometimes stumped by all the confusing terms used in the various printing processes. I’ve written a blog post to help you decode some of the jargon and explain which one works best for specific projects. This is printing 101.

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Monday this week brought jest of the champagne, scone and cupcake kind as the Power of 9 team raised their glasses to one remarkable lady.

Self Portrait

Kevin was born and raised in Johannesburg in the early 80s. He matriculated in 1999 from Sir Pierre Van Ryneveld High School and was soon bitten by the travel bug.  Kevin spent a few years doing volunteer work in Brazil, studying in England and exploring Europe, USA, New Zealand and Australia. By 2006 he was back home and with a promising career of photography already established, bought his first home and studio. In 2007 Kevin held his first exhibition which showcased a collection of black and whites at the Salvation Café.

Reeva - from "The white female in 2010, through the lens of Kevin Mark Pass"

When did you take that first shot and think “WOW, this is what I  should be doing”?

It was a  combination of things really, but one of the major factors was visiting my cousin in Australia – allow me to explain – I used to buy a black and white  roll of film and click what I saw at weddings, then my gift to the bride and  groom would simply to give them the roll of film and be done with it (never  having seen what I had taken) This is what had happened with my cousin. A few years after his wedding I went to visit him and the house was literally wall  to wall with enlargements of the photos I had taken. None from the actual  wedding photographer. I was quite floored by that and my brain started to tick  over that it might be something to consider.

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Brits wanted more direct interaction with their end users and asked us to redesign their website and give it a slick retail look and feel. We added a comprehensive calculator that works out cost and meterage according to the users specifications, a searchable database of installers, social media integration and an invaluable industry information library for registerd clients and suppliers. The site was developed using SEO best practices and can be entirely administrated (including the calculator) via an easy-to-use content management system.

The site is due to go live Friday 7 september. Watch this space!

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