Mike Kelly – Bespoke Contemporary Photography

Here are some shots of the bespoke DVD packaging I’m using this year as part of the overall branding refresh I carried out last year. The design work is all by Mike Fallows at A-to-M in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Mike comes highly recommended – over the course of a few discussions he got what I was trying to achieve and quickly translated that into the brand identity I’m using today, from the monogram logo through to business cards, stationery and this bespoke packaging for delivery to clients.

It was great to spend an afternoon at Manchester Print Finishers where they used some proper old heavyweight machinery to turn the designs into life. In keeping with the bespoke theme, everything is painstakingly hand crafted and finished using traditional techniques to create the finished product. It’s fantastic to see local business like this still exist and it’s great to see the skills at first hand.

This is the original monogram design, which is then used to create the metal stamp in the following picture:

The fabric covers are carefully sealed onto the backing:This is the whale bone (not real whale bone) used for scoring before creasing. Many many years of wear in this one!You can’t beat a good bit of glue:Finally the assembled cases are stamped with a subtle monogram on the reverse corner:

Back at home here’s the finished product:There’s space for two DVDs in each, or to use the left hand pocket for information such as the print release form that’s included for every client. The inspiration behind the design was a bespoke men’s suit, with the rather brave choice of pink colour echoing the suit lining. Here’s the basic stationery items in the same colour scheme:And the finished set, showing one of the Couture Parent albums echoing the same font and design cues. There’ll be more shots of Rebecca and Christan’s Couture Wedding Album in my next post.