Business

How to trademark your logo… and why it’s a smart move!

By Dan Summers | 12th September 2025 |

You’ve spent hours working with your designer, tweaking, and obsessing over your logo. It’s more than a pretty mark – it’s the face of your brand, the thing people recognise you by. The last thing you want is someone else copying it, confusing your customers, or worse, claiming it as their own. That’s where trademarking…

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A silent struggle behind the aesthetic…

By Dan Summers | 24th June 2025 |

The graphic design industry is built on creativity, innovation, and visual storytelling. From branding and advertising to UI design and illustration, as designers we shape how the public experience the world visually. But behind the polished portfolios and pixel-perfect campaigns, many of us face a quieter, more persistent challenge: maintaining our mental health. The pressure…

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Graphic design is like being in the theatre…

By David Kightley | 11th October 2023 |

When Lord Rose (better known as Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman and CEO of M&S) first penned his well-used analogy between being in business and being in the theatre he touched upon a rich vein of theatrical traditions and practices. In this post our guest author and former amateur thespian, David Kightley, delves back in time…

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Did you know…that Chelmsford is a microbusiness megastar?

By David Kightley | 11th August 2023 |

Chelmsford has long been acclaimed as the birthplace of radio thanks to the legacy of Marconi. It now looks as though the City has been recognised as a microbusiness megastar. In this post our guest author, David Kightley, examines the data behind this mind-blowing revelation! While Chelmsford has been long been recognised for its thriving…

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What are you dreaming about this Christmas…

By David Kightley | 22nd December 2022 |

Everyone is entitled to have a dream at this time of the year irrespective of whether we have a white Christmas or not. In this seasonal post our guest author, David Kightley (aka the Old Sage), shares his long-held pipedream for an artistic extension of our studio setting. Having achieved our ambition of a somewhat…

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DSD by numbers!

By David Kightley | 5th March 2021 |

Painting by numbers is seen by some as cheating, but to others it’s an artistic process and a godsend that allows relative novices to create a masterpiece! In this post our guest author, David Kightley, paints a picture of how DSD has been built on numbers from its foundation in 2009 right up to the…

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Whatever the shape of the recession we’ll be here for you!

By David Kightley | 26th August 2020 |

Waves of workers have begun to return to their jobs after those who were unable to carry out business from home were encouraged to head back. It may indeed be a case of off to work we go but not necessarily as we knew it before COVID-19. In this post our guest author, David Kightley,…

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Why working from home is a shedload less stressful!

By David Kightley | 13th May 2020 |

Even with the easing of restrictions relating to Coronavirus Covid-19, we are advised to stay at home as much as possible. In this post, our guest author David Kightley speculates if for many people working from home, far from being an imposition, it is set to become the new norm? With the aid of innovative…

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Ten Years: A Million Thanks!

By David Kightley | 26th October 2019 |

Dan Summers Design, increasingly known as DSD, celebrates its tenth anniversary on 26 October 2019. A decade ago, if somebody had offered us getting on for 250 direct clients in the first ten years we’d have taken that! In this post, our guest author David Kightley (aka the Old Sage) looks back on our journey…

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