I don't think I'm blowing a secret when I say that it has become harder to convince some clients to invest in a new visual identity. Spending money on design is currently deemed by many to be a luxury, but it is in tough economic times that businesses most need to invest, for two reasons:

First of all, consumers, customers, and clients need to be sure that the company they are dealing with will still be around tomorrow. Updating a brand, or the company's visual identity, signals that despite the current circumstances they are confident about their future, and it is a future that is good for all involved.

Secondly, investing now in branding and identity ensures that once economic growth returns the company already has everything in place to push its positive outlook even more strongly, giving a true edge over competitors who didn't reposition themselves ready for recovery.

But even if a client has decided to invest in their visual identity, budgets are understandably a bit more restricted these days. A new brand or identity has to work twice as hard as the brand it replaces, challenging the designer to be more inventive with fewer tools. Carefully considering paper stock, or typography, for example, will go a very long way.

Despite the economic downturn, Dalton Maag has had a strong business year. We believe that this is due to our heavy investment in our beautiful promotional literature, and in our Exclusives font library. We continue to invest, to be able to offer an even greater choice of font designs, with the latest addition to our library being an upgrade of Magpie to our Typographic Edition. Our designer, Vincent Connare, created a full suite of Small Caps, matching numerals, and a set of glyphs usually only found in liturgical typesetting. With this newly-enhanced character set Magpie is the ideal choice for all classical books.

But alongside investment in existing ventures, we are also investigating how we can partner with branding and identity designers to find cost-effective new font solutions that are beneficial to all parties involved. If you have a font idea, speak to us – it does not cost the earth.

This month we are delighted to welcome two new designers to Dalton Maag – Lukas Paltram from Austria, and Mahmoud Hamdy from Cairo.

Lukas is a graduate of the New Design University in St Pölten, Austria, where he studied graphic design and typography. After his graduation he joined Dalton Maag for a three month internship, during which he designed the Grueber font family and also helped us with some logo projects. It is not only his keen eye for design detail and diligent work ethic but his positive and friendly attitude that make him an excellent addition to our expert font design team.

Bruno met Mahmoud Hamdy for the first time when he visited Cairo earlier this year. At the time Mahmoud was running a successful design company, FC Studio. Meeting Mahmoud was timely as we want to strengthen our font library with Arabic designs, and to establish an office in the Middle East in order to be closer to our customers there. Mahmoud is currently visiting our London office for training and orientation, but later this year, when he returns he will be representing Dalton Maag at our new Cairo office.