Fun with lasers

Lasers get bad press. Ever since Star Wars hit the big screen the world has viewed the laser as a futuristic means of destruction. This week we've been playing around with laser cutting here at Revert to explore its creative possibilities.

We're seriously impressed. The precision is quite incredible. As designers we are used to using die cutting to press shapes out of paper and card but this is completely different. The powerful laser cut through our grey-board quickly and precisely with a little smoke and leaving behind a slightly blackened edge which we think is rather attractive. Adjusting the power and speed of the laser can allow all kinds of different effects. You can cut part way into the surface without going all the way through or slow it down a touch and produce some nice scorch marks. Best of all it will cut just about anything as long as it is flat and not too flammable. Wood, paper, plastic, food... you name it!

Is it green? Not strictly no. It's a fairly energy intensive process but the end product is something special. Above all Revert stands for quality over expendability. We believe that high quality work will be hugely more effective and last far longer, which means there is far less waste involved. So giving one laser cut business business card to the right potential client can be worth 1000 bog standard, matt laminated yawn cards that end up in the dustbin.

Brands worth loving

Dear Diary...

That's right, we're calling this a diary rather than a 'blog'. Why? Well call us old fashioned but it isn't even a proper word; an abbreviation of 'web-log' seems a bit uninspiring to us. Revert is a new kind of business and while being thoroughly modern we also entertain old fashioned virtues.

We believe in integrity and craftsmanship; we want to do a good job in every sense of the word. We believe in something called the triple bottom line. This proposes that business decisions are not wholly made with money in mind. Sure, we all have to earn a crust, it will always make up the first bottom line, but we also have a responsibility. This responsibility makes up the other two bottom lines: We need to consider people. Ourselves for a start, are we enjoying what we do? Are we providing stable, fulfilling jobs to those we employ? And what about other people? Is what we are doing responsible to the rest of the world?

The third bottom line is the environment. In a way, it's also mixed up with the people side of things because problems such as pollution and global warming aren't so much killing the Earth as making a more unpleasant and difficult place to live in. We're ruining it for ourselves and our children. Everyone has a responsibility to keep their patch of earth clean for each other and future generations.

There is an up-side to all of this because we are not the only ones thinking this way. Social outlooks are changing. Thanks to new media, people know more about and expect more from businesses and brands. They are voting with their feet against companies who are only in it for the quick cash. They are hunting down brands which offer more. Ones which they feel care about them and that they would be proud to be associated with. In the long term the businesses that will succeed most are those with the integrity that customers can believe in.

So this is what we aim to do. Help businesses regain this connection with their customers. Make brands loveable. That way, we'll all be happy.