Reflecting on 2018

Posted by Matthew Magain on 10th Dec 2018


What a year it has been for the Graphic Gear team! We launched the graphicgear.com.au online store in March without really knowing the answer to the question: Will there be demand for Neuland markers in Australia and New Zealand?

Well, just last week we upgraded our storage facility in Melbourne to house more boxes—suffice to say the answer to that question is a resounding "Yes!" Thank you so much to everyone who has placed an order this year.

Highlights for 2018

Here's our (slightly self-indulgent) list of highlights for 2018.

  • Visiting the Neuland team in Germany, and helping them to celebrate 50 years of being in business (quite a remarkable achievement, when you think about it!). Check out this extraordinary video made about the event:
  • Signing on as one of the sponsors of the 10th annual UX Australia conference. Every attendee to the conference received a set of Neuland markers in their conference goodie bag.
  • Helping to organise (and sponsoring) the inaugural VizConf 2018 conference, including running a pop-up shop on the day (which proved to be a frantic undertaking, as the photo below shows). You can view photos from the day at the VizConf website.

New products

A bunch of shiny new products have been added to the store in the last couple of months. If you haven't browsed through the catalogue in a while, take a look at some of the new colours available, new books, and a growing collection of high quality marker accessories from Neuland.

No.One Metallics

Novario BigOne Box

No.One Skin Tones

4-2 Sketchbook

Replacement Nibs

Presto Sketching


Giving Back

Sketch Group, the parent company of Graphic Gear, has signed up as a partner of B1G1 (Buy 1, Give 1), a platform that helps businesses make it easy to give back to those in need. B1G1 is a great concept, as it links business activities to charitable projects of your choice.

We've pledged to:

  • feed a rescued girl every time a customer places an order,
  • provide one week of access to a latrine to families in Cambodia every time someone signs up to our email newsletter, and
  • provide one day of sanitation for a child every time someone visits the Graphic Gear website.

We process these donations every month, and they are aligned to the sustainable development goals set out by the United Nations. As you can see, this means that by ordering from us, you're literally changing the world!

To read more about this program, check out our Giving Back page on the Sketch Group website, or visit our B1G1 profile page.

Tutorial Videos

You may have seen some of the marketing videos that we've uploaded to the site—yes, slightly cheesy sales videos of me wielding a marker and banging on about how great a product the Neuland markers are.

Well, my new year's resolution is to make a bunch of videos that are mini tutorials, covering topics such as:

  • How to refill your No.One marker
  • How to use the wedge nib
  • How to use the Neuland® BigOne with confidence
  • Interviews with prominent graphic recorders and visual facilitators from industry

What do you think? Are these videos likely to be useful for you? What topics would you like to see me cover? I look forward to hearing your ideas!

Aaaaand that's it for the first Graphic Gear blog post! Have a wonderful break, and all the best for 2019.

Matt

!