Wishing one and all a very blessed Christmas! May your holidays be filled with peace and joy, whether you are with loved ones, or simply chilling and enjoying some much needed alone-time.

Time really flies when you’re having fun, and 2014 has been such an incredible time of growth and new experiences for Mustard Seed Creative, it’s hard to believe that another year is coming to a close! We have so much to be grateful for—from new clients and associates, to new gear and capabilities. Here are a few highlights for the year:

New Opportunities

2014 saw us working for Home Nursing Foundation, a non-profit organisation that needed a fresh coat of paint on their identity. We spent the year in collaboration to streamline all their communications collateral. The scope of work was massive, but it’s been pure joy working with the team at HNF, and we are extremely grateful to them for their partnership. Under the leadership of President of the Board, Ms Priscylla Shaw, HNF is a very forward looking organisation and we look forward to seeing how they continue to evolve their brand as they meet the needs of the community in 2015 and beyond.

While definitely not a new client, Nanyang Technological University gave us the chance to get involved with some very meaningful projects. We produced two short videos for them this year: One was an appeal from Her Excellency Minda Calaguian-Cruz, Ambassador from the Embassador of The Philippines, following the impact of Typhoon Haiyan. The other, was part of a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake gift box, which included a DVD with a message from Mr Terry Alan Farris, Chief Development Officer.

Mustard Seed Creative is very proud to be able to contribute meaningfully to healthcare and education, all while being able to flex our creative muscles.

New Media

While working on a website revamp for St Luke’s Eldercare, we needed to produce a virtual tour of one of their eldercare centres. This was a first for us, so we needed to work with someone who could absolutely deliver. Thankfully, we found one of the best in the business: Chris O’Grady of  Christopher O’Grady Photography (aka 360 O’Grady). Chris was absolutely ‘OCD’ in making sure the shoot was perfect, although the conditions were far from ideal. In post production, he painstakingly ensured that exposure and colour grading of the spherical panorama were nothing short of excellent. Check out his gallery for some truly breathtaking virtual tours.

We’ve been working with ‘Phokl, The Leading Mobile App for Photo Enthusiasts‘, for some time now, and this year we were tasked to update the design of their app icon, splash screen, as well as several of the UI elements. The new design work really updates the look and feel of the app, and more in line with Apple’s new interface design direction. We’re very excited to see the next version of Phokl! By the way, whether photography is your profession or your passion, you owe it to yourself to download Phokl and get involved with the friendly community. The quality of work being shared, and the comments and tips you could receive, are simply priceless.

New Toys

Being a bit of a gear head, I’ve saved my favourite for last. We’ve massively beefed up our 3d rendering capabilities with the addition of Octane Render, and a PCI chassis full of Nvidia GPUs. With this investment in new hardware and software, we have been able to perform near-realtime previews and final renders. This translates into faster turnarounds for our clients, but more importantly, it empowers us to be more creative as we have the newfound freedom to experiment with lighting and materials interactively.

Old Friends

I should mention that we’re privileged to continue to collaborate with very passionate and skilled partners such as Ho Printing, Minlovecat, Muse, One Elephant, Pigs Can Fly, Reddot Studio, Simplymac.sg, and all our other regular freelancers and service providers. Thank you everyone, for your support. We really couldn’t have done it without you!

A New Year Ahead

With so much going on in 2014, you’d wonder how we could possibly top that in 2015! Well, I trust that next year will be even better, because of the faith that I have in our team, and more importantly, because I always believe that “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed… nothing will be impossible for you”!