The September issue of desktop (#285) is now on sale.

While we may unintentionally tend to focus on the studios and ‘design scene’ in Melbourne and Sydney, for this issue, we’ve taken a trip to the somewhat lesser-visited city of Adelaide to meet the team at Voice. “Adelaide’s isolation may have caused us to develop a bit of an inferiority complex that makes us feel like we have to work hard to get noticed,” explains Voice’s founding pair Scott Carslake and Anthony De Leo. It’s true. They’ve been operating for over ten years and consistently produce quality design work which finds its way amongst the best in Australia. A mention of Adelaide wouldn’t be complete of course, without a visit to the guys at Mash – you can meet one of their finest, Pat Mehbrei.

We also take some time this month, to focus on a few trends in packaging design. From consideration of new paper stocks to adopting different printing techniques, we’ve got it covered. As part of the feature, we asked a few studios around the country to talk us through a recent packaging project that they completed.

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What’s inside the September issue:

Studio profile: Voice
Working from a studio in Adelaide, Anthony De Leo and Scott Carslake have been successfully running (and growing) Voice for the past decade.

Studio profile: Voice

Feature: Packaging tips
The retail climate is tough and a well-designed package can often be the key
differentiator for the average shopper. We look at tips and trends.

Feature: Packaging tips

Talk: Is design theory relevant?
Can words inspire us as powerfully as pictures? Does reading about design make us better designers? Josefina Bunster from Hulsbosch investigates.

Talk: Is design theory relevant?

Typeface feature: Wim Crouwel
The Foundry have developed an enduring friendship with Wim Crouwel, through digitising previous typefaces to typeface development.

Typeface feature: Wim Crouwel

The Day: Thomas Williams
In this regular series we spend a day with one of our favourite creatives. This month we spend 24 hours with Thomas Williams from Process Journal and Hunt Studio.

The Day: Thomas Williams

Create Design Awards: Shortlisted
We reveal the shortlisted entries for four categories: Emerging Talent, Print Creative, Interactive  and Motion.

Create Design Awards: Shortlisted

And this month’s cover:

desktop's September 2012 cover