Writing Services
Headed up by acclaimed arts journalist Peter Machen, the Communication Factory offers high-end writing services, including copywriting for advertisements and brochures, content generation for publications, and technical writing on a wide range of topics, from local history to annual reports and policy papers.
While much of the writing we do forms part of the overall production process, we also offer writing as a stand-alone service. Previous writing-only jobs include the eThekwini Municipality's 2010 City Guides, the feature film synopses for the Durban International Film Festival, and essays for a variety of fine art catalogues.
Contact us now to discuss how we can freshen up your brand
Branding and campaigns
We specialise in slick but effective branding that communicates clearly and unambiguously and is easy for the end-user to understand. Please see below for examples of some of our previous projects, which includes work for a broad range of clients, from Unilever to Unesco.
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'Create Durban' logo for eThekwini Municipality
Create Durban was the follow-up project to Imagine Durban, which explored new ways to imagine the city of Durban/eThekwini. The new logo needed to illustrate both creativity and the notion of building upon what has come before.
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Visual Identity: Create Durban
Catalogue: 'Not Alone' for Make Art/Stop Aids at the Durban Art Gallery
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This powerful group show from the Make Art/Stop Aids collective needed to clearly showcase the works while providing substantial accompanying texts. It also needed to be widely accessible and have strong emotional appeal.
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book content
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'Durban - A Paradise and its People' produced for the eThekwini Municipality
As well as designing, laying out and providing many of the photographs for this 380-page coffee table guide to Durban, the Communication Factory's Peter Machen also did all the research and writing.
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municipal publication
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'Durban - A Paradise and its People' produced for the eThekwini Municipality
As well as designing, laying out and providing many of the photographs for this 380-page coffee table guide to Durban, the Communication Factory's Peter Machen also did all the research and writing.
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film festival newslettter
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Reel Times newsletter for Durban International Film Festival
The 'Reel Times' newsletter was produced daily during the festival. The Communication Factory's Peter Machen took on the task of editor and layout artist as well as writing much of the content.
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city guides
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Research and writing for Durban's City Guides
This series of City Guides, produced by local design agency, Disturbance, was commissioned by Durban's eThekweni Municipality. The Communication Factory provided the compelling and carefully researched text.
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fine art catalogue
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Exhibition catalogue for the Nivea Art Awards
Sharply edited, high-end writing raised the profile of the Nivea Art Award catalogue. The strong, clear writing gave the awards greater critical weight.
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fine art catalogue
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Catalogue essay for the exhibition 'Past/Present' by Andrew Verster
Instead of writing a conventional essay on Andrew Verster for this catalogue, Peter Machen chose to write an impressionist short story about the artist. The result is engaging and lovely to read, giving an unusual edge to the catalogue.
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film synopses
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Feature film synopses for the Durban International Film Festival
The synopses for the Durban International Film Festival rival thoseof any festival around the world thanks to Peter Machen's carefulresearch and crisp, evocative writing.
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fine art newspaper
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'The Heritage Art Times' produced for the Heritage Arts Festival/Kizo Gallery
Four editions of this 4-page newspaper insert were produced each year for the Heritage Arts Festival. The publication called for a simple, appealing design that made fine art accessible to a broader audience.
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newspaper insert
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'The Heritage Art Times' produced for the Heritage Arts Festival/Kizo Gallery
Four editions of this 4-page newspaper insert were produced each year for the Heritage Arts Festival. The publication called for a simple, appealing design that made fine art accessible to a broader audience.
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museum texts
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Exhibit texts and audio guides for Durban's Maritime Museum
The Communication Factory did the research and writing for the explanatory notes accompanying the exhibits in Durban's Maritime Museum, as well as providing scripts for the accompanying audio guides.
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website
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Writing and information design for the Meta websites and applications
As well as transforming the text into engaging and accessible language, we also collated the provided information into a structure and format that made the two projects easily understandable for potential clients and users.
