Does your brand need some TLC?
As we shift into Autumn, we’ve been reflecting on the lovely outside space we have in front of the studio cabin. It’s been a labour of love over the Summer and an essential place to take some time out to relax, think and find inspiration. We’ve enjoyed breakfasts, client lunches, welcoming the neighbours, chilling with a glass or two of red at the end of the week and debating our favourite music of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Without a doubt, the star attractions have been the bargain bin plants we’ve acquired at various times that were pot bound, neglected, ravaged by drought or simply looking past their best. With some TLC and a bit of gardening knowledge (watch out Monty, we’ve been reading up!!!) they've flourished and their amazing colours speak for themselves.
Whilst we’re still a long way from calling ourselves experts in plant care, we do know a thing about brands and how best to tend them if they're struggling. Like plants, brands needs regular TLC. Leave them to their own devices and they can wither a little!
The past months have shifted markets hugely. Many businesses are now needing to work hard to sell themselves again and to redefine their objectives, whilst watching costs. As a small design agency, we offer cost-effective brand and design services so that you get all the experience of the big agencies but with the costs of a small one.
If your brand is pot bound and you’d like to put some new colour into your business, speak with us!
Serving up exciting new flava
Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been busy working with Grace Foods on a new range of Caribbean streetfood products that have just launched into Tesco. Called Irie Eats, the product range offers customers a modern take on Caribbean streetfood with authentic ingredients, including jerk seasoning sourced directly from trusted island growers. It's Grace Foods’ first major launch of a new UK food brand in a long time, driven by recent research and Mintel data which revealed that nearly half (49%) of Brits would like to try Caribbean cuisine at home.
“This is a significant and exciting opportunity for us to introduce authentic, traditional and flavourful Caribbean meal solutions to a new consumer audience,” says Grace Foods brand manager Giuseppe Vullo. “We’re excited to continue building awareness of Caribbean food in the UK market, providing a delicious and easy-to-use range inspired by classic island favourites.”
Throughout the project, we’ve brought our experience and knowledge of the retail food arena to a number of challenges. It’s been a rewarding process and we’ve learnt a great deal about Caribbean cuisine along the way. We've designed all aspects of the new brand identity, packaging and communications, as well as helping derive the Irie Eats name and the ‘Island Flava’ proposition.
The eye-catching logo is inspired by the Caribbean nations and their flags, which share common design and colour elements. The accompanying 'stamp of quality' endorses the brand’s Caribbean streetfood and provenance message. The two can work as a 'locked identity' or separately to endorse different consumer touch points. The product photography was a collaborative affair between Grace Foods, Blackbird and Uniform studio – and beautifully shot by Geoff Lloyd.
We’re delighted with the finished result. The printed range has a fantastic shelf presence and the on-pack language is clear and memorable. It all adds up to the right balance of ingredients to deliver consumer interest and sales. We’re looking forward to seeing Irie Eats fly off the shelves!
A full case study will be available on the website soon.
'Just need a logo'?
We get asked all the time to design logos for businesses. Often, the client comes to us saying that they 'just need a logo'. Whilst we can and do design a logo for them, we also always try to help clients look at the bigger picture. Creating a whole brand image will say much more about you and your business than a logo in isolation will. However fantastic your logo is, if you don't make it part of selling your overall brand you might as well use clip art.
Our work for The Tree Council captures this perfectly – no more so than on its stationery. Here, our design combines a simple but thoughtful logo, memorable tagline and interesting imagery. If you see their business cards, letter heads, event banners, etc., etc., they are instantly recognisable as belonging to The Tree Council. It builds customer awareness, as well as that all-important trust. Even the smallest business can benefit from getting their branding basics right and stand out alongside branding behemoths like Coca-Cola! From a huge billboard advert to the back of a business card, it all matters.
Next time you 'just need a logo', do consider the bigger picture and how it can make your brand really sing out. It’s a guaranteed way to get potential customers to notice you and remember what you do.
Need some help? Contact us!
Making waves in HR
We were appointed at the beginning of the year to help create the name, brand strategy, identity and content for a brilliant new human resources app. Our name, Paddleboard, immediately made waves with the client, who thought it struck exactly the right balance and reflected the product's objectives perfectly. We love it when our ideas create ripples of excitement!
The name is now registered and we've set about creating the logo, design and page templates to help this exciting new product set sail. (And that's the last water sports-based play on words in this post, we promise.)
We'd love to say more but you'll have to wait until the app launches! Keep your eye on the horizon for a new case study on our website this summer.
Born out of a passion for South Africa
Creating the visual identity and packaging for a new ethical jewellery brand was a departure from our more recent work with breweries. Different industries, but with equally passionate clients – something that always makes the design process a pleasure.
ZuluZulu jewellery and accessories are handmade in South Africa and are born out of the South African founder’s love for her country’s landscape and people. Our brief was to create an identity that reflected this passion, drawing on the handcrafted, artisan nature of the products – ‘understated, yet gloriously unique’.
The typeface captures the raw, irregular beauty of the natural environment. The yellow in the colour palette picks up the glorious South African sunshine. And the ZuluZulu icon is influenced by African textiles – creating a memorable repeat pattern that will be printed on their packaging.
Watch out for a full case study on the website soon.
You can buy ZuluZulu products here.
Just LoveLeigh!
You wait ages to design a new lager and then two come along at once! Here's our new work for Leigh on Sea Brewery, a deliciously refreshing Helles-style lager called ... wait for it ... 'LoveLeigh Lager'!
By taking Leigh on Sea Brewery's logo and reproducing it in a Warholesque repeat pattern, we've produced a can design with great stand out and appeal – just like all the work we've done with the brewery, one of our favourite clients. With everything that's going on in the world of brewing at the moment, it will hopefully help lift the brewery's online sales and be an interesting tipple for those wanting to indulge in something new during the festive season and new year.
Lift off for a new lager
Due to COVID-19, it's been a tough year for lots of our clients. Many of them have had to think quickly about how to adapt to different ways of selling and reaching their market. In August 2020, Wales' leading family brewer, Evan Evans, launched their very first lager. With their 250-year history of brewing beer, this marked quite a departure, but they knew that if they wanted to counter the dramatic drop in footfall in pubs, they needed to think innovatively and include a lager in their online sales offering.
And so Liberty was born. We were delighted to create the identity for the label, plus keg badges and box packaging. The word 'liberty' prompted some great ideas for designs, but to convey the idea of 'freedom' we decided to use the image of a bird in flight, set against a beautiful sky blue. The ideas of liberty and freedom strike a chord with many of us as we slowly make our way out of the pandemic. Here's to getting our hospitality industry back in full flow as soon as we can!
Watch out for a full case study in the new year. But if you're thirsty already and would like to try Liberty, head over to the Evan Evans online shop.
Working together for the love of trees
It is always exciting to work on a brand design project with a new client, especially one with as much passion for what they do as The Tree Council.
For this project, we went from the roots up (all puns intended!) to create a refreshed and consistent brand for the charity, founded in 1973. We worked closely with The Tree Council’s communications team to develop new values and objectives that captured the vision at the heart of the charity. These then fed into our brand and logo design and new straplines that could be used across all communications.
It was important that the brand spoke to their long-standing, loyal supporters, as well as encouraging new supporters and young people to get involved. We turned what had become a dated brand into something fresh and exciting with universal appeal. The logo combines people and trees – perfect for The Tree Council’s overall vision of ‘working together for the love of trees’.
Every moment of working with the Tree Council was a pleasure – plus, we learnt an awful lot about trees! We’ll be adding a full case study to the website soon.
In the meantime, please do visit The Tree Council’s website – it’s full of information and they’re a wonderful charity to support if, like us, you love the Great Outdoors.
As seen in Hertfordshire!
At the risk of being accused of geekery, we're pretty chuffed to see that some of our new work for Batemans Brewery has made it all the way from Lincolnshire to Hertfordshire. To our local Spar to be precise.
If you're a designer, there's nothing quite like spotting your work where you least expect it (just don't tell the client that we were there to buy wine!).
We love working with Batemans and designing labels for beers always sets our creative juices flowing. In such a crowded market, a bottle needs to stand out out shelf and make the potential purchaser buy in to it - hopefully making them feel thirsty in the process! Sales with Batemans new bottle range have proved very promising, despite difficult trading conditions over the past year:
"The new label designs have had very positive feedback. They fulfilled the brief perfectly which was to refresh the range, keep a brand consistency and improve visibility, as well as creating shelf appeal for new customers, whilst ensuring they were still recognisable to existing customers. In short we are really pleased with the results."
Sue Jacobs, Operations Manager, Batemans Brewery
To read more about our work with Batemans, have a look at the case study.
Say hello to Blackbird Brands!
Having successfully traded as Nick Pettit Design for a decade, I took the decision to give the business a bit of a refresh, starting with a new name – Blackbird Brands.
So, what has changed? Along with our chirpy new logo, only good things! We’ve expanded our nest of talent to ensure we have the most creative people on hand to help bring your ideas to life. We’ve been joined by a talented copywriter and web designer and we’re working closely with exciting new junior designers. Hopefully 'design that sings' is becoming just that little bit louder!
Blackbird Brands will still provide the same top-notch service that our clients have come to expect from our St Albans-based, award-winning boutique design studio:
- Personal touch – as a small, friendly team we’re deeply connected to what we do, working collaboratively so that together we can achieve the results you want.
- Passion for niche market design solutions – fresh perspectives and ideas along with an inside-out knowledge of your business. We’ll make sure you stand out from the crowd and help you grow sales.
- Flexibility and competitive costs – the creativity, enthusiasm and experience of a large design agency but with the personal approach and costs of a small one. The team who pitches is the team who does the work – and we’re very proud of that.
Have a look around our new website and if our work inspires you to get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.
