Category: Brand Development

Brand development examples from Steve Crooks, Freelance Designer

Care Development East Brand Identity and Website Design

Care Development East are an independent, non-profit making, organisation focused on promoting excellence across the social care and health workforce in the east of England. They provide impartial advice, support, guidance and information to many businesses and individuals in the care sector.

Previously The Suffolk Brokerage, their logo centred around the Orwell Bridge. This is something they were keen to retain in the new brand because their service users all recognised the bridge and its place in the Suffolk countryside. We developed various stylised versions of the bridge and open this up to discussion both from with the organisation and a selected number of service users. It was decided the simple curved illustration with the iconic double ‘legs’ best represented the idea.

Once we had developed the logo, the visual identity was rolled out over all their material, including a new website, newsletters and social media. The simple bridge illustration was very much designed with the newsletters and social media in mind. With a long organisation name, it was important the bridge logo be able to be identifiable in isolation, leaving the name to rendered from the social media page name.

The purple colour was heavily used in the original Suffolk Brokerage visual identity and for this reason we decided to retain it for the new Care Development East brand. Alongside this, we introduced a new green to provide a contrasting highlight. Using these colours in combination really helped with services users being able to quickly identify Care Development East and their information.

The Care Development East website was developed in WordPress giving them and their communication team total control over all content. We sourced and implemented various plug-ins to make updating the site as easy as possible and add functionality. The Training Exchange provides a dynamic list of training opportunities via a simple to use interface. The Training Provider section provides a list of all providers in the Eastern region offering RQF courses for the care sector.

As one of the main roles of Care Development East is the dissemination of information, we also set up a MailChimp account and a series of templates which allow them to send up-t0-date information to their database.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss this, or any other projects with relevance to logo and brand design.

October 15, 2019
Suffolk Coffee Shop Logo and Brand Design

Suffolk Coffee Shop ‘Coffee Etcetera’ are based at the Suffolk Barns on the A140. Formally the Chilli Farm they needed to develop a new brand for their new coffee shop. With their love of chillis and American cuisine, they wanted a cafe to offer more than just coffee and cakes. In order to offer something different, they have decided to offer a more conventional cafe during the day and a series of evening events. Being open in the evenings for special events will allow Coffee Etc to attract a different customer than a traditional Suffolk Coffee Shop and needed a visual identity to make this possible. We also had to consider how the brand could bring these very different audiences together.

Starting with the logo, we wanted to make it simple to use and simple to reproduce on tableware, clothing, windows and printed literature. The silhouette allows us to use the logo with a strong background colour. This gives the logo an immediate impact and instantly show this is not an old fashioned coffee shop. Not relying on a single brand colour allows the logo to moulded to different events whilst retaining its overall identity.

The design of the supporting material reflects the busy, eclectic atmosphere of a vibrant Suffolk Coffee Shop the business wants to promote. With such a varied offering we added images of food and associated equipment to the poster designs (below). This helps visually identify the event and in combination and with a strong colour pallet, gave each event its own look and feel.

This template can then be rolled out to whatever type of event the cafe offers. This gives them the flexibility to try different events, but still have them appear part of an overall brand strategy.

The examples above show a main coffee shop poster, a Texas style smoked meats evening event and a day time crafting meet up. All these events are very different, yet the design allows them to not only appeal to their individual audiences, but display that they are part of the Coffee Etcetera brand.

1200px wide Facebook Menu

If you would like to know more about this project, or any other logo design or brand development projects, please get in touch. The case studies on this website do not include all my work for marketing agencies and independent marketing consultants, the work of which I’ll be able to email you on request.

October 11, 2019
Investment Bank Logo and brand design – UK based

Investment Bank KXV’s brief was to design a simple, bold design that enabled them to make an impact at investor conferences.

The logo design introduced the simple diagonal line mechanism demonstrating investment. The strong shapes help communicate their confidence and their ambitious approach to investment banking.

We designed the colour pallet to change from year to year, with the 2020 being the two tones blue. The plan is then to select a new colour for the following years to keep the brand fresh in the mind of investors. The logo was designed with this in mind so can be used on white, or reversed out of any solid colour. KXV hope this flexible approach will enable them to appear more dynamic than their larger investment bank rivals.

One of the main criteria for KXV Investment Bank was to move away from stock images and only use ‘real’ customers when showing testimonials or campaign messages. The strong shapes used on the brochure covers allow for this. Each cover of a report or presentation has it’s own shape design with a nod to the contents. These examples show a simple ‘tech’ pattern for a report on cyber security and a zig zag pattern for reports on market fluctuation and opportunities.

We developed a campaign based on the individual priorities of the customer called ‘My Priority’ where KXV asked a number of customers why they felt they wanted help with their investments. This enabled us to use the real customers to give the campaign an real world feel and show people future customers could identity with.

Website design

Annual report design

Exhibition stand design and supporting corporate literature design

If you have any queries, or wish to contact me for more examples, please drop me a line. There are many more examples of brand and logo design on the website, plus many more which have been commissioned by marketing agencies and marketing consultants. Due to rights reasons, these are not shown on the website but these design case study examples can be shown via email.

September 18, 2019
Animated Logo Design for International Interior Art Designer

Animated logo design is becoming more popular as we look to make websites and their visual brand more dynamic. Animating the logo is a great way to add movement and help stand out from in your sector.

As part of a project with a marketing consultant, we developed a new logo and then explored ways to make the brand more exciting. As an interior designer working in a very experimental and innovate way, the client was very receptive to new ways of presenting the brand. As part of a delivering a complete brand for the new business, we introduced this animated logo design.

As this project was completed on behalf of a marketing consultant, I have removed the real name of the art director. If you wish to discuss this project in more detail and see what else we produced as part of the animated logo design project, then please contact me.

The logo itself was a typographic element designed to be clean and simple because we didn’t want it to over power the client’s interior design pieces. It was also to be used as a stencil and needed to be easily recreated in stitched fabric or etched on glass. Away from the design pieces, we wanted to use the logo in more inventive way and animating it helped really communicate the individuality on websites and presentations. This was particularly important as the business was seeking investment for the next stage of their growth, including gallery space in central London.

The animated logo combined the typographic logo style with footage of a falling ink drop. As the ink drop hit the surface, the shape it forms indicated the variation and individuality to seen within the designs. The effect was produced by using a mixture of Adobe Animate, Premier Pro and After Effects. This was then exported as MP4 files for use in the client presentations and as an animated GIF for use on the website and supporting digital marketing.

If you have a similar project, or are looking for a freelance logo designer, then please contact me for more examples.

August 25, 2019
Hector Fox Interior Design Studio Corporate Identity

Hector Fox is a sub brand designed for an interior design studio based within TWP Designs. (brand identity project can be found here >). They currently have a good industry reputation within the sector for their work within the restaurant and hotel sector as property refurbishment specialists. However, as a property refurbishment company they were often being overlooked by businesses looking for a design led approach. By this we mean those who wanted to employ an interior design studio to head the project. Traditionally an interior design studio would submit designs and concepts, with the property refurbishment entering to process much further on. The property refurbishment specialists would then take these concepts and implement them.

TWP have an excellent in-house design team producing high end creative concepts for many of their clients. In order to promote these services we felt the best way was to re-brand this area as a stand alone interior design studio. This would allow the team to have fun with the new brand and produce more experimental marketing material aimed at the design side of the sector. This would leave the traditional marketing activity and the main brand untouched.

For the new brand we produced a new logo and corporate stationery along with a new website and social media graphics. This was a quick and simple way to approach the market and test the viability of setting up a completely new interior design studio.

Do you have a similar problem in that your brand is associated with a particular sector? Is this inhibiting any growth into new areas due to people not understand your service? Perhaps you too need to consider a sub-brand to promote and area of the business you want to grow without damaging your overall brand. Get in touch and we could discuss how we approached this Hector Fox project and how a similar approach could help you.

April 17, 2018
Hyjocool UX UI Design for App

This app design project for Hyjocool provides installers with a quick reference guide to all the specifications and data for their range of restaurant air movement products. It is also designed as a useful toll to enable quick communication with the Hyjocool Help Desk.

Research and Creative Concept

This app design project was the result of conversations with Hyjocool about how they wanted to re-engage with installers and position themselves as a modern, progressive company. Taking these objectives, we explored various concepts before moving the app design project forward. We felt this was the best way to display information, much of which already existed, in an exciting new way. The app would then act a campaign to promote the company as well as proving to be a value tool in itself.

App Design

The app is designed to be simple and easy to use. Installers will often need access to data sheets and installation guides while installing a new system. The provision of this app is gives the installer another good reason to choose a Hyjocool product as they know the information will be easy to find and up to date. It also highlights the dedicated Help Desk.

The products are split into 3 main areas and this can be accessed by a main homepage and through the menu navigation. From here the installer can then drill down to the specific product data.

Screen examples of app design for Hyjocool. Screens show (from left to right) intro screen, main navigation homepage, menu example, product selector, help desk interface

App Design Wireframes

Before any design was completed, we produced a set wireframes to explore how the app would work and the relationship between the pages. Once we were satisfied all the content was available we completed a set of design visuals. These are currently being worked up as a functioning prototype ready to be tested.

Wireframe examples for the Hyjocool app design showing (from left to right): Main homepage, menu example, product range page, product range page with expanded detail.

App Logo and Identity Design

It was important to Hyjocool that the app had it’s own identity. They wanted it to be more that just a tool, they wanted it to add positively to the overall brand perception. The logo designed added value to the app and installers value the way it looks and feels. The identity positioned the app as the as a help to the installers and help elevate any fears they had about accessing assistance.

Do you have an idea for an app to help your business communicate with your customers? Get in touch and we can talk ideas and how best to make it happen. As with this project, as a freelance designer and not just an app designer I am best place to help design it’s own identity and give it a personality of it’s own.

April 12, 2018
UX UI Design for White Label Home Control App

This is an example of UX UI design project for a home control app. This app is being developed by a London based investment company who have stakes in both a CCTV provider and home security business. Their plan is to make available a white label app that can control various home functions and offer it as part of a deal with new energy providers.

Many new energy providers are entering the UK market and this app is offered free in return for the opportunity to provide the customers with home security. Using a white label app offers considerable savings for the energy provider. It also allows the provider to offer the app immediately without needing to embark on a lengthy development process.

Selection of screens showing the app. From left to right: Homepage offering energy provider branding, Current Status screen showing an overview of energy usage and any other chosen services, Menu, Room overview showing each room’s temperature, Example of individual room controls, Temperature control.

The apps works via a number of APIs from the security software that controls the alarms, access points and CCTV. It will then use the smart meters provided by the energy provider to show customer energy use. Additional functionality such as internet control and audio/visual control will then offered as add-ons. Basic SONOS controls for example can be controlled via the app. The app is now in production ready for launch in AW18.

Examples of UX UI design wireframes for main status page, room selector and room control interface

The UX UI design will be tailored to each provider, allowing then to add their own brand identity. As far as the consumer is aware, the app is part of the energy provider’s service so any reference to the white label brand is removed. With this in mind, the design has to be easily adaptable.

As well as the UX UI design we also designed a proposal document and identity for the white label version of the app.

White label branding to use on the app plus example of tailored proposal document designed for to pitch to each energy provider.

Do you have a project you need a freelance UX UI designer to assist with? Get in touch for more examples of interface design and other design projects I have been involved in.

April 7, 2018
Trafalgar Fireworks WordPress Design and WooCommerce Website

This is an example of a WordPress design for Norwich based firework company. As a start up business it was important to keep costs down but still deliver a site with impact. It was great to work with them again having worked previously on their logo and brand design (see the case study here >) and their packaging design project (see the case study here>)

We explored various solutions and discovered WordPress was by far the most suitable. Quick to implement and OpenSource, WordPress is used by millions of websites all over the world. There are plenty of online resources available to help with learning how to update a WordPress site. There are also many pre-built templates to choose from which cost very little.

Trafalgar WordPress Design and WooCommerce product page

WordPress can be used alongside an eCommerce solution called WooCommerce. This, as with WordPress, has access to thousands of extensions allowing you to customise a store with added functionality. Due to the nature of the business, it was necessary to find possible ways to add value to the site. Fireworks are notoriously difficult to transport making any delivery options prohibitive due to costs. Very few carriers are willing to deliver fireworks, and those that do require large volumes to make it worth their while. Again, due to the specific challenges faced by the business, we needed to offer an alternative for those with limited time around key dates, such as Guy Fawkes Night, Diwali and New Year.

We explored the possibility of a Click and Collect service. The central Norwich location of the shop and the fact that they have parking at the front made this feasible from a logistics point of view. Click and Collect also provided an ideal option during busy periods at it allowed customers to select what they wanted before visiting and allowed Trafalgar to organise the order in advance. With WooCommerce installed, we sought a Click and Collect module which has been installed and has been very successful. The module even had options to allow a certain time slot to be ordered by the customer making the process even more streamlined.

Click and Collect plugin and example of firework embedded video

Another way to add value is to add video to the site. This is something that WordPress excels at and is very easy to embed YouTube links into pages. With videos on the site, Trafalgar can show how a firework performs, giving them the edge over other local firework providers. Not only does this allow customers to understand what they are buying, but also allows them to curate their own displays.

Are you looking for a quick, cost effective WordPress design? Do you want to find creative ways to add value? Drop me a line and we can discuss how you can get your business online and how we can make the site worth visiting.

April 4, 2018
Pignut Website Design

This project for Pignut included developing a single page brand website, an eCommerce site and website training for the marketing department.

Firstly we developed a quick and simple single page website to help establish the brand and build awareness. This site help generate valuable leads while the main site was in production. It also provided a showcase for some of the excellent photography which had been commissioned.

As well as establishing the brand values and visual identity, the site also provides details on trade shows where buyers could view the new product ranges.

Pignut brand website

The main site was developed using Magento as the main platform. An excellent eCommerce platform, Magento offers a wide range of services and options and is very flexible and scaleable. The Magento Marketplace offers access to thousands of extensions so any possible functionality will be available.

One disadvantage, as with any out-of-the-box solution is the use of templates. These templates are tried and tested and allow you to get the site live quickly. The danger is however, every templated site will look the same. We therefore had to work hard to produce extra design and code to ensure the brand value are experienced at every point during the customer’s journey.

Example of Pignut login page with brand elements

Pignut Sizing page, Brand Story page and Product page

Website Training

Once the site was ready to go live, we delivered a number of website training days teaching the Woodbridge marketing team on how to use Magento. This showed them how to add/edit products, how to add offer codes and how to add news articles. They also mastered the ordering process making sure all customer communications where in line with the brand values.

In order to make sure the teams were comfortable with how the system worked, I embedded myself in their offices for a week and helped with all updates. This also allowed me to observe how they went about updating the content and adjust my training accordingly.

Website Design

Do you have a similar website design project? Are you worried your site will look to generic if you use a template solution? Get in touch and we can talk about ways to make your website stand out and deliver your brand values.

Update: The Pignut brand is now trading as part of the Smart Garden products after the main brand of Briers was purchased in 2019. The e-commerce operation is now included in the main site. If you would like to see the initial brand site it can be found here >

March 12, 2018
Website Development for Care Development East

This website development project for Care Development East started with a series of interviews to establish the clients requirements. This included, not only the proposed content of the site, but also who in the organisation was responsible for updates, their experience with CMS systems and any additional functionality needed. They wanted to bring a new fresh, clean design to their online activity and provide new tools to allow them to provide more training opportunities to a wider audience.

We decided to build a bespoke site but use WordPress as the platform. Care Development East had knowledge of the WordPress CMS which would mean any training time would be kept to a minimum.

Once we had established the content we produced sitemaps showing the information architecture. Production of wireframes were then designed to show the information hierarchy and proposed layout.

Once the wireframes had been approved by all departments, we produced a series of flat website designs of the homepage and key pages. The design utilises a lot of white space giving the design the fresh clean look we were looking for. The principle information is contained in a single, large top navigation and any lesser navigation is retained in the footer.

As part of the website development we needed to tweak the Care Development East corporate identity design. The brokerage used a series of established purple colours as part of their identity. We felt while designing the website we needed a new accent colour to bring the deign to life and help highlight important information. We experimented with a number of designs and all agreed the teal green was the perfect accompaniment to the purple.

Care Development East Training Exchange

One of the challenges was to add the required functionality to the site as quickly and efficiently as possible. As WordPress access various plugins, we wanted to use these as much as possible rather than code our own. A good example of this was the Training Exchange added to the site. This area needed to display a number of specific training opportunities allowing the care sector to share training courses. In order to achieve this we sourced an excellent plugin designed to manage classroom bookings and repurpose it to use as Training Exchange. This kept costs to down to just the plugin, implementation and design. This area was then given its own logo and identity design adding to its value.

Suffolk Training and Course Providers

Another section which required additional functionality was the Training Provider and Short Course Provider section. This area allows providers from Suffolk to list the training they provide. It is a section which gives care professionals a simple list of all relevant providers to contact when organising mandatory and additional training for their staff. This again utilised a WordPress plugin, in this case a portfolio plugin to give the Suffolk Brokerage a quick cost effective solution.

Website Development from a Suffolk Freelance Website Designer

Do you have a similar website design project? This is one of a number of projects I have completed and demonstrates how I can discuss with you to find the best solution. This is done without confusion and with a total understanding of the skill sets of those involved. It also shows how we can develop an excellent site without a massive budget by using existing software. If you would like to see any other examples, including those completed on behalf of agencies or marketing companies (which I don’t show on this site), then please contact me.

March 12, 2018
Start Up Company Design – VetPharm Pharmaceuticals

This start up company design case study for VetPharm Pharmaceuticals is a demonstration of how working with a business from the initial development meetings through to full launch and beyond.

Working with the VetPharm Directors, we produced a series of brand designs while they prepared the company for launch. All the directors were leaving positions within the pharmaceutical sector and would be under contractual embargo with regards existing contacts. Having the brand design and website ready to go from day one allowed them to begin to attract new contacts while honouring their contracts.

The project was typical in its nature in that those involved were experts at developing products and getting them to market, but hadn’t previously been involved in the design and marketing. Due to the sensitive nature of the relationship with their previous employer, they needed to make employ a new freelance graphic designer who would help understand their vision and work with them as they formulated the new company.

We began work by researching similar global businesses and examining their corporate identities. From the research we established that our new identity had to be flexible enough to reach a range of very different customers.

VetPharm went on to bring a number of original new products to market alongside mass produced animal health medicines such as Ivermectin. These products were sold on global market with particular strength in Vietnam/Korea, the Middle East and Africa. as well as commercial farming products, we developed packaging for the domestic pet market.

Alongside the packaging range, we produced sales literature, exhibitions, websites, including mini-sites to target niche products and I even helped art direct various photoshoots in their Uk and Irish production facilities.

As they matured, VetPharm introduced an in-house manufacturing department which was capable of inventing and testing new products. As moved away from the initial start up company design we explored the best way to sell to these countries and how the cultures responded to colour and design. For example, the African market responded to images of the animals on the packaging, primarily because a lot of the farming population are illiterate and the Middle Eastern market responded to metallic finishes and colours as they represented quality.

Being able to acquire the relevant export licenses for numerous countries, VetPharm emerged as a partner for many larger companies. After 10 years of successful growth, VetPharm was sold to US pharmaceutical giant Bimeda who continue to sell and develop the many innovate products. As part of the hand over, I worked closely with the Bimeda team in Chicago to convert all the VetPharm packaging over to the US design.

If you have any questions about VetPharm’s growth from start up company design to acquisition, or have a similar start up business, then please get in touch >

February 17, 2018
Design for BamBase Bamboo Yoga Wear

Bambase was a sub-brand specifically created to sell a range of bamboo yoga wear. Bamboo has some special characteristics which needed to be reflected in the design.

Bamboo is a fast growing plant making it ideal to farm for commercial use. It also requires very little water and combined with it’s natural defences which require no pesticides this makes it the perfect environmental choice. The design reflects this with a simple, single colour print onto recycled material. The obvious shape of the bamboo plant helps reenforce the natural product and gives the graphics an interesting, attractive quality. The use of the single colour print gives the design a strong brand identity which looks great on all media. It also helps in keeping the print costs down allowing BamBase to focus on the materials ensuring they are of good quality as well as sustainable.

Bambase Bamboo yoga wear box design and artwork

Bamboo yoga wear design project

As part of the project we produced packaging design that had section to remaining clear allowing consumers to touch the product. This was important as one of the great benefits of bamboo is how it feels. Larger products were accompanied by swing tags with the sizes added giving the shops the task of circling the relevant size. A series of posters and POS display units were produced to support in store marketing. These identified the benefits of bamboo and educated the consumers on why the product needed their attention.

Bambase swing tag, poster and POS display

Do you have a project that needs a wide range of design expertise to bring to the market? As a multi-skilled graphic designer I am ideal for projects that have many different media which need to be considered. I have plenty of other examples such as a consumer homewares brand, retail and trade company and a leading leisure destination.

January 30, 2018
Runaway Coast Brand Development

Runaway Coast were a high end homewear retailer based in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. They produced and sold to both to consumer and trade, a variety of bedding, cushions and other home products. Working with Runaway Coast Runaway we developed a fun and attractive brand which proved very popular amongst their local and national customers. The business expanded operations into London and various other pop up shops and trade customers.

Runaway Coast Aldeburgh shop, original 4pp consumer leaflet, consumer bags and product label

The brand identity was developed using an existing logo. We designed a signature style for literature and the retail outlets using their Lighthouse Stripe fabric. This was the best selling bedding range and had quickly become synonymous with the brand. Using the stripes on bags, leaflets and adverts gave the brand instant recognition and provided a useful tool to bring all the elements together. It was also valuable that using this brand pattern was simple and therefore cost effective to print.

Runaway Coast 16pp Lookbook designed to showcase their fabrics to trade buyers

We wanted to base the activity and the look of the brand material around the fun, memories and the beauty of the Suffolk coast. Rooting the brand on the Suffolk Coast gave it a strong sense of identity and helped promote the narrative behind the company. We borrowed heavily from established iconography and imagery found in coastal designs to influence the brand style. Memories of coastal holidays provided a very strong, positive message and using this helped the brand. Runaway Coast was all about presenting themselves as fun and friendly and the depth of material provided by coastal objects such as postcards and travel labels were wonderful to use in the designs.

Runaway Coast website, examples of social media graphics and press adverts

The brand was also influenced by what the coast represents. The sense of freedom and escape the Suffolk coast offers was something else we wanted to weave into the designs where at all possible. Using photographs showing the space and natural beauty of the coast we helped convey these aspects in literature and point of sale.

Examples of the highly successful Runaway Coast email campaigns

If you have a brand which needs a similar narrative or feel your story isn’t coming through in your brand design, get in touch and we can discuss some options. As you can see from the examples, we worked hard to make sure the brand message was communicated on all elements.

January 24, 2018
Pignut Graphics and Brand Development

The project was to build on the brand identity work produced a London agency and ensure all the Pignut graphics and supporting material remained on brand as the company launched the business in Suffolk.

Taking the logo and the brand colours, we developed a number of projects including the opening of their new shop in Woodbridge, the design and print of their new consumer brochure, trade show promotional literature and all supporting documentation.

Trade and consumer show graphics, including leaflets, flyers and shaped stickers

Pignut Consumer Leaflet Design

A balance between aspiration and accessibility

Pignut position themselves very much as an aspirational, but accessible brand and the graphic design had to reflect this. Using the flower and the shape from the logo as motifs to run throughout the visual identity we developed a creative platform to use on all material. Pignut invested in some great photography so it was important the design didn’t over power these and allow the products to sell themselves.

Strong use of the brand colours is seen throughout the designs. The font choices were of particular interest. There were three corporate fonts in use and it was important to retain a consistent message when using these. A robust font is used for headlines supported by a serif body font. These are complimented by a script style font to use in a more conversational way for quotes and requests. This allowed the visual identity to be more personal while retain some authority when needed.

Pignut shop visual and some of the internal vinyl graphics

Pignut graphics – style and detail

As the brand is all about style and detail, we needed to establish these brand values in the design. Time was taken to ensure all the Pignut graphics and documentation, even down to the most basic of order forms followed their visual style.

This continues through to their social media channels, press adverts and even the shop posters. This all adds up to a clear brand style which communicates their values.

Even the simplest price list and order form are styles to give brand consistency across all documentation. This shows a Trade Order Form, Account Application and shop recruitment poster.

If you have a similar project and would like to know more about how we brought Pignut to Suffolk, drop me a line. I have many other examples of Brand Development which might be of interest. Check out some other examples here >

January 23, 2018
The Space Burston Yoga and Wellbeing Logo Design

The Space Burston is a yoga studio and wellbeing treatment room in Norfolk. The Space wanted a light modern logo and visual identity to use on their premises and supporting material.

We developed a logo which combined yoga poses with silhouettes of everyday people enjoying movement. It was important to demonstrate The Space was for all types of customer as they needed to illustrate that they offered both wellbeing classes as well as specialised treatments. The logo therefore shows a runner to demonstrate sports massage, a gardener to show treatments for all ages and a young mother to show how they offer classes for babies and parents. The use of grey is designed to give the logo and identity a calming effect and to be used as a colour pallet within the building.

The Space Burston – Visual identity colour scheme

As part of The Space’s visual identity, we chose three warm greys to use alongside white. This gave us a greater variety of tones when producing support material. The use of silhouettes in the logo lends itself very nicely to using the human form in these tonal greys. For promotional material we felt we needed an accent colour to help lift the leaflets and flyers. What worked well is an aqua blue as this compliments the grey and is a vibrant and eye catching addition.

As a start up business it was important they kept costs to a minimum. As part of the project I helped set up a WordPress website which they have complete control over. I also supplied graphics to help their social media activity. As the business has matured we are now looking at a more extensive site which will offer online bookings.

For more details on The Space Burston and how to book classes or treatments, visit their website here >

If you have a start up business and are looking for an experienced graphic designer to help, then drop me a line. As with The Space I offer far more than just logo design and new visual identity. I can help identify common pitfalls often encountered by a start up business and provide valuable advice which will save you money and get you out in the market as quickly as possible.

January 16, 2018
Care Careers East Logo Design and Website Project

Care Careers East are a specialist recruitment service for care professionals in Suffolk and Norfolk. The provide a bespoke service aimed at getting a better quality candidate for the many care service provides across the region. The issue the care providers have is traditional recruitment sites are often beyond their budget. Care Careers East also vet each candidate on their behalf and only put forward those they feel are of a certain quality. They also assist candidates work on their CVs and help find training opportunities to help raise the overall quality of those seeking jobs in care.

Care Careers East Logo Design

The Care Careers East logo uses simple letter forms making it easy to identify. The extra touch of including the east facing arrow as part of the ‘e’ gives provides an energetic shape to use on corporate material and throughout their corporate identity. The arrow not only illustrates the Eastern focus of the service, but also provides a forward movement supporting their ‘Fast Forwarding Your Career‘ descriptor line.

Green is a colour heavily associated with the care profession and Care Careers East wanted to position themselves very much within that tradition. The use of two greens gives them a strong corporate colour but retain the flexibility of dark and light. The logo and the identity is therefore just as effective reversed out of the solid green.

The Care Careers Logo and Website Homepage

Care Careers East Website Design

Before designing the website we looked at many pre-built options and WordPress plugins that offer recruitment functionality. None of these were exactly what we needed so we built our own. The main reason for the bespoke build is we wanted the site to have a more hands on approach for the candidates. One of the issues with the care profession is that a great many of the care professionals are not completely computer literate and are often discouraged to apply for positions due to the complexity of the online systems. We designed a site to strip away a lot of these obstacles. For instance, instead of a lengthy online form to complete, the candidates are encouraged to send in their CVs. For those, of whom there are a considerable number, who do not have a CV, they are offered a simple downloadable Acrobat form which they either complete on their own PCs or print out and fill in with a pen. This makes the positions accessible to all.

The website jobs page and an example of the easy to use downloadable application form

Care Careers East Digital Marketing

As part if their marketing plan, CCE produce a number of emailers. These are split between quick ‘Job Alerts‘ designed to get new vacancies out to their database as quickly as possible and Newsletters, which will go into more detail about the regions care sector.

We have also produced a number of online adverts including leaderboards, banners and MPUs. These examples illustrate how well the over all corporate identity translates over all media providing Care Careers East with a robust and distinctive brand which stands out in the care sector.

The Care Careers East MailChimp template, Leaderboard, Banner and MPU adverts. Also show is the stationery set.

For more information about CCE you can visit their website here >. If you a similar project and would like to know more detail about the design and development process, please get in touch.

January 15, 2018
London Sports Cars Logo Design and Website Development

London Sports Cars logo design and website development. London Sports Cars are a sales agency that deal specifically in prestige super cars. Part of an existing hire company, they needed a quick, simple logo design to help take advantage of their connections and sell sports cars online.

Alongside the logo we also developed the online sales platform which included a showroom, all administered via a backend system giving London Sports Cars complete control.

The logo is designed to be easy to digest. A considerable number of the clients of the hire business are non-English speakers so the London Sports Cars logo needed to be un-complicated and quickly recognisable. The use of red is synonymous with super cars and the introduction of the blue/grey gave the logo a mature touch inline with many other high end services that the clients will encounter day to day.

London Sports Cars Logo

The logo was supplied direct to the client who then produced their own stationery sets and signage. It also translated very well to the clients digital marketing activity such as banner adverts and email campaigns.

London Sports Cars Website

The London Sports Cars website was developed by first producing a set of wireframes. This allowed us to identify which areas of the site needed to editable. The backend administration system was bespoke and built to make it as easy as possible to add and edit the sports cars available. There were many existing WordPress plugins on offers, but after exploring these in detail we felt they were too complicated to use and the site we wanted to deliver needed to far simpler to use. They had also tried online services such as Autotrader but this site gave them access to a set of clients who demanded a more exclusive approach.

London Sports Cars have the ability to make the cars a ‘Featured Car’ on the homepage, turn the car to ‘Under Offer’ or ‘Sold’.

The London Sports Cars logo and website were developed in under 4 weeks and within a strict budget. This gave them the chance to extend their business into sales opening up a complete new market. If you are thinking of extending into new areas and want a logo design, identity and website to test the waters, it can be done in a very cost effective way. If you want to know more, please get in touch and I’ll have ideas on how it can happen.

January 14, 2018
Trafalgar Fireworks Logo Design

Trafalgar Fireworks Logo Design for their new flagship superstore in central Norwich.

Trafalgar Fireworks are new firework shop in the heart of Norwich. The owner of the business has a long history with the import and sale of fireworks for the trade, but Trafalgar fireworks are new retail start up business. As part of an this project we have also completed an ecommerce website (see the case study here>) and a complete range of packaging designs (see the case study here>).

The Trafalgar Fireworks logo design focuses on the red, white and blue of the union jack as the battle of Trafalgar is celebrated as a great British victory It also links to Lord Nelson’s association with Norfolk and the stores location in Trafalgar Street. The classic silhouette of the warship is used within the logo to replace the ‘A’ to give the logo a unique form and keep the design compact. The solid vector approach is designed to convey authority and help move the visual identity way from other import brands which have a very flamboyant Chinese interpretation of western design tastes.

We also developed a supporting graphic to use alongside the Trafalgar Fireworks logo based on Nelson’s famous Breast Star seen in may of his portraits. This can be seen on the store front below.

Trafalgar Fireworks Logo Design Variations

Examples below show how the Trafalgar Fireworks logo design is used in different colourways. In allowing the logo to be used with a blue and red background the brand material retains a strong identity while introducing some flexibility in how the logo is displayed. Variations of the logo can also be used with just the ship icon.

Care was taken to paint the Trafalgar Street store the same blue as the logo helping with the overall visual identity. All the supporting brand material and promotional activity continues this scheme.

Research after the first year’s trading revealed Trafalgar customers clearly identity the brand in press and online adverting. They also perceive the brand as a UK company who understand their market and not just a firework importer. This has been very important as Trafalgar Fireworks have worked hard to demonstrate they really understand the market and offer valuable advice. We are now working on new ideas to build on their reputation as Norfolk’s premier firework provider.

If you have a retail business or are thinking of starting one, then I can help with all your logo, visual identity and brand designs. If you want to discuss the process with me and how we go about starting such a project, please get in touch and I’ll be happy to help.

January 10, 2018
Logo design for Insurance Broker Liability and General

Insurance broker logo design for local Suffolk business Liability and General.

Liability and General were a start up business looking to partner with an experienced local graphic designer to provide them with designs and advice.

The logo was designed to be used in positive and negative. This gave Liability and General the opportunity to use a strong blue brand colour while also being able to use the logo on a white background. The typeface choice gives the logo a crisp, precise feel. We developed two versions of the logo with the copy in a single or double line to allow for different applications.

Between us, we looked at various international, national and local insurance companies to examine where Liability and General fitted. What we felt worked best was a strong, identifiable icon that positioned the company very much central to the sector. The shape plays with the L and G of the name to form a simple but effective symbol. This symbol is designed to look traditional at part of the clinical look favoured by many of the large insurance brands. This gave Liability and General instant acceptance as an established business. The symbol can then be used in isolation on social media profiles.

The shape also allowed us to explore sub-brands such as Onsite, a specific campaign aimed at the building trade. The Onsite brand takes the visual style of Liability and General insurance broker logo design and tweaks it for a specific audience. This included sales leaflets and its own mini-site.

Alongside the insurance broker logo design we produced a distinctive brand style using children in adult trades. This gave the Liability and General promotional sales material a fun twist which allowed them to stand out in a very competitive market.

This video was designed to promote their specialism within the construction sector. It incorporates an animation of their logo which helps bring the brand to life. For more detail on the video production project, click here.

Insurance broker logo design

Are you starting up a business looking for help or a company after an insurance broker logo design? Get in touch and I can help with your logo design, brand identity and a raft of other services. I’ve helped many start up businesses over the years and have seen many of them go on to do great things.

January 9, 2018
Creative Platform and Identity Design for Easton Farm Park

Creative Platform and Identity Design for Easton Farm Park

Working with the wonderful Easton Farm Park is always fun. They’re a great Suffolk day out where you get to spend time on a working farm meeting all their animals. It is a valuable part of the Suffolk tourist network providing a year round day out for families. Here they can get away from all the distractions of small screens and experience the great out doors and connect with the natural world.

We designed a new identity design which involved firstly developing a simplified version of their iconic logo allowing it to be used on new media and a new range of products. As the logo is so recognisable to their Suffolk visitors we wanted to retain it if at all possible. The challenge was then to use the old logo in a new and exciting way.

Creative Platform for Easton Farm Park. Adverts and products with new colour pallet and brand patterns

In order to do this we developed a new and exciting creative platform giving them a distinctive visual style on which they can base all their marketing activity, giving them a new cohesive brand across all channels. The new style introduces a number of brand patterns and a new colour pallet. The colours take their influence from the seasons allowing Easton Farm Park to tailor their material to the time of year.

New visual style applied to vehicle livery and DL leaflets which are distributed locally

To date, we have used the new creative platform on all their printed material and new product range and are looking to roll it out over their social media and website soon. One very exciting project was designing the graphics for their new shiny pick up truck. Check out the project here >

A5 leaflet design showing the brand identity plus an of a Christmas postcard and season tickets using full colour images.

If you haven’t been to Easton Farm Park, or haven’t been for a while I strongly recommend you go. Its a great place to catch up with friends and the Barn Cafe is excellent!

Get in touch about your project and how you can develop a new creative platform

If you have a corporate identity project and need some help, get in touch. As you can see it is perfectly possible to creative a fresh visual style without having to completely redesign your logo.

November 29, 2017
New Identity Design for Care Careers Suffolk

Identity Design Case Study: Care Careers Suffolk

Care Careers Suffolk are a not for profit organisation that provide advice and guidance for those wanting a career in the care sector. Their team travel Suffolk attending events such as school and college open days offering face to face contact for anyone interesting in a career in care. This can be by providing examples of career pathways and how to gain relevant qualifications through schemes such as apprenticeships.

Care Careers Identity Design – Logo, Letterhead and Business Card

It was important that Care Careers Suffolk had a bold identity to help them make an impact at events. We also decided it would be great to make the identity design as colourful as possible to show potential carers this is a colourful and exciting sector.

The logo was uses a bold typeface allowing plenty of colour to be added. This colour is constructed by using number of overlapping stars in various tints of purple, orange and blue. These stars build to give the logo texture and help convey the busy nature of the sector. What we were very keen to do is communicate how diverse and exciting a care in career could be and overcome any negative connotations about the care sector. In using the stars we are subtly implying care professionals are the hidden stars of our society, something we have used in other aspects of the identity design.

The Care Careers team out and about using their new identity design as part of and event with a pop up display and information leaflets

The identity design has been used on a number of items such as leaflets as well as the Care Careers Website and social media platforms. I have also helped Care Careers Suffolk use the identity to set up their own Vimeo channel allowing them to publish helpful testimonials from care professionals.

If you would like to discuss how I can can help with your identity design project, then please contact me and I’ll be happy to discuss ideas.

January 22, 2017
Logo Design for Patrick and Menzies

The new Patrick and Menzies logo was designed to take the business into a new exciting age of colour and interactivity.

Unusually for an opticians, the logo doesn’t use glasses as a motif. At Patrick and Menzies, they believe eye care is so much more than which prescription glasses you need and wanted their brand to reflect this. An overall approach to eye care, including the latest anterior eye imaging and retinal scanning techniques are seen as essential parts of a long term care plan. They also use various colour tints (colorimetry) to manage migraine and glare sensitivity.

Some people when looking at the logo will see a cube, some a colour wheel, some 6 triangles, some the top of an hexagonal pyramid. The motif is engineered to explore the individual nature of eyesight and how we all experience the world around us in a different way because of how we ‘see’.

Use of the colour wheel allows Patrick and Menzies to take individual elements and use it in a wide range of literature. Many other high street opticians have attempted to base their brand around a particular colour. The colour spectrum is such a fantastic subject. The new logo celebrates this and how wonderful our eyesight is. Not limiting themselves to one colour allows the Patrick and Menzies literature to be available in a wide range of colours and be different each time the customer encounters it.

The use of colour also echoes a new trend with Patrick and Menzies customers with many now using the colour of frames and individual styling to make a statement. Some colours will suit and enhance your look and the use of frame colour helps to enhance eye colour.

The logo shape and use of bold colours is also designed to engage children as Patrick and Menzies do a wide range of work with children and vision in learning.

The logo design process

We wanted to make the logo design project as fun and as engaging as possible for Patrick & Menzies. The business is lucky to have some very switched on and passionate staff, so it was important to include them as much as possible. In order to do this we produced a number of logo quiz sheets to get the staff thinking about logo design and corporate identities and what they feel works best. We canvased their ideas and this formed the basis of the brief.

A number of designs were produced and these were shown to the staff to gather their opinions. Various logos were then taken forward and shown in a number of different scenarios to see what we felt best suited the material and platforms. After a number of tweaks, we agreed the final logo and this was rolled out on various key touchpoints.

We enjoyed the fun nature of the final logo. It was designed to ask questions about vision and how we see things. Is it a simple coloured hexagon? Do you see it as a point viewed from above? Is is an isometric square? Whatever your first impression, it will then take on a different shape the more you look at it.

Do you have a similar logo design or brand identity project? Get in touch and I’ll happily talk though the process and how I can help.

January 8, 2017
Logo Design for Kisra Clothing

The brief was to design a simple, text based logo for Kisra Clothing from No Balls which is easily embroidered onto bamboo garments. The logo had to be flexible and used in a variety of colours and finishes. It was also important that the logo be identifiable even at the smallest size as it was to be used printed on washing and care labels.

The inspiration for the logo is the human body and how the Kisra clothing compliments the natural shapes and forms. The logo also looked great at different angles giving the design a different dynamic on the clothing.

Made from bamboo we also wanted the logo reflect the quick growth associated with the material. The logo design needed to look contemporary and echo the modern fabric, but not too ‘organic’. Customer feedback of the product resulted in a misconception the bamboo would degrade quicker than other natural fibres and for this reason we wanted the logo to have clean, crisp shapes to help communicate its technical nature.

As part of the project, the files were supplied to the client to enable them to send to their worldwide list of suppliers.

As part of the No Balls brand, Kisra Clothing is sold through their online shop and through a network of distributors. In order to reach the distributors No Balls produced a series of advert designs and attended trade shows with their trade show exhibition design.

For more logo examples, click here. If you have a similar project and would like to talk to me about logo design, please contact me.

For rights reasons, the examples shown on this website do not include projects undertaken on behalf of marketing consultants. If you would like to see more examples, email me with the type of business sector you are in and I will be able to show these projects via email.

January 3, 2017
Branding Project for Property Refurbishment Company

This branding project for TWP Designs, a local Norfolk based refurbishment company, was designed to provide a consistent and targeted approach to all their offline material. They found their ad-hoc approach to document production was presenting them as disjointed and disorganised. They were also aware that a number of their clients didn’t actually understand the services they offered. For example, some customers would employ them to refurbish hotel bathrooms, not aware that they were able to offer a complete refurbishment service.

From left to right: Purchase Order pad, Cover for client proposals, Quotation pad.

Branding Project

We started by assembling all offline material, which the customer would see, right down to the most basic of documentation. We then experimented with various ideas to bring all these elements together. The brand colour combined with a simplified logo gave the identity a vibrant, strong style. Choosing to use this colour made it a lot easier to set up internal systems which everyone could adhere to. There were a set of corporate guidelines that allowed them move away from the brand colour, but only for specific purposes.

As well as the visual style of the new identity, we also introduced a word cloud to each document. This gave us them opportunity to highlight other services to customers.

TWP corporate brochure concepts and electronic business card

The new visual style gave the business a way to communicate to their customers in an effective, rational way. It gave the company a more dependable feel, especially important in a sector that demands a real eye for detail.

Do you have a business that needs to look at how it presents itself? I have other examples of this type of branding project, some of which for confidentiality reasons are not show on this website. Get in touch and I can discuss this, and other branding projects completed on behalf of creative agencies and marketing consultants.

January 26, 2016