The design and production of an annual report project and vision document for a nationally important visitor attraction and conservation champion.

ZSEA – The Zoological Society of East Anglia are a conservation organisation committed to the preservation of many endangered spectacular species, including rhino, lions, cheetah as well as a huge amount of less known, but equally important species such as the native crayfish and turtle dove.

ZSEA run two of the region’s leading visitor attractions, Banham Zoo and Africa Alive. Here they are part of international breeding programmes and provide a valuable insight into the plight of the worlds most fragile ecosystems.

In order to communicate their status, challenges and successes to the ZSEA trustees and wider public, they produced an annual report project and vision document. This highlighted where the business was at the time, especially important having only just survived the Covid crisis, and also where the organisation was heading, in the context of the massive global challenges and new legislation due to impact how a zoo should operate in the future.

Annual Report Project

The document had to take a lot of very dry and complex figures and present them in such a way that they were easily understood. The use of colour and straight forward typography allowed the summary of the financial status to be simple and structured in away to make comparisons easy to digest.

As well as acting as an annual report, the document was also to be used as a vision document setting out how ZSEA intended to meet the challenges of how a zoo could help global conservation efforts, customer engagement and work towards a sustainable future.

Using photographs from the magnificent animals from Banham Zoo and Africa Alive really helped give these creatures a voice and help remind the reader excatlly what was at stake and why ZSEA are so important.

If you have a similar annual report design project that you need help designing, please get in touch. Wether you just need a freelance designer to help bring your message to life and make your facts and figures interesting and engaging, or you need someone in a wider, project management role, then I’m happy to fit into your organisation however you see fit. Having produced may annual reports, I know how to get all stakeholders on board making sure you meet you miolestones and you are able to produce a document you’re proud of.

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Trafalgar Group Trading have a new product brochure design for their 2020/21 range. The 28 page brochure is designed for the trade sector. It contains images of all products along with a specification table. The product specification table provides trade and retail prices, plus all additional information, such as packaging and dimensions. We also show the trade customers the NEC value of each pack and the firework category allowing them to store and sell the products safely.

The design of the brochure is bright and colourful, reflecting the nature of the products. These are exciting dynamic products so the backgrounds are designed to provide a sense of fun and movement. For the cover spreads we wanted something that touched on the retro nature of the product range. We took our inspiration from the 1960’s and pop and mod culture.

The product brochure design includes the launch of their new exciting Eco Sparkle Sticks. These are eco sparklers which do not contain wire. Instead they use wood so the sparkle sticks burns down to nothing. More details on the packaging design can be found here. In order to help promote the new sparkle stick products, we included a dedicated spread within the brochure. This flower design is then used on additional promotion material such as their e-newsletter designs.

Many of the new products are in production in China and not expected into the UK until September. In order to include them in the brochure we had to provide 3D image visualisation mock ups. Using a combination of Photoshop and 3D visualisation software we can produce a realistic image very close to a photograph of the actual item. As well as the products, we also visualised the CDUs (Counter Display Units) to give the trade customers and idea of how they will merchandise the range.

To make the brochure quick and easy to understand we developed a series of icons which would identify the product characteristics. The pyrotechnic range is quite technical and some of this information will be vital to the trade customers. The icons allow then to see what is important and reduce the amount of copy in the product specification tables.

If you have a product brochure design project and would like to see other examples or have any queries about this project, please get in touch.

The last few months has seen Crooks Design producing various graphic and sign designs for the opening of two Suffolk zoos. Banham Zoo and Africa Alive are part if the Zoological Society of East Anglia. These much loved institutions found themselves in huge difficulties being forced to shutdown during what would be their busiest time of the year. I helped out with their ‘Be Amazing’ campaign as they raised funds in order to keep operating during lockdown. More information on their fundraising campaign can be found here.

As they moved to open, they need additional support to help redesign the zoos for a new visitor experience. The project has involved site walkthroughs in order to establish what was required to make the visitors and staff safe. We also needed to communicate changes to the zoo layout and food ordering processes. In total all we produced over 200 new sign designs. These ranged from simple social distancing measures to large menu boards and information stations.  As the ZSEA marketing team were on furlough, they also needed to get help from a freelance graphic designer to send various items to print that were already in production. These included large entrance signage and restaurant designs.

One of the most fundamental changes was to covert the seated dining area to a takeout operation. This involved a communicating a clear customer journey through the restaurant. Designing signs that offered clear instructions has helped limit the queuing time. Easy to digest menu boards make ordering food quick and easy and new ordering point sign designs identify how the diners can exit the restaurant quickly and safely.

To help with reducing wait times for food, we also produced new takeaway food outlets. These utilised buildings that would otherwise be used for school visits. The new food outlets needed their own brand identity and logo designs. This would also help visitors navigate around the park and identify with the food offers. The food outlet designs also needed to be ready to adapt to the ever changing situation. In order to achieve this, I designed a system where the main branding was on a permanent Foamex sign. The menu boards were then over-fixed using industrial velcro. This will allow us to change the food offers on a regular basis. The food offers can change depending on tastes, availability and allow the zoo to offer a more seasonal appropriate menu. For example, a cafe that offers hot dogs in the summer can now offer hot chocolates in winter with minimal cost in producing new sign designs. Check out this news article more information about the cafe logo designs.

The key to the majority of the signs was to introduce flexibility. The ability for the zoos to alter the signage will allow them to adapt to changing advice. Early customer feedback forms highlighted that the visitors felt safe and we wanted to build on this. Sign designs can be costly if we have to change them on a regular basis so this had to part of the design consideration from the beginning. Using A Boards which can be moved were deployed at various locations throughout the zoos. Observing visitor flow and responding accordingly made maximum use of this signage. We also made use of the existing infrastructure. Previously the zoo had signs promoting events and photo boards which are currently no available. We utilised these boards to promote the new food offers and as wayfinders. As the structures remain in place, we can quickly return these to their previous use once restrictions allow.

We also developed a reference system for each sign. Printing the reference on the sign provides the management team a way to quickly brief in a  new sign as and when required. The sign printer also has a copy of each reference so they understand the size and material. The zoo installation team then use this reference to know exactly which sign needs to change.

The zoos are now fully open and the visitor feedback has been very positive. The zoos have been using the A Boards to manage the queues and people feel safe. This has lead to positive reviews which has increased visitor numbers.  The food outlets are also working well. This has helped increase visitor spend.

If you have a similar signage project and need an experienced designer to help you design the signs and assist with the project management, please get in touch.