We have just designed and produced the first edition newsletter for all Fortis Insurance staff in the UK. It was a very enjoyable and interesting project for us to take on. It was an opportunity for EC Design and Marketing to give a new direction to their monthly publication but still giving it the Fortis brand feel.

Fortis are running a competition to give the publication a name. And we look forward to receiving their suggestions

We are looking forward to putting together the next issue and our agency projects from financial sector continues to grow.

Labels: design strategy

We have just recently designed and produced the Annual Report and Accounts for Teachers Building Society and it has been a real pleasurable and satisfying job to work on. It has been a while since I have designed my last Report and Accounts and I forgot just how typographically demanding they are.

Any designer who has produced a R&A will understand ‘tabs’ are crucial and accuracy of lining up text, numbers and brackets. Hours were spent agonising over column widths, lining up text and making sure ‘feed’ and ‘number kerning’ was consistent throughout. Our designer Wesley again excelled in producing highly accurate and consistent page layouts. Timescales were demanding as the final figures to be set were only released a few days prior to our print deadline, a challenge, but one we just thrived on!

I have just re-discovered my love again for R&A’s and the client was a pleasure to work with, which made the job even more satisfying to work on. We hope to get the opportunity to produce more R&A’s for other clients over the next financial year. If I was not a designer maybe I should have been an accountant…not!

Labels: design strategy, Management, Report and Accounts

The majority of UK companies see a successful rebrand as a key way of weathering the recession, according to new research.

Implementation, Rebranding and Design, a report commissioned by branding consultancy the Principle Group, surveyed 250 marketing directors of blue chip companies and UK business owners and found that the majority recognise the importance of rebranding in a downturn and acknowledge the role of design in assisting business recovery. A few that is shared here at EC and the brands that we represent.

85% said that design can play an important role in generating a recovery for some brands. A successful rebranding was seen by 64% of UK business leaders as a route to gaining a competitive edge. Similarly, 63% agreed that a new identity signified a ‘bold embracing of change’.

“Any brand with the appetite to develop its identity in a recession demonstrates a willingness to challenge the market and a commitment to its businesses, services and products”.

The report shows a number of examples that includes Tesco retaining its ‘Every little helps’ approach and Aldi actively marketing and advertising its core ‘value’ proposition to a new audience of middle-class shopper. Also this month Citroen launched a new identity and according to Citroen Communications Director: “At a time when the bulk of the automotive industry is suffering a loss in confidence, we’re using the opportunity of a difficult climate to change the relationship with customers and show them that the company is reinventing itself”

In-fact in a way, us the designers should be communicating the strength and power of good design, its value and relevance to success for business owners and in this report 76% agreed.

Source: Principle Group

Labels: design strategy, opinion, rebranding

In the latest edition of Design Week it made interesting reading as journalists predict how our industry will fair in this recession. Plenty of advice but there was an article that caught me eye which was a ‘Vox – pop’ of opinion from our industry leaders. The question was ‘What do you hope 2009 will bring?’ I am inspired by the following responses.

“There is a great line by Woody Allen that goes ‘I’ve got my principles and if you don’t like them there are plenty more where they came from’ This coming year will need self belief and an absolute focus on which opportunities are the right ones, belief in what we do best, why we are doing it and who we should do it for”

My favourite was from one of my ex bosses – “2009 is going to be extremely tough, but I hope it will bring braver designers and even braver clients”

We hope 2009 will be a profitable and focused year. We will continue to deliver strategic quality brand marketing, good strong clean creative solutions for our clients to help them compete their way through the recession.

Labels: design strategy, effectiveness, insight

This has become my favourite website at the moment and it plays on the old rule that you can measure effectiveness within a website in 5 seconds, or that customers make up their minds about your website in 5 seconds. Basically you upload your test site and the users then see it for 5 seconds and then comments on it.

All anonymous so generally it will be a true statement.

Its great fun…The test works by seeing on screen an image/website for five seconds, then you choose your most and least favourite things about it.

Simple, but highly effective and you choose between creating a list of your 5 things you remember, compare design alternatives or identify strengths or weaknesses. It is a great exercise and a reminder on keeping things simple and effective.

Be warned…it is addictive once you start testing other peoples sites.

www.fivesecondtest.com

Labels: build, design strategy, effectiveness

We are being increasingly asked by our clients to set up blogs on their websites or ask us if it’s a good idea to let staff air their views. We think blogs are great and make strategic sense and we have listed below a few tips to get the most out of them

Make the subject matter easy
Pick topics that your company knows about and can write about regularly and would be interesting to your clients.

Capture the imagination
Use good and relevant headlines for your post titles. These will be picked up by the search engines so make them relevant to you.

Be strategic
As a business you need to be commercially aware on how your posts will be interpreted.

Choose the correct blog platform
Blogger and Wordpress are free for hosting and domains. We recommend Blogger for its ease of use.

Write for the search engines
Being an expert in your topic will raise your profile.

Don’t become a grumpy blogger!
Sounds simple, do not use blogs to moan and always have a ‘gate keeper’ to monitor.

Ensure you blog often
This will keep your views and ideas up to date and will improve your Google rankings.

Labels: blog, blogging, design strategy

Last week I was lucky enough to be in the audience of Question Time when it came to Bournemouth after the Liberal Democrat conference. It was a small audience of no more than 70 people and we were allowed on set before the politicians arrived. I was looking out for the ‘smoke and mirrors’ and all the staged TV moments, but the programme was shot in one take and shot live, no questions were rehearsed or given to the panel.

The experience reminded me of what it is like in our own agency, long gone are the days of dazzling clients with our industry brand of ‘smoke and mirrors’, or rely on a few mouse clicks and standard templates, you have to tell it like it is, show originality, be honest, have a point of view and consistently deliver our product to a very high standard.

Now does that sound like our politicians?

Labels: design strategy