Persona

Posted at: 1:40 PM by Mark

As a designer, I find nothing more frustrating than seeing a strong brand I've helped to create slowly get pulled apart or watered down over time by poor application of all-important brand guidelines or outside members of staff with no creative nous. Logo's sitting in curious places on hideous backgrounds; typefaces you'd expect to see in a nursery; and entire pieces of "design" that bear no resemblance to the rest of a brand or its visual style are heart-sinking examples that I occasionally come across.

The need to involve your professional marketing agency when it comes to developing further brand assets and educating staff about the importance of adhering to the guidelines they have taken time to develop is an important process. Consistency and quality are key in retaining brand loyalty (from a visual point of view at least) and should be of paramount importance for a company who have wisely spent time and resources in developing a strong brand.

That's why I'm pleased to say that this month we've been working hard with our clients 'Growth Investment' and 'Ingenuity' to roll out assets that maintain their brand momentum as well as their integrity.

Having successfully launched their brand with the help of Persona from the very beginning, Ingenuity (a University of Nottingham initiative) has gone from strength to strength, enabling a growing network of business people, academics and public sector organisations to address "burning, real life, business questions". In October, the Ingenuity Programme will been launched, a new development bringing together The University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and The University of Derby to offer a range of activities and opportunities designed to help local businesses access knowledge and resources. To accompany this launch, the client has asked Persona to help them publicise this new development.

With the intention of extending the Ingenuity brand having been considered at the initial design phase, the framework was already set in place for such a time as this, and so the process for creating the relevant event literature has been both seamless and enjoyable from both Persona's and the clients' point of view - the result being two pieces of printed literature that successfully extend the strong Ingenuity brand, reaching a new audience.

In a similar vein, the Growth Investment rebrand has been very successful for the organisation and the client has been keen to ensure the brand assets are used correctly just as much as we have. Close communication in developing artwork for literature, editorial spreads, web pages and this month a set of exhibition banners has meant that the brand visual style has been impeccably maintained. Take a look at one of the banners below.

Both Growth Investment and Ingenuity are benefiting from a good working relationship with their marketing agency, understanding the need to nurture and protect their brands to retain quality and loyalty. As a designer, I can only applaud this attitude and hope that more like them will realise the importance of good design, not forgetting that like anything else, you pay for what you get.

Labels: branding, creative, growth investment, identity, ingenuity

Posted at: 5:17 PM by Hammad

This year we began work on a fantastic new project with The Psychic Highway. Our good friends at Diva Telecom put us in touch with them to create their new logo, and they loved the design so much they wanted us to do more work for them.

The Psychic Highway specialise in Healing, Astrology, Tarot and many other psychic aspects. Helen at The Psychic Highway asked us to design some Oracle cards that can be used to help guide people with the answers they are searching for.

She contacted her angels to let us know what colours to use based on their meanings. We then used our own angels (our fantastic design team) to create the Oracle Cards. Everyone is extremely excited about them and they will be available to buy online for those that are looking for some guidance. They have even been advertised on Psychic TV - and went down a storm!

Take a look for yourself at www.thepsychichighway.com.

Labels: branding, creative, identity, logo