We Love…

Commissioned to design a cost effective / multi-purpose brochure for INPlace housing developers we created a generic folder for mail outs that can hold up to six inserts (specific housing brochures) and sub brochures.

The generic folder / sleeve included a window allowing prospects to see an image of the development for which they had requested information, helping associate brand and product. The sleeve also featured a cropped top third to allow the use of colour coded inserts, i.e. Toad hall is Magenta, helping to further the individualism of each delivery.

A simple and cost effective solution delivered.

It was the night before Christmas… and some people weren’t watching the telebox or rushing to wrap last minute presents… no, they were busy analysing  statistical data regarding their Xmas newsletter to the world…

…and what a cracker it was (no pun intended). In just 5 days we generated 17 new contacts, increased traffic (unique visitors) to the We Love site by a whopping 500%. And, ultimately, gained a lot of kudos along the way…

It was posted on the Creative Social Blog as one of the best five xmas cards seen this year (along with AKQA’s, BBH, M&C Saatchi and Poke). And seeing as the Creative Social is a very select group of the Top Creative’s in the World this is a very high achievement indeed.

So congrats to all involved. We keeping on setting higher and higher benchmarks for eDM.

However, the stats only show the business side of the application… lets not forget what the Xmas card was for… to bring joy and a smile to everyone after an extremely hard years work. Well done. It was fun to make and thanks for all the positive comments from everyone. It fulfilled its purpose. A happy end

Happy Christmas all, and if you haven’t seen it yet…. click here >

Mark and all here at We Love

Hi all…

Its been a busy run up to Christmas for us. We have won some new work… and delivered some cracking projects… (yes we will blog them and add them to the folio when we get a spare minute)… and have some interesting conversations on the go with some very interesting companies…

So… before you all break for what I hope will be a great Christmas of family and Bond films and a (with luck) drunken New Year… Heres to you Thanks for your support. Thanks for your interest. Oh… and if you want to see a great Christmas card… click the link:

I WANNA SEE YA XMAS CARD >

Happy Christmas. Mark, James and the Crew

Heres to the launch of a small but rather lovely project for We Love.

Gestaltung Interiors is a London based boutique, offering not only quality design consultancy, but also the project management that ensures a job comes in on budget and is snagged to perfection.

The brief: to create an evocative site with a minimum of graphical devices; emphasising ’Gestaltung’, the Germanic word for design and our client’s staunch belief in control and efficiency (values we hold dear to ourselves) .

We Love designed and built the site with a restrained and controlled use of papervision, adding spacial depth and beguiling beauty. By using a single red bar that intuitively incorporates the brand, navigation and content through simple and effective animation content delivery, we created a digital presence that successfully positions Gestaltung Interiors, holding true to their core values and ideals.

Click here to see the site>

Every designer has been through the process of cutting and sticking hundreds of images from design, architecture and lifestyle magazines to a piece of flimsy card, which you then prop up against your wall and stare at continuously hoping to ‘be’ inspired, in order to help create that perfect design?

It is an integral part of the design process when R&Ding a new project, helping you to understand the parameters of a given brief and to learn boundaries of the creative direction as well as involving the client in the whole creative development of their product, which in turn creates early buy in… a good thing.

Well, I spent about three years making moodboards at Uni (thats a lot of moodboards) for each and every project and became very adapt at the whole process… infact it is rather a quick and involving job… However and after reading a recent post online it made me laugh when it suggested that some agencies are using a library of pre-made moodboards to whip out in front of clients (multiple clients - same moodboards) and charging each and every time… ever heard the term ‘money for old rope’… rather cheeky I think.

Some clients find them confusing because as you’re trying to sell them the idea, showing them brightly coloured shapes and images, they’re often looking at the boards in a non-creative way and the outcome is they often see them as a design idea, not a starting point for inspiration! However, some clients find them reassuring and the idea of grabbing a set of scissors themselves and joining in, may help them understand and appreciate what their brand is actually trying to say.

So, keep going with the moodboards… BUT be sure to use them in the right way. Don’t see them as a cash cow… Don’t abuse them… and most importantly don’t hang onto them for dear life… Be flexible in your approach to enable you to best service your clients and their needs.

Cheers, Dan

This absolutely cracked me up… encompassing everything (and every key word) that is important in todays high flying marketeers vocab and modern designers focus. Ya!

What is even funnier is that some people’s comments on the piece (and blog)… they can’t even see that Creative Review are taking the piss… I cry in disbelief for these people…

Intro to blog and graphic here…

“Creative Review® unveils its new brand identity which will advance our positioning across media platforms.

Following a universal brand audit instigated in the wake of an immersion expedition led by a cohort of leading brand ideators, we engaged in a thoroughgoing knowledge accumulation program to facilitate blue-sky thinking and empower Creative Review® in the vanguard of world class best practice in thought-leadership. The following brand muscles were established: innovative, dynamic, square-shaped.

The compelling brand truth uncovered has been articulated in this brand statement: “Creative Review®: Leading ideation infonauts in a media neutral world”.”

Click here to read the full ‘rebrand’ on CR blog >>

After reading an article in Creative Review this week on the true value of original artwork, I started thinking where the value lies in todays world of digital…

Now, I’m not sure how many of you insist on working up visuals and roughs before jumping straight onto a mac, but for me it’s an important part of the process (and one that shouldn’t be forgotten or disregarded due to time or budget pressures).

At university our lecturers used to insist on seeing a bulk of sketches and ideas before being presented with the final solution. I sometimes found this tough, seeing as my best ideas came straight away as a spark of inspiration (and the pub was calling). But in the end it really helped with the whole creative process and often led to more interesting thoughts, better solutions and, in the end saved time, as I could generate lots of ideas faster than on a mac and then be in a better place to judge the value of an idea before committing to artwork…

Not only can these sketches help achieve a better solution, but for John Pasche they recently made him £50,000 when he sold his original artwork for the Rolling Stones logo to the V&A Museum in London this year. I smile to myself as I imagine plenty of over excited old school designers as they start to dig out their original sketches and blow the cobwebs off their pasted-up portfolios.

Now, I know mine might only be a few years old, but I think I’ve got some scribbles from about 18 years ago so I’m off to grab a ladder and head up in the loft . . . must dash ! Moral of the story… get pen to paper, brainstorm those ideas and treasure those original sketches (especially in todays climate), because one day, you never know . . .

Thanks for reading,

Dandy

Let The Start-Ups Begin…

Amidst the plethora of news that we’ve been hearing from all industries about the economy heading towards the ‘END TIMES’, we hear rumblings that there are winners in the midst - Some rightly (cost effective Design Agencies) and some wrongly (greedy Spivs and Speculators). Money never disappears… it just gets redistributed… and historically (recession wise) we see small start-ups in the design industry hitting the headlines for all the right reasons.

Why…

Well during these last 10 years of ‘continued growth’ and ‘good times’ we have seen some great agencies get fatter, bigger, clumsier and less attractive when it comes to ROI. Overheads become too large, rentals are too high and the leases too long. Staff have become expectant of high salaries and have become too comfortable within their role…

This is where the start-up wins out. During these hard times… Excellent creatives look for an alternative. They look to use their initiative, business savvy and offer an alternate solution to toughening economies. If we look back to the last squeeze, the creative agencies that grew from great ideas were the like of De-Construct, Moot and Glue. As Nietzsche said, the cream always rises to the top, and these fellas have done very very well.

And this is where We Love intends to win out. Injecting a little love back in the industry, remembering why we got involved with design in the first place, and bringing to the table (at prices that are accessible in these tightening times) the experience gained from working at the likes of IMG Media, AKQA, MediaCatalyst and Think! on big and beautiful brands such as Sony Ericsson, Yamaha, Sony, UPC, Mercedes (among many others) with much finer targeted solutions in the offering.

The days of ’scatter gun’ advertising (TV, Radio, Outdoor) may not be over… but they do NOT command the sort of respect they once did… and clients are looking for design agencies that can provide better integrated campaign solutions… where one agency can take away their worries regarding creative consistency and project management. Small agencies can respond faster to changing trends and, offer a more personal experience to the client and at the end of the day (we are all measurable) be a much better value to the client on a pound for pound spend.

Now, We Love does not think the recession for the digital / creative industry will be as bad as last time. But we do think that agencies will need to reassess how they do business and how the client defines good value. A posh office is one thing… but we think the days of wastefulness are gone for a good few years yet. So no more jollies in the South of France for a while.

So, heres to the small man, heres to change, heres to the wise businessman.

Mark