Month: June 2017

Telling your brand story

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Every brand meet we have with a client or potential client focuses on one theme: Telling your story! Whether you are a nutritionist, a pet food manufacturer, a restaurant owner or a marketing manager, it’s our job to help you bring your brand, product or service’s story to life through amazing creative design, for print and the digital world.

Telling your brand story isn’t easy. It takes consideration and clarity of objective. It must help you address key business issues and overcome objections. It must focus all business stakeholders on a single message and support them in their daily activities, regardless of their position in your business.

So what is your brand story? Are you telling it right? How do you know if you’re wrong?

Our brand story

“We are a creative design agency in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We specialise in brand identity, graphic design and web design.”

But a brand goes far beyond a few words written down. It must embody a culture within a business and the purpose that the business has in it’s market.

“Our unique approach delivers deep meaningful change across our clients businesses.”

Creative design can be utilised in every facet of your business to promote growth or to focus on productivity enhancements, better user experience or clarity of business objectives.

This morning I was invited to the BBC to video some footage for their “Make It” mentor videos. The projects aim is to improve aspiration, expectation and confidence in young people, young males in particular, aged 16-24, whilst delivering employability, careers resources and pathways into training and employment.

In developing the content, I focused on my own brand story and the message I wanted to portray to those watching the video. What challenges I overcame as a business owner and where I am today?

My brand story

I’m a 34 year old husband and father, as well as a business owner here in Belfast. Kaizen started from our back bedroom with the aim of helping businesses with their marketing through design and printed materials. I’ve always been entrepreneurial and even in school I would have been the person selling sweets from their locker. I love business and love coming to work each day.

Women in Business Masterclass

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On 6 June I had the pleasure of addressing an array of Women in Business members on the Importance of Branding at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belfast. The opportunity to present to such a prestigious gathering of female entrepreneurs and businesswomen was fantastic. With nearly 30 delegates in attendance at the Cottonwood Suite, Crowne Plaza we were ready to begin the master class. With the help of Lynsay and Alex from the Kaizen Brand Evolution studio we had prepared the room accordingly before I started the proceedings, providing a number of branded materials, interactive worksheets and ambient KBE graphics to set the scene.

As an introduction the first segment of the Importance of Branding Masterclass presentation asked the question ‘what is a brand.’ We may think we know what a brand is but I thought it was important to highlight the different stems of what a brand can be, from its origins in cattle branding to the modern day phenomena of celebrity branding and corporate brand experiences. As well as identifying what a brand can become I delved into some definitions of brand, from the late great Wally Olins to the CEO of Amazon – Jeff Bezos. All definitions of what a brand is are as important as each other when trying to understand the importance of branding. Wally Olins fantastically describes a brand as a tribe, a religion that we can feel a belonging, while Jeff Bezos’ famous quote ‘your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room’ rang true with some of our female delegates and got them thinking. At this stage in the Masterclass I asked each attendee to pass their business card to the person on their left. One the person next to them had their business card I asked them to tell the business card owner how they felt their brand was communicating. This exercise opened up conversation on how the business card was selling their business, when they were not in the room to sell the brand.

With the idea of a how a brand can sell your business for you, without you being there to do so firmly instilled in the room I was ready to move onto the next segment of the presentation – the Kaizen brand Evolution process. I discussed a branding project we carried out for Ireland’s largest media company Mirror Media. I discussed the steps we took in order to achieve such a strong brand identity as well as strategy. From research and development to creating a narrative for the business that confidently explains their unique selling points. Following these stages I then moved into the actual design process, highlighting that design doesn’t actually take place for a while, showing how we build a foundation of research and narrative before putting pen to paper.

Next in the branding master class I wanted the attendees to start thinking like their target audience. This interactive exercise is an adaption of the process that we at Kaizen Brand Evolution perform with all of our branding projects. The process begins with setting customer profiles, giving them a name, age and illustration. For this character we then explore 4 assets of their profile that will help us correctly target them on their level. We explored in this exercise how a 19-year-old girl, 65-year-old man and a 45-year-old mother of two who are looking to purchase a used car would think, feel, talks and importantly where they go. With all of this information in hand we are able to identify the target audience on their level. Some interesting results indeed, but all relevant and useful information.

The branding master class was an absolute pleasure to be involved in and meeting the delegates after, it was very rewarding hearing the positive feedback.

We will be featuring the video of the entire master class on our website and social channels if you would like to see more.

A Year in the life of KBE

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One year on from my graduation and finishing final year of BA Hons Graphic Design and Illustration in Ulster University Belfast, I find myself working in Kaizen Brand Evolution for one full year. The time has truly flew in! I have learnt so much I begin to wonder how I little I actually knew this time last year. When leaving university I knew that I wanted to work in branding straight away. I particularly like packaging design, as in Northern Ireland the food and hospitality industry is thriving and I knew this is where I wanted to progress my career in graphic design, therefore getting a job in Kaizen was the perfect fit.

Starting in Kaizen Brand Evolution I asked myself the question what is brand? Branding is everything associated with your service that you provide, it is what people say about you when you’re not there. I have been lucky to take part in producing creative branding concepts for start-up businesses and also evolution of top established brands and providing creative concepts. When I first started I took part in small projects to get started, but now I am able to manage my own clients and solve creative solutions for a brief and I have the confidence to do so. I find it very rewarding working one on one with clients and coming up with a outcome that their business can be proud of also when you see the work you have done out in the public domain.

I have been able to take part in brand presentations where we as a studio would get together and do research on the industry and then we would pick out three strong directions to pursue that meet the brand strategy. I have been able to design brands from scratch with a logo, language, art direction, social media consideration and website concepts. It was my brand submission that was chosen by the client is Couture Effects, a costume designer for clients such as ‘Game of Thrones’ who wanted a brand to reflect the work that they do as well as sit with the top global brands. For the brand presentation I designed a modern classic logo an adaption from their previous logo incorporating the C and E with an aspect of stitching and cutting. I also produced language and art direction in advertising concepts, stationery, uniform and garment tags. I particularly enjoyed working on this project and I believe it has helped me develop as a designer.

Working in Kaizen Brand Evolution has allowed me to learn about print and production as their sister company Kaizen Print is close by to help. I have learnt about printing techniques and setting up jobs for print, including cut contours and the importance of bleed, and when and when not to use CMYK printing. This has helped me grow as a designer and be able to assist a client on their project to ensure the best possible outcome is delivered.

I have had the opportunity take part in many events with Kaizen, including Culture Night Belfast last year and I look forward to participating in it again this year. In February I was able to travel to Dublin to go to OFFSET 2017 the design festival and found it very influential as a young designer.

One of the things I have enjoyed working in KBE is being a member of the team and working with others. Being able to learn from others and their experiences is fulfilling. I have also been able to pass my own knowledge on to others in the studio and we all can help each other to be the best! Last week I went to go see the final year show with the studio it brought back memories of what it felt like to be in their shoes. I found it interesting to visit some of my old classmates and view their work only this time I was coming from a design company a year on.

I look forward to continue to develop my knowledge and learning in Kaizen Brand Evolution for the next years to come and I hope to progress as a graphic designer to work on many other projects. Watch this space!

 

Little Hands Little Feet

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Little Hands Little Feet are a leading day-care and afterschool facility that pride themselves on providing a fun, safe environment right in the heart of South Belfast. We’ve been working with Little Hands Little Feet for a number of years, from the development of their internal graphics and collateral to their external wall designs on their mobile classrooms. At the beginning of the year Little Hands Little Feet approached the team at Kaizen Brand Evolution to audit their brand. They felt that their brand presence needed revived both in print and online and wanted to lead the way in their marketplace. We were first tasked to solidify the LHLF brand at first by creating a set of brand guidelines for the business, setting the tone for the brand and providing a clear guide of how it should be handled in print and digitally.

We created the brand guidelines for LHLF revitalising the personality and brand culture of the workforce and experience that the children have when attending through design. We re-set the logo and brand colour palette to reflect a more fun brand outlook and overall contemporary brand identity. We provided the owners with a hard copy brand ‘bible’ outlining the new direction, palette, typographic direction and photography style. With this set in place we were then able to proceed with a new image library, branded collateral and web design.

Our in-house photographer visited Little Hands Little Feet for a photo shoot with the aim of capturing the creative, exciting environment at LHLF. The shoot spanned each room available on the premises as well as the interactivity the staff have with the children. The shoot was bright, colourful and messy at some points, which added to the new brand direction. Following a shortlisting process the new image library has began rolling out across a number of items from Interlocking Folder designs to event calendars supplied to exiting and potential parents.

With the new brand guidelines and photo shoot in place the next stage of the brand audit was the website design and build. The owners wanted the new Little Hands Little Feet website to reflect contemporary web trends utilising the new photography and colour palette in creating a highly visualy, engaging experience for existing and potential customer alike. We designed and built a clean, photo-led website with optimisation in tablet and mobile environments. Each page of the new site provides the user with an engaging, informative and playful experience, much similar to the offerings available at Little Hands Little Feet. New typographic styles and colour palettes have been introduced throughout the new site reflective of the new brand guidelines. (*The investment in brand guidelines at the early stages provides a solid foundation for the evolution of the brand and shows how the brand should be rolled out and controlled. They provide the designers and business owners with a clear understanding of progression and brand use which is agreed upon by both parties before any collateral is created or designed.) Navigating through the new site the use of white space provides clarity and support to the fantastic new photography. The new Little Hands Little Feet website stands out amongst the industry landscape highlighting how adapting and auditing your brand both on and offline can seriously affect your business for the better.

The brand audit of Little Hands Little Feet ensures consistency across the entire brand collateral. The audit highlights brand values clearly and concisely across all new and future brand exposure. With brand consistency comes trust and trust in a brand is one of the key elements for growth and brand sustainability.

Visit website: littlehandslittlefeet.org

University of Ulster Degree Shows 2017

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On Thursday 2nd of June our Design Director, Ryan Stanfield, and Head of Brand, Lynsay Spence, got the opportunity to have a sneak preview of the annual University of Ulster Graphic Design and Illustration Degree show! Invited to a lunchtime industry private viewing, they screened the creativity and sketchbooks on show. On mass, the whole Kaizen Brand Evolution team popped down to the main event on Friday 3rd June. Never ones to miss a slice of inspiration, we took the liberty of stopping off at the ‘Dazed and Confused’ exhibition as part of Belfast Photo Festival in Writer’s Square en route.

On site at UUB, it was a pleasure to catch up with the course tutors Liam McComish and Jill Spratt, they helped facilitate our current recruitment drive – we are always on the look out for fresh talent emerging from final year! Like the previous years, the work was at a high standard and we got to see great work in all aspects of graphic design and illustration! The course is now different from when some of us did it, so it is refreshing to see up and coming illustrators along side graphic designers at the show. Straight away it was clear to see how much work the students had put into their show, it had an excellent vibe – with the added touch of a DJ playing this year! Ryan took an interest in the fantastic range of typography projects, he annually scores for the International Society of Typographic Designers. We where instantly drawn to Matthew Lavery’s Royal Ballet project – his attention to detail and skill level was outstanding. Another student that stood out to us was Craig Norwood, his typography and art direction was inspiring – we just loved the chocolate packaging! We also got to see the work by our very own Gaynor Gordon who has been working with us while studying in her final year – we could spot her black and white themed projects a mile off! We got the pleasure of looking at ‘Hand Made Font’, a book designed by Stephen Hanna, this was a really interesting project and unlike anything we have seen at the shows before. There was a lot of work that really stood out to us and we definitely could identify a few successful up-and-coming designers! We can’t wait to see what next year’s students will bring to the table. We wish the class of 2017 success in the future and thank you all having us down to be part of it!

We have asked each designer in our studio to choose their favourite piece of work at the show and explain why it stood out to them:

Lynsay: “A lot of projects stood out to me so it is hard to choose one! One of my favourites was an ISTD book designed by Shannon Tierney, this was awarded membership (well done!). I loved the use of screen printing and I thought it was a project that stood out because it was so fresh.”

Ryan: “A great show all round! It is hard to choose one project but I loved the Belfast Design Week Beer brand by Rachel McCullagh. Great use of illustration and I would definitely pick this up if I seen it on the shelf or in a bar!”

Alex: “It was great to see the show after graduating from the same course last year! There was a big variety of projects but the typeface designed by Elliott Lyness stood out to me. The animation to show the typeface was outstanding – like something you would see on fontsmith!”

Lizi: “I loved the Spice Girls typography project by Shannon Quinn, this was so original. It was very entertaining and a great typographic interpretation! Oh and one of my favourite things was the cat illustration on Gaynor’s business card of course – so cute!”

Shaleen: “There was a lot of inspiring work, I loved the illustrations by Gillian Warren, I would like one for my wall at home! Well done to everyone at the show and good luck for the future!”

Gaynor: “It is hard to say what my favourite piece was as I have worked with everyone all year and I have seen every project develop from start to finish! But what stood out to me was the amount of detail put in to Katri’s ISTD project – Her book was beautifully crafted and the content she curated was very rich. She wrote about the story of her family jewellery shop in Finland. I loved the typographic jewellery pieces she had made to go with the book and I thought the typography was very inspiring!