Category: What’s Happening

365 days at KBE

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This year has been the most challenging, yet rewarding and enjoyable year of my time at university. The industry experience I’ve gained while being on placement at KBE has been invaluable and just as importantly the work has been thoroughly enjoyable. Twelve months just fly in when you’re immersed in engaging projects. At the start, getting used to the 9-5 life was tough.  However, as the months went on I grew in confidence and got into the flow of working and started to really enjoy it. I might even stretch to love it. There were many firsts during my time at KBE, most notably being introduced to my first Boojum burrito bowl. Let’s just say, I am one stamp away from getting that T-Shirt. 

No two days where ever the same. As a Junior Designer, I worked closely with the Senior Designers to deliver high-quality creative work, brands and marketing campaigns, seeing briefs through from conception to completion. I was involved in a whole range of projects through which I experienced different roles within the company. Ranging from small art working jobs to the complete design of signage, posters, brochures, flyers and full brand audits. Every project big and small brought with it a variety of challenges and things to learn from.

A few weeks into my placement I was given my first branding project to work on, for Jigsaw Day Nursery. Along with two other designers, we were given the task to come up with an engaging, child-friendly brand that would work as a sub-brand as well. After all three brands were pitched to the client, I was soon to find out my design was chosen as the brand they wanted to roll out. This was a big achievement, having my idea chosen during my first branding project, I will never forget the feeling. Throughout the year I continued to work on many Jigsaw projects including rolling out their new brand. 

While working on this project and others I have learnt there is so much more to a brand than just a logo, it is also language, imagery and typography. These different elements put together in a specific layout are what make a visual identity. The logo is just there to enforce all these elements. 

I started my placement in one building, and finished in another. Starting out on the Lisburn Road in a three-story terrace town house, converted into a design studio was interesting. Even though it was small I really enjoyed my first 6 months there. The buzz and setting of the Lisburn road was an ideal location, however for an evolving studio, we were out growing our premises.

It was very exciting to be part of the move to Jenny Mount, during my time at KBE. This was a huge milestone for the company. The studio vibe changed dramatically, as we went from a room where everyone was facing a wall while working to an open plan layout with designated break out zones, gaming areas, coffee stations and swings, to de-stress when the going gets tough.

There is a definite culture of knowledge sharing within KBE, with monthly shared learning talks and tutorials, which helps the place evolve as a whole, something I certainly benefited from during my time there. During my year with KBE I was given a fantastic opportunity to speak at the event they were hosting, as part of Belfast Design Week. Talking about how my outside hobby of pottery and ceramics influenced me as a junior designer. This was a great personal achievement of mine.

Needless to say, I have truly loved the time I’ve spent at Kaizen Brand Evolution. This year has stretched me in more ways than I ever thought possible, and pushed me out of my creative comfort zone, both personally and professionally. The people are what really make this company special. 

I just want to say a big thanks to Lynsay and Ryan at KBE for giving me this amazing opportunity to be part of the team, where there is never a dull day! Huge thanks should go to all the design team, thanks for all the laughs, chats and Friday lunches. They all have put up with my endless questions (and all of my mistakes along the way!) I admire all of them and have learnt so much from their wealth of knowledge and perpetual patience showed to me. 

I would definitely recommend industry placement for all students studying Graphic Design. It will stand by me during the final year of my degree and has validated a clear sense of direction for my professional future.

Placement – It’s Been Brill

EB 

Over & Out

Belfast business awards – finalist

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As many of you know, we’re not normally the ones to shout about our own greatness. Rather the king maker than the king! However with this year being one of big change within the studio, we decided as a company to engage in some additional public relations in partnership with Serious PR. We identified that as a business who is proud of our services and studio output, that we should promote ourselves through award entries and submissions. New territory for us, that’s for sure.

With that said our first entry was to the Belfast Business Awards and we’re delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted as a finalist in the Best Creative Business category. It’s extremely humbling to be shortlisted with some unbelievable businesses. Some of which are partners and customers who we’ve helped shaped their brand and digital presences.

The awards are being held on the 10th May and one way or another, we look forward to supporting the best of Belfast businesses being recognised for their own individual achievements.

We’re in Great Company – Award Finalists

The other finalists in the Creative Business Award sponsored by Destination CQ are:

· Blick Studios
· Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival for Young People
· Collaborate
· Kaizen Brand Evolution
· NI Silver
· Sugar Rush Creative

November round-up: Belfast Design Week

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November was a busy month for all of us here at Kaizen Brand Evolution as we had not 1 but 2 events on. These were during Belfast Design week at the beginning of the month, with one of them even kicking it all off! How lucky are we?

To start we will begin by talking about our Jr. Sr event, which we held in our very own studio on Tuesday 6th November. This was a breakfast event as part of Womenfolk, which holds events specifically for women within the design and business community. A few of our staff members have been to a couple of these over the past few months, so we were more than happy when they asked us to host one and select a few of our own creatives to be the speakers at it, as part of the beginning of Belfast Design Week 2018. As the theme was Jr.Sr, we chose our very own Lizi Daley and Ciara Topping to be the speakers. Lizi has been with us at Kaizen Brand Evolution for 4 years and Ciara just recently celebrated her 1 year, so they were the perfect candidates.

The aim of their talk was just to let people know firstly about Kaizen Brand Evolution, who we are and what we do. After the introduction to the company, it was time for them to start talking a bit more about themselves and their roles within Kaizen. Lizi was up first and is our resident Web Designer. She is the one that looks after all of the website jobs that come through, designing and coding them to how the client wants. Throughout her part of the talk, Lizi also talked about how her time at Kaizen has progressed, from being a Jr. part of the team herself to more recently becoming a Team Leader. This position obviously comes with more responsibilities and it is now part of her job to look after the team and make sure everyone is motoring along how they should be.

Next up was the Jr. member of our Womenfolk team, Ciara. Ciara is a Graphic Designer here at Kaizen Brand Evolution and has worked on many different projects and with many different brands already in her short time. Throughout her talk, Ciara discussed her day to day and how she is constantly focused on creating the best possible designs that she can for clients, making sure that their products are constantly one up on the competition. As well as this, however, Ciara talked a bit about how she helps design wedding stationery for our sister company, Kaizen Weddings. Similar to her normal clients, Ciara has worked with many brides from across the country, helping them to get the stationery that they have always dreamed of.

Our second event of November and our second event of Belfast Design Week was certainly an exciting one. It was called “Bit on the Side” and was an opportunity for some of our creatives in the studio to talk about their hobbies and why they make them better designers in the studio. Our speakers for the event were made up of our design Director Ryan Stanfield and two of our Designers, Dean Machala and Esther Blair. What made this event even more special, was the fact it was being backed by IDI (Institute of Designers Ireland) as part of their Bread and Butter series of events. This was great for us, as IDI is an exceptional organization, so to have them back our event during Design Week was a fantastic opportunity to show what we can do and that we are a force to be reckoned with in the Branding/Design industry. As for the night itself, it was great as each designer was able to talk about something they are passionate about – Ryan spoke about his Blacksmithing, Dean about his Beer Making and Esther about her Pottery – and share it with everyone that turned up. With the success of this event, we hope to make it more of a regular occurrence, where designers from all across Belfast and Northern Ireland, whether freelance or working within an agency can come and share what their Bit on the Side is and how it makes them the designer they are.

November really was a busy, but great month for us as we got to promote ourselves as a design and branding agency, but also some of our designers got to promote themselves, take a load off and feel proud of the work they do, in front of other people rather than just their day to day work colleagues.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading about the most recent events we have hosted here at Kaizen Brand Evolution, but make sure to keep an eye out on our Facebook page and other social media channels over the coming month or two, as we are planning another few events which we think will be just as good as the last.

Offset 2018 – 5 reasons to attend a design conference

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In 2009 Dublin opened it’s doors to a new and exciting conference for design creatives. Starting out in the Liberty Hall, with 411 seats to fill, the Offset festival has significantly grown. The conference now takes over the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre for one weekend every year. Filling around 2,500 seats, two stages, workshops and activities, making Offset one of the world’s most inspirational, educational and vocational conferences for the design and creative industries. A weekend we would suggest – not to be missed. 

Each year the studio makes the best efforts to get down to the festival. This year was no exception. Here is why we find Offset to be such a beneficial part of a designers calendar.

1. To Learn

In the design industry, we believe that we are learning every day. This is true. However, to hear from the leading creatives in the industry, you are likely to learn a little more than the average day at the studio. From the first talk of the weekend, we are gathering information and not always from the particular field that we work in. We can learn from the thought processes of any creative, illustrators, fashion designers or even photographers. Offset provides a range of workshops, this year they were run by Facebook’s Creative Shop. Workshops are run at a much smaller scale and provide a more personal learning experience. We attended a workshop ‘Create Fast’. Showing how the industry leaders advertise and how anyone can apply their techniques to a scale that suits best. 

2. To get the Inspirational Hit

The weekend at Offset flies in every year, but what is evident is the boost and lift you feel after the conference. It could be down to a range of things. The dance moves thrown at the delegate party, the work shown on anything other than a Pinterest board or maybe the array of talent displayed by creatives. Designers that started off just like us. The conference is a constant reminder with every talk that ordinary talented people are creating the work we look up to and aspire to. A lot of the talks, give us a personal insight into the speaker’s journey taken, to where they are now. Then the background to some of their projects, reviewing what they have learned along the way. Adam Brimm from Adam & Eve/ DDB highlighted that the smallest and most random of ideas can turn into some of the most effective advertisements. Then, on the other hand, Frith Kerr discussed how all of her projects stem from one Truth, every project develops from one simple truth. Both small tips that can go a long way and can be forgotten or overlooked in our usual routine. 

3. To be Surrounded by Your People

Offset has grown a lot over the years, it still fascinates us just how many creatives we are surrounded by at the conference, speakers and audience members. The conference is a friendly reminder and celebration of the size of the creative industry. There is something to be said about a 2,500 person group of people that can empathise exactly with you. After a stressful or successful week in the studio, there will be at least one speaker that you can identify with from your own experiences. This year Irish design studio Red Dog discussed their 25 years in business, their ups and downs, many of which we could feel exactly, and provided us all with a good laugh along the way. 

4. To Treat Yourself

Maybe not the most important reason to attend a conference, but let’s not forget the goodies. The drinks, the food, the prints. What’s even better at offset all the treats and freebies look great.

5. To Appreciate the Industry

65% of Offset attendees are professionals working in the industry. Like many others, our studio is a happy, creative and very busy one. As creatives, we can often forget to appreciate what we do, forget to enjoy our work and appreciate that we are getting paid to do what we love. Taking a break from the computer screen, the meeting room, the studio and getting out of town to celebrate the industry and the people we work with is exactly what we would recommend. Hearing everyone’s stories and remembering your own, catching up with friends at one of the after parties and meeting people with jobs you would never have imagined helps remind us to appreciate this exciting industry we are in.

Whether it be Offset, or any other design festival or conference, we would suggest making the effort to attend. We are back to the studio with a spring in our step, a drive to do more and lots of prints that will need framing. 

ISTD 2018

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Founded in 1928 by Vincent Steer, ISTD has pioneering roots. From as early as 1911 Steer described himself as an ‘advertising typographer’ on his business card. His background in printing had given him the opportunity to observe the trade in America, and he astutely recognised the need for creative typographer’s skill in a world where most ‘design’ was carried out through compositors’ layouts. He determined to develop the profession of typography in the UK and, to that end, brought together six other like-minded colleagues, for the first meeting of the British Typographers Guild, held at an Italian restaurant in Holborn London.

A new host for the 2018 ISTD assessments, which took place in the glorious Dublin Institute of Design – the longest established specialised design private third level college in the Republic of Ireland. There were 68 Irish ISTD entrants this year, with an incredible standard of work. The level of dedication from the students on reaching the submission is incredible and inspiring. The work this year raised the bar for Irish typographic design, the ideas, concepts and typographic craft proves the future of design in Ireland is bright.

ISTD board member Jonathan Doney FISTD joined the 2018 Irish Assessment. Jonathan Doney is an award winning book designer and educator; Jonathan was ISTD Education officer from 1995-2002 when he initiated the international development of the Student Assessment Scheme. He was ISTD Chair from 1004-2009 before taking up the role again in 2016. Jonathan is hugely passionate about typography – something which he hopes rubs off on to other people.

I was paired with Peter Maybury for the day’s assessments. Peter works as an artist, graphic designer, musician and educator. With formal training in visual communications in Dublin and London, his practice-based research has expanded to encompass design for print and screen, wayfinding systems, film, sound, artworks for exhibition, and curation. With a track record from more than 20 years working to the highest degree of excellence in visual communication and design for print and screen, his broad experience has developed into extensive knowledge taking in all aspects of design, editorial, pre-press and printing. It was great to get to know and work with Peter during the assessments; we found common ground in design, type and notably music – which made the assessments even more enjoyable. Also worth noting Peter’s former St Martin’s educator Jonathan Barnbrook, who made just as many appearances in the students research as Peter’s work did – fantastic for his ego – only joking!

Peter and I assessed nine submissions from the whole of Ireland with a fantastic range of typographic design, sparking debate and intrigue. Membership to the society is a fantastic achievement for any student in their final year of University and we had the pleasure of awarding membership to some outstanding submissions. The effort and dedication of the students was incredible, from the research to the final piece we assessed some beautifully finished books, abstract printed pieces, exhibition pieces, immersive and ambient projects. It’s incredibly exciting opening a students submission for the first time and finding out how they go to their final piece, going on the journey with them is as rewarding as examining the finer details in the end product.

As usual the hospitality and craic was excellent, meeting old friends and new, catching up and reviewing some excellent work. The location of the Dublin Institute of Design was perfect for a lunchtime stroll to view the Book of Kells at Trinity College and see the hoards of Rugby fans and tourists around the streets of Dublin. My fourth year running as an ISTD Assessor and I look forward to many more, especially with the 100th birthday looming. Long may it continue.

Evolve your business with design thinking #ImWithTheBrand

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Design solves business problems; it’s that simple.

Struggling to reach your target audience? Join us for the 4th event in our #ImWithTheBrand series, where we’ll take you through our full design process and help you grow your business with design thinking.

This workshop will introduce you to the tools to build and evolve, showing you how to bring a brand to life, both online and offline, adding value to your business.

Design thinking enables you to identify unique selling points of a business, identify key messages, generate stand out marketing campaigns and develop the overall ethos and goals of your business to allow for growth. These tools can be used to build, revitalise and strengthen any brand, from start ups to large corporations.

This event is perfect for owners of local start up businesses and established SMEs, and marketing/business development professionals who would like to see their businesses grow and thrive.

The workshop takes place on Jan 19th from 8am until 10am, at The Academy Restaurant in Ulster University. Early bird tickets are £5 until Jan 3rd (£8 after this date). If you’d like to book a place, you can buy tickets using the form below.

Speakers

Ryan Stanfield – Design Director at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Ryan leads the branding team that create and manage some of Ireland and the UK’s most recognised brands. After numerous years in branding agencies, Ryan has learnt that designing for the client, building relationships and getting to the core of the business is key when undertaking any brief. His creative take on the branding process enables him to build brands that present the core values and mission of a business in visual form. His unique approach delivers deep meaningful change across our clients businesses, brands come to us when they want results.

Lizi Daley – Digital Designer at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Lizi pushes the envelope with functionality online while keeping the user in mind at all times. Her approach to design focuses on user experience and engaging content, which always results in a positive impact on the bottom line of our client’s businesses. As well as interpreting the brand message to digital format, Lizi also offers training on functionality and purpose so that clients are fully equipped to get the best from their online presence. Online conversion is core to any business, acting as an extension to your sales team.

1 to 1 Sessions

Connor McAuley will also be hosting 1 to 1 brand consultations after the speakers as part of the event. If you would like to book a consultation, please contact us here.

Connor McAuley – Managing Director at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Connor has been in the business of design and marketing for over 16 years and as the industry landscape changes and adapts so does Connor’s technique. Under Connor’s leadership Kaizen Brand Evolution has grown from a small Ireland focused studio to a much larger business working with major international, national and regional clients in London, Dublin, and Belfast. Connor’s ability to get under the skin of a businesses core beliefs enables him to advise of how best to reach markets and communicate effectively.

The Skinny Sauce Company

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The Skinny Sauce Company approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to create an engaging brand identity and packaging strategy for the launch of their exciting new Skinny Sauce product range. The brand story begins with the owner and entrepreneur Maria Doran. Maria’s passion for sauce has been long standing; from ketchup to curry she has always loved adding flavour to her meals to enhance the eating experience. Maria also embraces the healthy lifestyle, going to the gym, eating right and taking care of herself. She soon realised that despite eating healthy she craved the added flavour that the sauces and dips brought to her meals and the sauces available on the market were full of sugars, additives and unhealthy ingredients in general. Maria’s mission is to revolutionise the sauce market and make healthy dips and sauces for the health conscious consumer.

With this in mind be researched the industry and developed a strategy for the business with the tagline ‘skinny dip more often.’ This strapline acted as the foundation for the creation of her brand identity and packaging. Keeping the target audience (health conscious shoppers who crave sauce) in mind we designed a bold, eye-catching brand that highlights the good ingredients that go into Skinny Sauces. In a world of Heinz and other well-known sauce brands we aimed to reach Maria’s ambition of becoming a household name and compete and stand out on the shelves in major retailers.

The first point of call was the brand mark. We crafted a ‘handmade’ type based logo with a bright, youthful colour palette, which immediately stands out from the competitors. The logo is a reaction to modern brand styles and trends utilising hand drawn type and illustration to reflect the fun skinny sauce experience. The brand mark leads nicely into how we visualise the brand narrative ‘skinny dip more often’ – using the hand drawn script and bold palette to emphasise the text. The language plays an important role in communication the values and vibrancy of the product. Aimed at an audience of 25-35 we have tailored the brand to fit in with that demographics lifestyle. As well as the language and the brand mark we proposed a photographic and typographic direction that would spark an emotional and aspirational connection with the target audience, using young, happy, healthy models to communicate this rings true in the Skinny Sauce marketing strategy and in their brand collateral.

Following the identity, strategy and narrative and artistic direction we began work on the packaging for the Skinny Sauces themselves. Each bottle and flavour introduces a fresh colour palette creating an engaging, eye-catching suite of products. One ambition for the packaging was to make it look suited alongside the likes of high-end sauces within M&S or Waitrose. This ambition was easily realised following the identity and artistic direction for the brand. We were able to utilise the type direction and layout to suit such retailers and realise the ambition for future growth and perhaps buyer in such retail environments. As well as the colour palette for each flavour of Skinny Sauce we introduced hand-drawn illustrations to reflect the core ingredients inside the bottle – beautiful hand-drawn chilli’s, peppers, tomatoes were included to create an all round flavour focussed packaging piece.

In preparation for the Skinny Sauce Company brand launch we worked alongside Maria to ensure that the values set out from the beginning would be strengthened and represented fully in the collateral and packaging. Working as brand guardians for Skinny Sauces we continue to develop and evolve this unique, beautiful brand to ensure the businesses ambitions are realised. We thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and look forward to working more with the Skinny Sauce Company in the future.

Join us for our next Brand Masterclass

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A few months ago we hosted our first ever brand masterclass in association with Women in Business NI.

It was so successful that we’ve decided to host a few more masterclass sessions, starting with our “3 Steps to a Successful Brand” workshop on 29th September. Our masterclass will take place at the Thinking Cup on Lisburn Road from 9am to 10.30am, and tickets are free! Tickets are available to book now, just visit our event page here to book your place.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or a long established business, having a strong brand presence and strategy will set you apart from the competition and help you grow your business. Our workshop will take you though the key elements of a successful brand, from logo and language through to longevity across all channels.

This session will cover:

  • What a brand is and why it’s so important
  • The key difference between a logo and a brand
  • The importance of a brand strategy for business growth
  • How language can impact and shape your brand perception
  • Key tools for building your brand online

This masterclass is perfect for those with a new business who need guidance to build their brand from the ground up. It is also helpful for businesses who have been established for a few years but who would like to evolve their brand and take their business to the next level.

We’ll be providing tea, coffee and refreshments from 8.30am if you’d like to come along early for a bit of breakfast and networking. We hope to see you there!

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.

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!

 

ISTD 2017

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On 1 April this year I travelled to DIT Grangegorman to meet up with old friends and colleagues in the International Society of Typographic Designers for the Irish ISTD Assessments. It’s full day of assessing student submissions from the island of Ireland and the criteria for membership to ISTD is very high. As part of the student’s final year in University they have submitted their projects and answered one of the five briefs (below). An interesting twist this year was the addition of a purely digital brief entitled ‘Banned Books’ – This is the first time that the ISTD have included a digitally focussed brief. Each year there is a strong submission for typographic pieces in print, the likes of books, poster series, even printed flags and Project 1 presents a new medium for the students to explore which was very interesting to assess. As an assessor I was looking for work that I would be proud to associate myself with and the institution. We have to think of the student as a colleague and someone who could represent the ISTD to the highest possible standard. Excellent typographic practise and strong conceptual thinking and presentation are at the forefront when assessing each submission.

 

The ISTD Student Assessment has been described as ‘the most rigorous design assessment in the world’. Through the Student Assessment students have an opportunity to gain one of the most highly regarded graphic design ‘qualifications’ – ISTD membership. But it is through our continuous monitoring of assessment standards that the award of MISTD maintains its cachet.

 

Project 1: Banned Books

Choose a chapter from a banned book and visually interpret it as a digitally dynamic book. The chapter should resonate with you for some reason or encapsulates what you believe to be its insightful nature. Consider how audiences of the book would have reacted to it when it was initially released. What was or is the aspect of censorship at play?

 

Project 2: Makers

Celebrate the life’s work of a crafts person(s) from your local area. Tell us their story, through their words (and images). From basket weavers to sign painters, from glass blowers to flower arrangers; find, interview, disseminate, interpret and present a publication(s) based on a craft from the maker’s perspective. Avoid the obvious; letterpress printers, craft beer makers and Etsy sellers.

 

Project 3: Fickle Fads and Dedicated Followers of Fashion

You are asked to design a typographic work that explores the subject of ‘fads’. We expect you to investigate the widest interpretation of the theme from historical, cultural and global perspectives. We envisage lots of opportunities to draw upon references to different eras, societies, social groups, generations etc.

 

Project 4: Where is here?

So, here we are; now, right now as you read this word; with more history and perspectives than we know what to do with. You are tasked with writing your own Typographic Manifesto that captures what you believe are the building blocks of typographic practice today. Consider both what you say, and how you say it.

 

Project 5: The Dead Wood Archive

You are asked to celebrate a Dead Wood Archive that lives in a Learning Resource Centre close to you. You must utilise the Dewey Decimal System to locate a book. The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), or Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system first published in the United States by Melvil Dewey in 1876.

Form all of the briefs that myself and co-assessor marked, I found Project 3 to be the most prominent. Some fantastic, engaging stories and typographic exploration came from ‘Fickle Fads and Dedicated Followers of Fashion’ that made the assessment that much more interesting.

Once again I thoroughly enjoyed this years ISTD assessments and look forward to seeing the students flourishing as their careers evolve. No doubt I’ll be seeing many of them in the future. Typographic excellence in Ireland is without question the core of Irish Design and with Institutions like the ISTD recognising such talent we pave the way for the future of the creative industry.

 

Ryan

Offset 2017-02-22

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Stand back! We’re ready to create something! The KBE team is rejuvenated and inspired after a weekend in Dublin for #OFFSET2017. iloveoffset.com. This was our third year as a creative team at one of the top design conferences, OFFSET. Last year we took back so much to the studio and rubbed shoulders with the likes of typographer Seb Lester and Stefan Sagmeister, this year we had new idols to stalk!

Our favourite speaker was Bruno Maag a typography designer. His theories on teaching and applying science to design really had an effect on us. Also as he pointed out that our work is always backed by science, and if we put in the time to learn, as we have, then we should always feel confident. “We are designers, not artists, we have a job to do” – Bruno Maag. He spoke about crafting typefaces in Dalton Maag and how he trained in typography with the guidance of Wolfgang Weingart.

An overall theme of OFFSET this year was creating the work you want to do, in the hopes that the money will come instead of settling in to doing work you may not like to pay the bills. Like previous years it’s always inspiring to see just how many people came to design through unique ways. Many of the designers at OFFSET preached that if you take the time to do the work that you love the most then you will get recognised for that work. A reassuring message to do what you love and find your niche!

We mostly recognise OFFSET as a graphic design festival however it was refreshing to see a number of illustrators such as Rod Hunt, Lorna Ross and Marion Deuchars just to name a few.
Rod Hunt’s  isometric illustrations for IKEA and Top Gear were particularly interesting where he shows us the original sketches that are sent to the client and the process of building the scene with adding colour and detail. He also taught, that as designers we should not do anything for free, that our designing and time is worth money, even if we are told that it will be great exposure. The Advertising Agency – Chemisty taught us how important copywriting and reaching the right language tone is. With work for Lidl, Tesco Mobile and The Irish Cancer Foundation where the catchy, bold language stands out against the simple background.

Not only was OFFSET 2017 inspiring, it brought new aspects of design to light for the kaizen team, such as the impact of sound design with Echo lab  who showed us how much emotion sound can add to an image you see the power of all design and the creative potential that exists in all media. Another interesting aspect to see was the paper interaction design of kellianderson.comKelli Anderson  who showed us with clever origami even a paper pop up camera is possible. We also got to hear about how to manage multiple creative departments in a large company from MPC Creative – mpccreative.io who worked on the very much loved Christmas Buster ad and blockbusters such as Ghost in the Shell, Mission Impossible and The Jungle Book. An interesting side for us, was to be shown behind the scenes of the Cushelle advert animation from how the scene is constructed down to taking facial expressions from their employees.

As always the talks inspired a newfound confidence for us, leaving us feeling lucky to do the type of rewarding work we love every day. We left OFFSET on Sunday evening tired, inspired and thinking about how we apply these creative meanderings to our own work. We are looking forward to getting back to the drawing board in the studio!

Offset 2017- Our top 5 speakers

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Who are you most excited about for this year’s #offsetDUB?

Here is the run down of our top picks for this year’s Offset. The ultimate set of design talks hosted in Dublin, bringing together some of the best names in the creative industries, to celebrate and inspire.

JEAN-PAUL GOUDE
Jean-Paul Goude is a French graphic designer, illustrator, photographer and advertising film director. He worked as art director at  – Google SearchEsquire Magazine in New York City during the 1970s,and famously choreographed the 1989 Bicentennial Parade in Paris to mark the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. In addition, over the last three decades, he has created well known campaigns and illustrations for brands including Perrier, Citroën, Kodak, Chanel, Kenzo and Shiseido.

BRUNO MAAG
Bruno Maag is a trained typesetter and type designer from Zurich, Switzerland. After graduating in Typography and Visual Communications from the Basel School of Design, he joined Monotype in London and Chicago, where he set up a Custom Font department.

MARION DECHARS
Author of the best selling Let’s Make Some Great Art series, Marion Deuchars is a Scottish born, award winning illustrator with a globally recognisable style. Her influential hand-lettering and illustration work has been used on advertising campaigns from Samsung and HP to posters for Formula 1 and stamps for The Royal Mail.

KELLI ANDERSON
Kelli Anderson is an interactive designer. She is currently exploring how design can tap into invisible forces at play in the world to make unexpected things happen. This Fall, she will publish This Book is a Planetarium—a collection of functional pop-up contraptions—which includes a tiny paper planetarium, and explains how humble structures can perform extraordinary feats.

DAN PERRI
Dan Perri was a student, colleague and friend of Saul Bass and has contributed the Title Design for some of the most successful films in history including Star Wars, The Exorcist, Taxi Driver & Raging Bull to literally name a few.

 

WYOBTTWD…

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Here at Kaizen Brand Evolution we are big music and fashion fans, so are eager to participate in this year’s ‘Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day’ by Radio 6 on the 25th November.

We have our tees picked out, pressed and ready. It’s sparked a debate on our favourite albums that go with them, here’s an insight into our eclectic studio taste.

Ryan: Album – ‘Down in Albion’ by Babyshambles

For Band t-shirt day I’ll be wearing my Babyshambles – Pete Doherty, Heart Tattoo – T-shirt from their Irish Tour in April 2006 / Spring & Airbrake / Belfast

I kept this t-shirt as a memento to this epic gig! I had a pint with the band before their set, lit one of Pete Doherty’s cigarettes for him while he was on stage and appeared the next day on page 3 of the Irish News (which I still have) with Pete Doherty and Kate Moss on a feature about the band playing in Belfast.

‘Down in Albion’ is no doubt my favourite Babyshambles album. When I hear ‘Killamangiro’ it brings me back to my old student flat behind Auntie Annie’s where my mate and I started the band ‘The Couth.’ I’m still a massive fan of Babyshambles and the Libertines!

Lynsay: Album – ‘Stone Roses’ by Stone Roses
Painted by band member John Squire, the style harking to Jackson Pollock and the May 1968 riots in Paris, the chaos in the picture is balanced with the subtle placement of pattern that can be found in Squires current artworks. It’s my favourite, so much so, that my birthday present to me was the jacket. The chaos symbolises their handling of later events in their career, decorating those who had wronged them, homes and offices in paint, as “that’s the way people deal with things in Manchester”.

One of the first things a Roses fan will ask you when you meet them is, “first, or second album?”, I’m in the first camp, with ‘I Wanna be Adored’ still giving shivers.

I’m choosing the Phoenix Park T-Shirt over the classic ‘Lemon’ due to typesetting, I love green, and my friends and I got pit tickets and we were so close we could have licked him!

Shaleen: Album – ‘The Script’ by The Script
I listen to quite a lot of different music so deciding on a T-Shirt for Band T-Shirt day was quite difficult. My favourite bands would be Maroon 5 and The Script, who have the advantage as I’ve been to see them live in concert. One of my favourite songs would ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’ but I generally love most of their songs. But I also love older music bands like The Beatles and Queen.

Jordan: Album – ‘Gutter Phenomenon’ by Every Time I Die
I wish I was wearing an Every Time I Die T-shirt for band T-shirt day, because that would mean the one that was ripped off my back at one of their gigs would still be intact. I loved that shirt! My favourite album of theirs is ‘Gutter Phenomenon’, because it’s just so heavy, riffs for days.

Vicki: Album – ‘Ill Communication’ by Beastie Boys
I don’t listen to that much music these days unless you count movie soundtracks. I don’t have that many band t-shirts (always too pricey for me, who loves a freebie!) In saying that, I still have and love my Calling tee. I was obsessed with them as a teen; finding out Alex Band was related to Charles Band, director of the ‘Puppet Master’ horror movie franchise, only made it worse! For the big day though, I have acquired and repurposed a Beastie Boys Tee, which you can see how here  here. I wasn’t as big a fan when I was younger, but finding myself really enjoying their music as an adult.

Lizi: Album – ‘Spice’ by Spice Girls
I haven’t really been a music lover or a groupie and loved one particular band and any band that has been cool and hip. I have always just liked any music just by the song, so picking my favourite band for band t-shirt day has been hard. I just go with the flow when it comes to music!

When I was little I always wanted to be part of the Spice Girls (I know, cool right!) Sporty Spice was my favourite and I knew every song and dance move there was!

GHBranded Culture Night 2016

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Thank you to everyone who came down to GHBranded for Culture Night 2016. Super fun night branding your Social Media accounts! Everyone’s photos can be found here:

bit.ly/GHBrandedPhotos

Please tag, link and share your images, and of course use them as your profile pics!

We hope that those who came down enjoyed a taste of the expertise in design and branding offered by Kaizen Brand Evolution at our pop-up studio. The event opened up the experience of branding by offering advice on Social Media, staging a professional profile image with a choice of backgrounds to suit your personality, as well as taglines to suit your aim online. From Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn to Tinder we catered for all. Our own Snapchat Geo Filter on the night received over 17k views, not too shabby!

Our experienced designers in our Lisburn Road studio are here to help on a more permanent basis, to raise companies online profiles with strategic planning and reporting. We hope you keep us in mind for your next brand update, or when you decide to start up your own business.

To learn more about us, or view our portfolio of brands that we have created, pop over to: kaizenbrandevolution.com/portfolio

Get Twitter Branded

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On Friday 16 September Culture Night Belfast 2016, we are offering to “Get Him/Her Branded”.

Kaizen Brand Evolution raises the profiles of clients we work with and so we are setting up a mini version of our process to enhance people’s online profiles on the night. Whether it’s to document the night with friends, for dating, or to have a killer LinkedIn image for that new job. On the night we’ll be offering personal taglines, and to have your picture taken in Cotton Court Galleries in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter. So come, down, get involved, Get Him/Her Branded!

Image and brand personality has never been so pivotal for businesses in the public domain on social media. Before the event we thought we would go through a few top tips for branding your companies social media accounts.

Twitter:

It’s a conversation, plain and simple. If your business holds a lot of events, or is conversation focused, Twitter will work well for you. Use Twitter to network in a more informal way. It isn’t about how many followers you have, but how many are engaging with you and your content. This is true for all social media, but more so of Twitter. Talk with people not at them, and you will see a big difference.

Use hash-tags to join other conversations and reach a wider audience. When you visit or host events, Twitter can help get the party started both before and during the event, you can create a buzz and reach more potential customers with your chatter.

On the night use our hash-tag chalkboard board to speak your mind in your profile photos, and start some conversations. Chatting to people in all areas whether it’s show off knowledge of your business or your passion for your work, it’s a sure fire way of getting noticed on Twitter.

Keep up to date on our event on our Facebook event page: bit.ly/GHBranded

Get Instagram Branded

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On Friday 16 September Culture Night Belfast 2016, we are offering to “Get Him/Her Branded”.

Kaizen Brand Evolution raises the profiles of clients we work with and so we are setting up a mini version of our process to enhance people’s online profiles on the night. Whether it’s to document the night with friends, for dating, or to have a killer LinkedIn image for that new job. On the night we’ll be offering personal taglines, and to have your picture taken in Cotton Court Galleries in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter. So come, down, get involved, Get Him/Her Branded!

Image and brand personality has never been so pivotal for businesses in the public domain on social media. Before the event we thought we would go through a few top tips for branding your companies social media accounts.

Instagram:

Instagram is the vogue of social media, it’s all about beautiful well composed photos and videos. It’s all about aesthetics. Most prominent is food, fashion and fitness. If your company is any of these then Instagram is your main Social Media account.

Your imagery should be well composed, stick to the rule of thirds (Draw a 3×3 grid and place all object of interest onto the lines). Stick to them strictly and make sure your posts are beautiful and interesting! Filters can seem passé fast, so make sure you are up to date with new filters and try downloading apps with different filters to try out.

Like all social media accounts, being a little bit different can go a long way. Keep your hash-tags low, and put links and hash-tags in comments rather than the main body of text, as links won’t work on posts.

Keep up to date on our event on our Facebook event page: bit.ly/GHBranded

Get LinkedIn Branded

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On Friday 16 September Culture Night Belfast 2016, we are offering to “Get Him/Her Branded”.

Kaizen Brand Evolution raises the profiles of clients we work with and so we are setting up a mini version of our process to enhance people’s online profiles on the night. Whether it’s to document the night with friends, for dating, or to have a killer LinkedIn image for that new job. On the night we’ll be offering personal taglines, and to have your picture taken in Cotton Court Galleries in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter. So come, down, get involved, Get Him/Her Branded!

Image and brand personality has never been so pivotal for businesses in the public domain on social media. Before the event we thought we would go through a few top tips for branding your companies social media accounts.

LinkedIn:

Professional photos are a must for LinkedIn. But try to look a little different. Everyone in the company should have a LinkedIn profile that links through to your company’s page. It’s your professional portfolio and shows off the individual and how you all combine to make the company a powerhouse.

All the rules of perfecting a CV apply here, and tailor it to your business you’re in or after. Follow and interact with people and groups, show off your authority and skill. Constantly learn and post the certificates regularly. Lynda, Google and Hootsuite to name a few, all have links that automatically share your recent learning’s or accolades.

Keep up to date on our event on our Facebook event page: bit.ly/GHBranded

Get Facebook Branded

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On Friday 16 September Culture Night Belfast 2016, we are offering to “Get Him/Her Branded”.

Kaizen Brand Evolution raises the profiles of clients we work with and so we are setting up a mini version of our process to enhance people’s online profiles on the night. Whether it’s to document the night with friends, for dating, or to have a killer LinkedIn image for that new job. On the night we’ll be offering personal taglines, and to have your picture taken in Cotton Court Galleries in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter. So come, down, get involved, Get Him/Her Branded!

Image and brand personality has never been so pivotal for businesses in the public domain on social media. Before the event we thought we would go through a few top tips for branding your companies social media accounts. Let’s start with…

Facebook:

Is your personal story and public space to show the world what you’re about. Every business should have a Facebook page, as it is the number one social media platform. Think of it as the ‘Yellow Pages’, you need to be in it to be found and trusted. It’s best to make your Facebook profile picture the same as opposed to changing it regularly. However change your cover images to show what you’re up to.

Your posts shouldn’t sell directly, they should tell your business story. What’s interesting about your company? What can you add to people’s lives on a daily basis that will interest and engage them?

An engaged audience leads to brand advocacy and that leads to sales, without ever having to post an offer, gimmick, or sales pitch.

Keep up to date on our event on our Facebook event page: bit.ly/GHBranded

Mozilla – Open Source Logo Design

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‘Open sourcing’ or perhaps ‘open publicity’, we couldn’t help but be curious to see the concepts being considered and there annotations on reasoning. Whilst we appreciate a much greater strategy may be propping up the concepts behind the scenes and the notes may be to provide justification to the masses, ‘there’s a touch of the optical illusion about the design’ might not be sound reasoning to divert a brand image. (PS if we had to pick one, that would be it, but not for those reasons).

At Kaizen Brand Evolution our team of seven creatives are brand strategists who utilise design thinking to resolve problems presented at brief. The refinement process is critical and rarely to never sees seven responses being appropriate resolves. We believe in the courage of our convictions when it comes to creative, confidently standing by presented concepts in response to brief with the weight of clear strategy.

However, we applaud the marketing aspect of this post, it does indeed succeed in tying into an open source community approach promoting inclusion in the change making process to bring current users along with the process and tease newbies to the brand. Will it help create the best outcome? Doubtful. But it will engage and create reach, and as we are talking about it, the marketing is working!

See them for yourself here: blog.mozilla.org/opendesign/now-for-the-fun-part/

 

Boojum, store No.7 opening night

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Boojum Belfast celebrated the opening of their seventh store last night and they invited the KBE studio to explore the store, sample the Burritos and more. It was an fantastic atmosphere. The new Great Victoria Street premises are certainly very spacious and in great catchment area, just opposite GVS Train Station.

Since Boojum came on board the Kaizen Brand Evolution roster we have created some fantastic work together, including their brand new website, social media campaigns, in-store promotional material and some exciting, top-secret projects which are on the horizon. It is a pleasure to see Boojum evolving so quickly since the change of hands almost a year ago. They follow a brilliant business model and their success is only proof of this. As they grow, we grow and we look forward to the future of the biggest name in burritos.

Visit Boojums website here: www.boojummex.com

Robert Roberts

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We had the pleasure of working closely with Robert Roberts on their brand and marketing materials recently. With the launch of their new range of flavours, based on famous landmarks across Northern Ireland we designed the advertising campaigns. Using the location specific designs with contemporary photography we created some intriguing ads that spanned the province.

Most prominently the ads are featured at Belfast City Airport. Branding the airport in a blanket fashion for Robert Roberts really profiles the brand, highlighting their forward thinking brand values and setting them ahead of their competitors. We continue to work closely with Robert Roberts and with our team of avid coffee enthusiasts we are excited for the working relationships future!

Hootsuite Conference

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This week Hootsuite hosted a rather interesting conference. There were exhibit stands, a networking get together and talks held in a conference room, the difference being it was all done online.

In the talks we listened on how to effectively measure ROI. Speakers came from Microsoft, Twitter and beyond to explain the effectiveness of social media marketing and how to judge its rate of return.

One of the surprising take aways was how social media marketing is overtaking email marketing. Obviously email marketing still has it’s place, but more and more customers are turning to Facebook, not only to gain information from business, but to really get under the skin of who the business is, the kind that was once sent out weekly in a newsletter, can now be found on a social site.

It easy to keep track of customer habits and judge what content they are enjoying, and what content they are ignoring, thanks to programs such as Hootsuite, and analytical tools. Social media as a marketing and selling tool is growing fast, and it’s worth doing right. We have two Hootsuite Graduates in the studio who are experts at reading and reacting to this data.

This was definitely one of the more interesting conferences we have attended, and found the ability to chat to like minded people from all over the world enlightening!

Power of Video

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The Power of Video Conference was held on Monday 6th June in the newly finished Waterfront Belfast and brought together some of the internet’s biggest stars, including Casey Neistat (Youtuber of the year) and our very own Cian Twomey (Facebook superstar).

The conference kicked off in typical David Meade style, with the audience being told to get up and shake out all those Monday blues. With the crowd suitably warmed up, the conference began in earnest with the first guest speakers, Casey Neistat and Matt Hackett, creators of the new content sharing app, Beme. They highlighted some interesting facts about how social media can be all consuming and that how it has become too much about gaining the adoration of people you might not even know. Promoting the sharing of genuine content for the simple reason that sharing your experience with others is more valuable than trying to gain as many “Likes as possible”. Whether this will take off for business use is another matter, as was made clear by Facebook expert Peter McNicholl.

Peter showed the value of using video on Facebook, especially when used together with the advert promotion tool. He showed a staggering difference to the interactions of people on Facebook regarding ads with, and without video, with video being the most effective.

Next we learned the true power of affiliate links on YouTube with jack-of-all-trades Zack Nelson (YouTube channel: jerryrigeverything). Affiliate links to Amazon and eBay etc are a great way of earning continuous income from your YouTube channel, especially if you use Amazon as a reseller of any of your products. They work by tracking if a customer has come from your channel and awarding you with up to 10% of the total basket price if they go on to buy! This also means that if a customer goes from YouTube to Amazon to buy one of you’re own products, you can earn 10% additional to the sale of the actual item.

We had a great time learning the ins and outs of how video can benefit our customers, and are looking forward to putting some of the techniques into practice.

Hot night for hot design!

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On Friday eve our team popped down to the annual University of Ulster Degree Shows to see the latest talent emerging from Graphic Design in Belfast. It was a pleasure as always to catch up with course tutors, Richard McElveen, Liam McComish and Jill Spratt. Jill had been an excellent guide at Thursday’s preshows in walking us through the projects to help facilitate our current recruitment drive. So on the night it was great to put faces to projects and make introductions. The work was particularly well crafted this year and Ryan paid close attention to the International Society of Typographic Designers submissions that he annually scores nationally. The vibe was electric as celebrations began, we were glad to be part of the night that we remember so well when we completed the course. We definitely identified a few future design leaders and congratulate the year on such a high standard!

SRC end of year shows

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On Tuesday night we had the honour of congratulating Sinead McGreevy on completing an HND in Graphic Design at South Regional College. Sinead had been gaining experience in our studio for over 6 months and had been an asset to the team. The end of year shows were of particular interest due to our partnership working with the Design Centre ran by Michael Toman, allowing us to share live creative projects and offering feedback to help nurture creativity. Ryan Stanfield, senior designer at Kaizen Brand Evolution officially opened the shows, a previous student of the college his foundation in design studies and subsequent career launch has forged links with the College that continues to give back. Sinead’s final major project produced a series of educational resource books, containing basic information and theory behind graphics design. The project was named ‘Basepoint’ and we feel would be great tool for young designers starting out looking for industry hints and tips to get them studio ready. Following the end of year shows, the Design Centre students were awarded 1st Place in the ‘Creative Industries’ category of the Best Awards 2016. We were glad to play a small part in it all and am sure there was much celebrating at the weekend!

Offset 2016

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Offset is a massive design conference hosted in Dublin, this year saw record numbers of attendees from across the globe. We were treated to hear from all sectors of the creative industries, makers at the top of their game, discussing their work and giving industry insights.

Last week we posted our top five list must sees, we weren’t disappointed. All speakers had a little something for us to take away from their talks. It was an incredible amount of talent in one spot.

4Creative spoke largely about how failing taught them not to fear failure, but to understand it’s a part of growing. Angus Hyland showed us his stunning array of book and magazine design, whereas Reed & Rader explained that we needed more cats!

Over the weekend we also participated in IBMs design workshop, experiencing how they develop and expand ideas. Their process helps identify a client’s weak point and find solutions to solve their problems at a fast pace.

We are back in the studio, invigorated and inspired for new briefs. And cat shopping!

Cache, discussing the creative community

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Last week we attended Cache. An event designed to discuss bringing together the creative industries under one banner, hosted by Noribic at the Mac in Belfast.

We were greeted with smiles, wine, and music by local singer/songwriters Travis is a Tourist & Owen McGarry. After we got settled amongst some fellow graphic designers and SEO specialists, we got down to business. Kicking off with some key speakers talking from the perspective of their professional fields.

Mary McKenna was first up, a Northern Irish technology entrepreneur and angel investor, who spoke about the benefits of networking and collaboration. She shared with us some great bite sized bits of info, such as: “Every opportunity is attached to a person.” – Mary McKenna

She also has some great advice on her blog, here: http://bit.ly/1MW83Eh

After a quick break for some fish and chips, washed down with another cheeky glass of wine, we got back down to business.

Gemma Milne, keynote speaker and The Creative Lab Technologist at Ogilvy & Mather Group, talked about market research. She spoke about her passion for start up companies and helping them find their voice. “Corporates need to learn to speak startup & startups need to learn to speak corporate.” – Gemma Milne

Noribic then opened the conversation to all. In Northern Ireland we have no single strategy or representative body for the industry, as a whole. Willing to take up the challenge, Norbic had gathered everyone from across the creative industries to discuss the interest, if any, in such a venture. There was resounding support, with lots of positive feedback on the idea. And on that they left to ask the question again in Derry/Londonderry.

Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk

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Valuing brand with Robert Bau

Tuesday saw the alarm clocks set for 3.30am for Glenda and Lynsay as they embarked on a road trip to Dublin to attend a workshop hosted by the Institute of Designer’s Ireland with guest speaker Robert Bau, heavy-weight strategist and thought leader. Once fuelled with coffee and pastries courtesy of Brooks Hotel, they settled down to a compelling talk on the application of business strategy to selling and quantifying the value of design. Attended by mixed disciplines from interior design, packaging and ourselves from the point of view of brand and digital, the room was able to apply the theories to their own sectors within the design industry. It is easy to fall into a assumed pattern when pitching design and overlook the analysis of brief and predicted outcomes that as designers we all do, but don’t always communicate well or quantify as a valuable outcome of the process. The knowledge we gained in invaluable, both to our own company strategy as well as how we can help our clients. I feel a studio shared learning workshop coming on!

Harry Pearce Pentagram

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On Dec 10 2015 the design team at Kaizen Brand Evolution took a trip to the Connor Lecture theatre at Ulster University for a talk by Pentagram’s Harry Pearce. The University of Ulster Design department really pulled it out of the bag with this booking. Pearce gave an awe-inspiring talk through his life’s work with a look through the window to how it is to be a partner in Pentagram. Pearce’s work with the Royal Academy of Arts stood out for me, his dedication to Ai Weiwei’s up and coming show really highlighted the importance of getting involved with a client and learning from them on a personal level improves the end result. A fantastic night that left the KBE team hungry for more.

Hisssssssss!!! They’re Coming!

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This week our creative team have been having some fun coming up with campaign ideas to make Sprite as synonymous to St Patrick’s day as Coke is to Christmas. After a brainstorming session that aired ideas across the team we channeled our thinking and agreed on a direction we felt carried weight. The narrative of our concept: It is written that St. Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland, chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast he was undertaking on top of a hill. It has recently been proven that this legend has a twist (of lemon and Lime)… THEY’RE BACK!!! We built our campaign around the Hisssssssss!!! sound when you open a can or bottle of Sprite, that this sound could save the day by deterring the snakes back from whence they came. This is the perfect opportunity for our team to flex their creative muscles with ideas from ambient flash mob the ‘Worm’ dance offs to 3 sided ring pulls on cans to win cash prizes. Screens in the studio this week are a sea of Green!

Nurturing creativity

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Southern Regional College

We have embarked on a partnership with Southern Regional College to work with students who are undertaking the graphic design course. To help develop industry skills and prepare students for live in a studio we are submitting live briefs for participation. The students get exposure to client briefs and an opportunity to respond in real time. We critique the responses offering advice and guidance and also show the final client pitch so that they can see the level of work involved and how their response compares. For some their work will get in front of the clients noses, for others they get to see how they can tweak and improve connecting to be client ready. In addition we have offered time to assist with portfolio surgeries to help prepare students for the recruitment process, advising on how to collate their work and mock interviews. We feel strongly about giving back to colleges that have supported us and prepare students so that they are industry ready on graduation. We have been impressed by the student’s thinking and commitment to deadlines, their motto to communicate, connect and create is paying off!

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/designcentresrc/

SRCgraphicdesign

http://www.src.ac.uk

Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce – Twitter with Nick Pickles

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Today myself and Vicki were invited to the lovely setting of the Grand Opera House in Belfast where Nick Pickles of Twitter was discussing the ins and outs of twitter. As usual the Chamber put on a great spread for breakfast and fuelled the attendees for what was to be an intriguing insight to the world of twitter. Nick’s presentation helped explaining how twitter is not a tool used to generate profit, but to show your brand personality.

Who wants to read tweet after tweet with a hard sell, its much more personal. In fact the ratio for personality tweets against business news should be 80% personality and 20% business if even. Vicki and I soaked up the information like two digital marketing sponges and put together a plan for out digital marketing strategy for our current and potential clients. This invaluable information has went a long way and we continue to grow our social media packages with some of Northern Ireland’s leading brands. Thanks Chamber, we look forward to the next instalment of business talks …and bacon baps.

Content is King!

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Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Annual Ireland Board Chair’s Lunch

Exploring the phenomenon that context is replacing content as King of the Digital Marketplace, Lynsay Spence and Connor McAuley attended the event hosted at Malmaison Hotel Belfast. Guest speaker, Chris Fielding-Martin, Head of E-Commerce at Malmaison and Hotel du Vin gave us an insight to his own company’s marketing and content strategy. Touching on copy lines, sales and marketing the Q&A also offered advise on dealing with customer service online. In 2014 nearly 22 million questions were posted on Facebook and Twitter making this a platform that companies in the new age of marketing need to be equipped to manage effectively. It was inspiring to hear how a corporate company communicated at a customer level and how they reacted when they didn’t always get it right first time. We also heard from Gavin Walker, Managing Editor of Business First, who has eight years experience in editing for the online magazine. It was encouraging to know how much we are already doing right and how we can make adjustments to do things better. This reflection was made sweeter over afternoon tea at Malmaison following the discussion as part of a networking opportunity.

International Society of Typographic Designers

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The International Society of Typographic designer’s is the staple for excellence in worldwide typography. This year I was invited to assess the Irish submissions for the Awards. The assessments involved a full day at DIT Grangegorman with Ireland’s top design industry and education professionals. The standard of work from across the emerald isle was very impressive from the final year students with some outstanding projects that successfully made the grade for the ISTD Award. The atmosphere was inspiring and the detail in the assessment process highlights its importance in our industry. Once all of the assessing was finished we had a well-deserved meal just round the corner from DIT and wound down. It was a pleasure to be involved and I look forward to next year’s submissions.

University of Ulster Degree Shows 2015

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The team at Kaizen Brand Evolution had the opportunity have a sneak preview of the 2015 student submissions for the graphic design and illustration courses final year exhibitions at the University of Ulster Belfast in the afternoon before the big event. Walking around the array of skill sets ranging from illustration, branding, typography and design it is clear to see that this years awards shows are destined for success. Illustration was a large part of the shows, which is a slight change from my days at Ulster University, it’s refreshing to see a discipline with more focus in the course. We were treated to some olives and bread as we perused the students final year projects which paired well with the level of maturity in some of the stalls, notably Emma Kenny and Tiernan Delargy. Being huge type fans we were drawn to these two students areas. Emma’s level of understanding a project from fruition to completion was a breath of fresh air while Tiernan’s attention to detail and obvious non-stop work ethic was inspiring. A great success for the 2015 degree shows. Roll on 2016.

Everyday’s A School Day at KBE!

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Hootsuite University

Congratulations to Vicki, from our digital team, who graduated from the Hootesuite University. Hootsuite’s education and certification programmes are developed by industry-leading experts and feature up-to-date resources to drive meaningful results on social media. This management tool allows effective control of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, MySpace, WordPress, TrendSpottr and Mixi from one dashboard. Kaizen Brand Evolution’s commitment to learning means that we can deliver premium campaigns and enhanced results analysis on your behalf. Vicki is now listed in Hootsuite’s public directory of social media professionals gaining recognition and a certificate to boot!

So if your passion is your business, your product, your big idea, spend your time doing what you love. Let us look after getting the word out there, using social media tools like Hootsuite pros! Planned campaigns, designed and scheduled posts and most importantly results analysis and adjustments will let you reap the rewards of structured content converting to wider audiences and in effect sales.

Fully Fledged at the Institute of Designer’s in Ireland!

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IDI Registration

The Institute of Designer’s Ireland is Ireland’s largest and oldest association of design professionals. Our creative team are proud to be members of the Institute as a studio collective with Senior Designers Ryan Stanfield and Lynsay Spence qualifying as Certified Registered Designers. This is as a result of their academic merits, industry award accolades, and advocacy in their field. Adorning them both with the professional suffix of MIDI. To maintain their accreditation they commit to career development and involvement in the design landscape nationally to be able to successfully secure their scoring through rigorous testing in 1 years time. This will of course start with selecting our most coveted client projects for entry into the Institute of Designers Ireland Awards. The team will also benefit from national workshops and inspirational talks from design heroes. We hope to be filling the studio mantle piece with IDI Awards!!

OFFSET 2015

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When it comes to design religion the creative community pray south, towards Offset. It is a pilgrimage for the Kaizen Brand Evolution studio every year, trumping birthdays, Christmas and St Paddys’ day for the top spot in the calendar year. This year we used the wonderful Air BNB in securing an apartment just around the corner from the Bord Gais theatre and all of the nearest eateries and watering holes. The mood is what you would expect at the likes of Glastonbury, excitement, anticipation of seeing the worlds leading creatives and the opportunity to mix with your tribe. Removing ourselves from the studio and mingling with like minded designers is a way of refilling our creative juices for the creative year ahead. We secured excellent centre seats in the main theatre for the day ahead with some brief excursions to the top floor for Q&A’s.his ritual goes on for three days and with the amount of inspiring talks you really forget that you haven’t moved in maybe 6 hours from your seat. It’s brilliant! Some of the most outstanding presentations came from Hey Studio, Annie Atkins and Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates. True inspiration that has us chomping at the bit to get back into the studio. As well as the conference we attended the Offset after party hosted by Absolut Vodka, let’s just say we enjoyed what they had to offer… a lot! Walking about the party we were brushing shoulders with the likes of Annie Atkins telling tales of clients past and future projects. What a weekend in Dublin, 2016 tickets are in our sights and we cannot wait to get back down on holy ground.

Ministry of Sound Pitch – CD Cover Design

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Kaizen Brand Evolution were asked to develop design concepts for the release of two of Ministry of Sounds new CD releases – Throwback and the Ibiza Sessions 2015. We designed the concepts from brief and were successfully awarded positioning of the design roster for Ministry of Sound, a global client with extensive reach. CD cover design has always been a sort of Holy Grail in the design industry and working with such a big player in the music industry is a pleasure. Featured are the design concepts supplied by the team at Kaizen Brand Evolution, contemporary, detailed scenes echoing the themes of each CD. The artwork had considerations for small size outlets such as iTunes and other mobile retail outlets, so big type was a must The designs were rolled out across TV advertisements and featured in all of the top music retailers including the big supermarkets. Ministry of Sound are an absolute pleasure to work with, keep an eye out for the Kaizen Brand Evolution stamp of excellence in any of their future releases.