Archive for the 'Design' Category
13 July 2011 at 10:59
OK, it's taken a little longer than necessary to post this entry about the new Stewart Signs website which went live in January, but you know, we've been busy...
Anyway, after a very successful launch of their rebrand in 2010, we turned our attention and considerable tech wizardry - in collaboration with Utopia's web development partners Hostpipe - to the design and build of the new and quite frankly massive Stewart Signs website.
Stewart Signs new website
This baby's got everything including a full bespoke Content Management System and an Ecommerce package that functions on multiple levels.
The back end (easy there) is a mammoth and stacked full of clever functionality. And it needs to be given it has to service the impressive Stewart Signs customer portfolio, including: Transport for London, BT Openreach, Osborne, BSM, First, Saga, JC Decaux...and on and on.
We took this:
And made this:
So what's next?
Well, the website isn't standing still. It's alive! Help! By which we mean, it's a constant work in progress with all the best connotations of that word: progress. That's what Stewart Signs are all about, constantly forging ahead and leading the outdoor media, signage and livery industry, which they've been doing for decades.
Marketing communications
Away from the web, they are now turning their attention to the year ahead. To kick things off, Utopia paid them a visit last week at their base in Southampton with a rather fetching document in hand containing all sorts of ideas and plans for marketing Stewart Signs over the coming 12 months, including:
- Email marketing
- Printed literature
- SEO and social media marketing
- PR
- Direct Mail
- Advertising
Obviously, we don't have any designs or words to show you yet, so instead and by way of signing off this post (hahahaha!), here's a photo of some Utopians in front of a Stewart Signs branded van.
JP & TJ signed, sealed and delivered
Tags: Stewart Signs | marketing | website | design | email marketing | Utopia | Hostpipe | SEO | social media marketing | PR | advertising
Posted in Design | Branding | Strategic Marketing | No Comments
15 February 2011 at 15:55
A major client with major clients
When you’re the market leading specialists in road and rail livery, signage and outdoor media and your customers number BT, Transport for London, Shell, National Grid, First Capital and Sky, you need a brand identity that embodies confidence, experience, expertise.
Stewart Signs are renowned for delivering projects of the highest standards and have been for over 40 years, but then you already knew that....just look around you, there are examples of their work everywhere, such as the BT Openreach vans, every sign and poster you see on London's tube and bus network, the huge train wraps on Eurostar, countless vehicle wraps on lorries, the signs that show us the way around the UK, and the media displays that surround us in airports and stations.
Utopia take the branding challenge
Starting with a session on marketing and brand strategy, we created a new visual identity for Stewart Signs. Giving them 6 design routes to choose from, they went with our favourite . One particular challenge was to consolidate the various areas of the company, most notably bringing their Rail brand - Halo Rail - in house under the Stewart Signs umbrella.
Our brief: design a brand identity that's both versatile and conveys the scale and scope of their business. A brand identity that's colourful, vibrant, dynamic and contemporary.
So, we took them from this:
to this:
Brand roll-out
In our next blog, we'll look at the challenge of designing and building a (pretty) vast eCommerce website . But we’ll wait until it’s launched...any day now.
Meanwhile, here’s a glimpse at one of our favourite documents – Brand Guidelines. Where would we be, moreover, where would our clients be, without a few carefully devised rules and regulations for keeping their brand new brand on track? Yes, it’s a rail pun, we had to get one in.
See more of our work for Stewart Signs in our portfolio
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | Strategic Marketing | No Comments
02 February 2011 at 17:04
The industrial hoardings hiding Bath’s Holburne Museum have come down, signalling the final stage of the building’s spectacular transformation and the exciting build up to its re-opening in May 2011.
It’s been a hard-hat area and a shrouded, sealed-off end of Great Pulteney Street since March 2009, but the waiting is almost over and the reappearance of the familiar façade is like seeing the face of an old friend - but knowing that somehow they’ve changed.
And changed it has: the addition of a modern ceramic and glass extension to the rear of the striking 18th century building will provide much needed exhibition space, without destroying the beauty or the integrity of the original structure.
An ambitious project
Even if we hadn’t been asked to design the Holburne’s Challenge logo and most recently to provide display panels for the railings outside the building, we would have been drawn to this museum and followed the very public progress of such an ambitious project with interest.
Utopia's Challenge logo takes centre stage
As it is, we absolutely love the fact that the legendary artist Peter Blake launched the Holburne Challenge in November last year, Sergeant Pepper style, our logo displayed on the drum.
Now our beautifully produced panels (thanks N3 – great job) are on full view in front of the building announcing the museum’s grand opening dates.
Surprise us, Skip
We very much enjoy being a part of this operation and although, thankfully, our involvement does not extend to us running the Bath Half on 6th March, Skip has been heard muttering something about getting his old Womble costume out of storage, so watch this space.
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02 February 2011 at 10:03
B&D Electromedical, the innovating manufacturer of products for the healthcare sector, have added to their portfolio with the launch of the Nippy Clearway cough assistor.
Utopia have helped B&D with the promotion of the wider Nippy range and we were delighted to be asked to help them launch such an important item of medical apparatus with a user-friendly technical brochure.
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28 January 2011 at 10:05
Avelo, the market leading providers of technical solutions for the financial services industry, appointed Utopia as their creative marketing agency to deliver 3 campaigns.
Campaign 1: Wealth Optimiser
Design and deliver the launch of Avelo's new wealth management product, Wealth Optimiser.
Utopia's brief included devising the campaign concepts - One Stop. All destinations - for a product that will, for the first time, enable financial services practitioners to access all their clients' assets and information from one, single place.
An integrated solution
Avelo, branded 1st - The Exchange at the time, wanted to keep the campaign marketing and implementation under one roof, so Utopia's integrated service was the natural choice. Speed, creative quality, technical competence and reliable communication gave this campaign the success it demanded, for which we provided:
- Creative design and product branding
- Copywriting
- Campaign website with online registration
- Video production
- Email marketing
- Banner adverts
- Trade Press advertising
Experience the campaign website, visit www.wealthoptimiser.co.uk
Campaign 2: RDR Countdown Programme (Retail Distribution Review)
Avelo required a creative concept / campaign idea together with associated marketing collateral to communicate the RDR Countdown Programme to a wide range of distributors in the financial services market.
Again, Utopia provided a full range of services underpinned by our design, copywriting and web skills to deliver:
- Campaign creative
- Email invitation
- Jump page
- Online banner advertising
- Branded print materials
Campaign 3: Avelo Roadshows
Avelo required a creative concept / campaign theme together with associated marketing collateral to promote the Joint Roadshow to a target audience of their key financial services clients. This would also be one of the first opportunities for Avelo to promote their new name and brand.
Utopia presented a range of creative ideas, combining our strengths in copywriting and design, to produce:
- Campaign theme and creative
- Email marketing and jump pages
- Direct Mail
- Online banner advertising
- Trade press advertising in Money Marketing magazine
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | Websites | Email marketing | Advertising | Video | No Comments
24 November 2010 at 11:27
Bath’s Holburne Museum launches its public appeal with new designs from Utopia In our first commission for Bath’s Holburne Museum, we have produced a series of brand new designs for the November launch of the Holburne Challenge.
The Challenge is the Holburne’s Public Appeal
It is a chance for the people of Bath to be involved in their new museum and to help raise money for the multi-million pound development project. Since March 2009, the Grade One listed building has been undergoing restoration and a spectacular modern extension has been added. Now, in the months before opening in May 2011, the Holburne will ask their local community to take part in final fund-raising events to reach its £11 million target. 
Utopia bring energy to the challenge
Utopia’s brief was to design a versatile and colourful logo, reflecting all aspects of the Challenge. The distinctive green banners and blades now on display in the city, with their bright, abstract figures in dynamic poses, reflect the wide variety of people taking part and the continuing energy of the campaign.
Utopia’s Creative Director Justin Parry and account directors Tamsin Treverton Jones and Owen McNeir worked closely with the Holburne’s Marnie Whiting and Katie Jenkins to produce the Challenge designs.
What’s next?
We’re working on some new materials to continue promoting The Holburne and soaking up the culture. Meanwhile, we’re enjoying seeing our designs popping up around Bath, especially when they appear alongside the great Sir Peter Blake in the Bath Chronicle this week.
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With a little help from my friends....
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29 September 2010 at 11:25
Rebranding art
Now, my medium is light…I must have light … and move that hill…no, not that one…get rid of that tree, I’m trying to measure up here…and those cows – cleave them in twain, stick ‘em in this box of chemicals - and that group of hikers… Perfect, I think for my first brush stroke I wi – What?! It’s raining!
Sound familiar? Possibly not, but any artist (I’ve just made up) will tell you the same story of frustrating days and thwarted attempts to create a masterpiece for the demanding art lovers and buyers of Great Britain. If only there were something new and less time consuming and less expensive yet totally unique…(I’m building this up, you see?)…
Unique art from i-Pixx
We’ve been enjoying a lot of art, of late, but we weren’t expecting this as our next client win.
i-Pixx, an innovative new company who create striking portraits and pictures from your DNA. They liked what they saw in us and commissioned Utopia to start the ball rolling by:
- Designing a suite of sales and marketing materials including retail packaging
- Redesigning their website and providing SEO / SEM advice
- Creating a new tone of voice for all communications
- Rewriting all their copy and producing original content for web and print
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14 June 2010 at 11:18
Whelford Group website live in under 2 weeks!
From design sign off to a live site with functionality – slide show and downloads - plus testing, checking and initial SEO to boot…the words ‘pulled out of the bag’ could readily be applied to this project.
Utopia’s web designer, Jamie McColm, is known for his magic tricks (and also an array of hilarious voices…seriously, call him, it’s quite astonishing, sometimes a bit scary..) but this one was a little slice of genius.
Flexible and Fast when you feel the need, the need for….cue the music
Jamie wasn’t sitting around twiddling thumbs or flying jets, he had all sorts of projects underway. But one of the many (U-rated) words you can use to describe Utopia, is: Flexible.
And that’s how it should be. If we can, we’ll do everything to reprioritise so that an urgent client need is delivered. (Our lawyers / families wish us to insert a ‘within reason’ caveat here!)
Holding Page? Ugh, no thanks
We’d already produced The Whelford Group’s new sales and marketing brochure and, with the regional business awards looming, we were asked to redesign and build a new website in time. Can’t have inconsistency with your touch points now, can you? No, you can’t.
With only 2 weeks to the awards, the obvious solution from the client was to slap up a holding page. But we don’t really like holding pages, so we came back with: “Nah, forget that – let’s see if we can do a bit more”…for ‘”we” came back with’ read Utopia’s MD, Owen (and um, yes, it is me writing this…possibly by way of an apology to Jamie). But did he flinch? No. Well, not that I’d know, I just left a hurried message on his voice mail and ran off.
Did he deliver? Absolutely. www.whelfordconstruction.co.uk
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Websites | No Comments
23 April 2010 at 11:10
Utopia client, The Whelford Group, is delighted with the new marketing brochure.
Now to get Phase 1 of their redesigned website coloured in, written, built and live….in 2 weeks, in time for the region’s business awards.
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | No Comments
28 December 2009 at 11:14
What have we been up to in Utopia?
Don’t give me that look. I know it’s been ages since the last post, but we’ve been busy. Since the launch of the MASCo rebrand, their marketing activity has grown and grown, culminating in the Christmas-lights-style-switch-on of their new website.
Designed with the customer first, it’s already had lots of positive feedback. So what’s the focus for our marketing of MASCo in 2010? PR, email, and internet marketing. I want to bring that advertising spend down and hike up their exposure with a combination of traditional editorial and clever online activity. We’ll keep you posted.
What’s new?
Word of mouth has so far been the winning formula for our own client wins, but with the new Utopia Communications website about to launch (yes, finally!), we’ll be pushing more. The site includes a showcase of our recent work, which you can also navigate by service criteria (marketing, creative, web, PR), and there’s a client area that will keep communication flowing on individual projects.
A flurry of quotations and commissions ended the year (including two requests for copywriting arriving on Christmas Eve), so we look forward to leaping into spring (we don’t like winter) with all sorts of new challenges and interesting clients…apart from a new travel company coming on board in November, the construction industry seems to have taken a shine to Utopia. Resist urge to weave in building puns.
Happy New Year!
To all our clients, suppliers and friends, we wish you all every good fortune for 2010.
Utopia Communications
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | Strategic Marketing | Websites | Email marketing | Advertising | Social Media | PR | No Comments
03 September 2009 at 11:17
Latest banner ads for This is Gloucestershire website, rolling out ( I love that expression ) this weekend.
Hot baths!
Into the woods…
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Advertising | No Comments
27 August 2009 at 11:18
The fruits of our rebranding are beginning to bloom for MASCo. Don’t worry, not all my posts / clients are MASCo, but it’s a major project: brand id development and tone of voice with 360 degree roll out across all marketing communications. Advertising; Website; Email marketing; Brochures; Stationery; Signage; Vehicle graphics; Exhibition materials…it’s a big one.
Really challenging to find the logo solution because MASCo’s business is so diverse with multiple product lines: reclaimed bathrooms; radiators; fireplaces; garden ornaments; architectural features; building materials; wood flooring…so no one image can represent what they do, unless you opt for predictable (see their competition). Then Eureka!
Skip, the designer (see next post about how Utopia works), came up with a window on the MASCo world concept. It’s fresh, it’s surprising, it’s versatile; it juxtaposes simple contemporary design with the client’s classical style. The window is literally a hole; any angle on the MASCo world can be seen through it. Take adverts, the first visuals to be rolled out, which show an aspect of a product, but always seen in context of the bigger picture, like this from the Period Living newswire and this ad for Period Ideas:
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