What’s your number?

Thats Brave362

I was out the other weekend looking to top up my book collection and saw this great book by George Louis. It reminded me of a favourite book of mine by the great creative Paul Arden ‘It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be’.

The book is called ‘Damn good advice (for people with talent)’ and it’s a little self help but every now and then have real nuggets of thought. I love these quick reads and they are great at sometimes pointing out simple ideas that are just genius. Its easy to get stuck in your ways but just interesting to hear how great minds think.

This was the first page which I thought was quite funny. Like most creatives who start out in the industry, fueled with enthusiasm, I’m sure I’ve been ‘number 4′.

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Books - Posted on May 2, 2013

Good first impressions

That's Brave Businnes Cards

We’ve had these knocking around the office for a couple of weeks now and I just thought why don’t we share them with you. Many may well have seen our previous cards feature on a few international design blogs and hopefully this new mark 2 update goes down the same route.

We had the cards letterpress printed by the lovely team at Typoretum in Coggeshall, www.typoretum.co.uk just ask for Cecilia. We love the effect that the old skool letterpress does when the ink sinks into the paper and just couldn’t resist to try the edge printing. The cards have been printed on greyboard which is normally used as a cheap recycled packaging paper for cereal boxes and the back of notepads. It’s part of the charm to take something worthless and turn it into something really unusual and trendy.

Many people have ingrained into their minds that glossy is classy. Personally for us, it couldn’t be further from the truth. No doubt that glossy, silk and uncoated papers all have their place in everyones brand but so many times I hear people say, ‘it needs to be classy, so a nice glossy paper is what were after’!

I’ll stop before I start a debate on paper in branding (how sad, I know). We loved the design of these cards and whats great is the reaction we get from the people we give them to.

The best part is that the older and more damaged the cards get, the better they look!

That's Brave Businnes Cards

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Branding, Print - Posted on April 15, 2013 Tagged , , , ,

Get on board with brave design

Get-on-Board-with-Brave-Thinking362

So we’ve spent most of our time on this blog posting up our work and a few funny things we’ve seen along the way. So how do we actually manage to get the work, I hear you ask.

We’re not lucky enough to appear top of Google for the search terms ‘design’ and ‘advertising’, all be it close for ‘guerrilla’ but normally it takes a little more effort than a bit of SEO to get a new client. We spend a lot of time developing relationships with our current and potential clients, and quite often a genius DM is how they start.

We’re not the type of company to blanket mail people with an untargated A6 postcard, we like to think just a little differently. Ok, it might cost a load more and take 10x longer but its important for us to express our creativity and at the end of the day make the most impact possible. Who wants their ideas to get to the other end with the recipient saying ‘seen that before’ and promptly throw the DM in the bin.

We know who we want to work with and over the past year we’ve been thinking of the best ways to make that impact so that hopefully we get the chance to do so. This is one of our latest DM ideas which is aimed at some of our potential travel/aerospace prospects.

In this creative we’ve dished up a few courses explaining some of our recent experiences within the sector and also ideas and thoughts about what ‘brave’ means to us. Combined with our newspaper credentials, which we developed last year, is hopefully a fitting end to an enjoyable and witty read.

If you work in travel and reading this, wondering if you’re a potential recipient, then who knows.  If not then maybe our ‘leg’ DM is more of a possibility! I’ll say no more.

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Food and Drink, PR, Promotional - Posted on March 28, 2013

Brave, Back at School

So we’ve been a little quiet over the last few months and most of that is due to the outstanding view that I have in front of me. The office move was a little bit of a change from Ipswich town centre but now that we’re settled in, we’re really enjoying the benefits. My car parking bill was nothing last month which means I can spend more money on curlywurlys.

Rectory Garden 3

It hasn’t necessarily been all changing rooms, work has been really hectic over the Christmas period and through the New Year. In our run up to Christmas and the new school term we’ve been busy getting the new prospectus done for Rectory Garden Montessori School.

Rectory Garden 2

After doing the website earlier last year we’ve since been asked to produce a welcome pack and prospectus. Rather than produce two separate documents we designed the welcome pack so that it can work singularly as a folder and then as a prospectus by having the inside pages stitched inside. We then die-cut the cover to reveal a sticker that we could separately brand for the prospectus or welcome pack.

Rectory Garden 1

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Brochure, Education, Marketing - Posted on February 18, 2013 Tagged ,

New season. A new look.

After designing a new website back in July for the second 2012 show we have now completed a new invite program for the next IMC menswear show in February. The IMC is a 90 strong buying group of independent retailers aimed at giving small retailers flexibility and ultimately buying advantages that the membership provides.

Rather than a postcard or general card format we decided to add a bit more space an move it into a visual piece rather than overload the eye with copy. Previously the designs were highly content driven but we felt it was important to give a lifestyle feel and also champion some of the images from previous years events. This helped us use more colour and strengthen the visual brand which we had developed with the website, adding to a more consistent feel.

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Design, Retail - Posted on December 11, 2012 Tagged , ,

Goddards rocks a brave brand refresh

Goddards Advertising1

We’ve been working with fashion retailer Goddards of King’s Lynn for a few years now. Since we rebranded them back in 2011 we’ve been busy on a range of advertising and DM briefs.

The current campaign had been running for the past two years with great success and subsequently we were asked to develop on from this idea for the upcoming years marketing. Like with fashion, it’s good to keep the advertising fresh and current.

Our previous brand was based around using polaroids because of the eclectic nature of the images that we used. This was again important with the new brand, hence why we’ve adopted a cutout approach so we could control the elements better and achieve a more consistent visual style.

The new advertising has featured across East Anglia recently and these two ads are part of the May in-store offers. We’ve also been working on a supporting DM which we will show you as soon as we get our copies.

Goddards Advertising2

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Advertising, Branding - Posted on April 23, 2013 Tagged , ,

Mouth watering digital design

Pinneys-eNews-2-362

After having a new eCommerce website completed recently, Pinney’s pushed forward with more digital marketing in the shape of this eNewsletter. It was a new era and effort to try and build interest in Pinney’s gorgeous fresh caught sea-food.

They are an old family run firm and their smoked fish, patés and oysters are famous amongst foodies, both locally and nationally. From their Orford base, they sell direct to the public but also supply restaurants and hotels across East Anglia and London.

We took inspiration from the website with clearly coloured stories and snapshot images helped focus and brighten up the news. Developing on from the blackboard background, this smokey illustrative chalky feel with handwritten font helped show off their artisan skills. We then tailed it off with restaurant and shop information and quotes from influential foodies. Hopefully this eNewsletter was a nice change for inboxes and something subscribers really looked forward to. Check out some of the other work we’ve done for Pinney’s of Orford on our website www.thatsbrave.co.uk

Pinneys-eNews-3-362

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Digital, Food and Drink, Marketing - Posted on April 2, 2013 Tagged ,

It’s In the Twist

Thats Brave - Dunhill 1

This is a name synonymous with English style, luxury and tradition. Alfred Dunhill are the last word in gentleman’s clothing, suits and accessories. They epitomise everything that you’d associate with quality, good taste and good tailoring. We took all of these things and applied them to a brochure to publicise the exclusive Alfred Dunhill members club at their premises in Mayfair, London.

That's Brave - Dunhill 2 That's Brave - Dunhill 4

The twist here was to stay loyal to the brand values, but to introduce the Dunhill way of doing things to the younger, sophisticated but still discerning customer. The result was to use dapper illustrations and muted colours that still evoked a whiff of the leather sedan chairs. Think Wallpaper magazine meets ‘the old school tie.’

That's Brave - Dunhill 3

What’s more is that it’s been printed on paper made with Algae from Venice lagoon’s. Nothing but the best and by now you really should expect the unexpected when you hear of the name Dunhill. We’re real advocates for FSC and recycled papers and this really is a great example of how a simple piece of paper can bring a project to life. Alfred would have been proud!

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Print - Posted on March 22, 2013 Tagged , , , , , ,

A breath of fresh air

So a quick year has past, and in October saw our first birthday. After a really successful first year in trading we thought none better than to reward ourselves with a shiny new office for the new productive year ahead. It’s a bit of a change for us, from our central Ipswich location to a fresher more inspirational office in Woodbridge, looking down the river Deben. I guess the best bit is that this office has parking, and plenty of it, so no excuses for not popping around for a beer on the balcony in the summer.

Ok, so I could harp on about the inspirational views and glass windows on three sides looking over at the historic Tide Mill but one thing we’re really excited about is the Summer barbies. Yeah, we’ve got a full on barbecue out the front and combined with our balcony decking, I think we’re going to have a few great summer parties… keep an eye out for the invite!

Now that we have the keys, it’s off to Ikea to pick up a few essentials and then get it all spick and span.

COMMENTS (0) - Posted in Design, Interior, Marketing - Posted on December 26, 2012