Apple Testimonials

We will be adding a testimonials page to our website very soon, in the meantime, you can visit our Freeindex page, click on the icon from our apple-design.com website homepage, or just search Google with term: 'design agency Preston' where clients have also left several comments. Thanks to all again!

This week in the studio.

This week we have been very busy with a number of new creative briefs, which included presenting pitches for two public sector contracts, and also working on many of our ongoing projects. We are currently supporting The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, on their exterior branding and we are looking forward to seeing the results over the coming weeks. The hospital is in the middle of an extremely large capital development project, over multiple sites which will see future cancer treatment delivered at other regional centres, making it much more accessible to wider areas of the North West and beyond. Our client OCNW, a National Awarding Body, are continuing the process of rebranding, and we have been working on many of their marketing communications, including leaflets, posters and email campaigns. We have been improving our own offices with more canvases and banners to brighten up the internal spaces, (what there are of them). We didn't get round to eating many pancakes on Tuesday, but here is a pancake themed picture, courtesy of Morguefile, to remind us, there's always next year...

Watch batteries, gadgets and watches.

Whilst we're on the subject of linking out, here's a useful little site, it's not one where we would rave about the aesthetics, but it does what it says on the can, and lots of hard to find bits and pieces. http://www.watchbattery.co.uk/ Again, use your browsers back button to return here!

Check your rank...

Whether you call it the 'world wide web', 'the net' or maybe it's still the 'information super highway' for you? Anyway, here is a rank checker, just key in your site and see where it's ranked on Google...http://www.searchenginegenie.com/google-rank-checker.html This will navigate you away from this page. We hope you'll return soon.

Where design and brand reputation collide.

The current economic crisis serves to remind us how the graphic design of a brand can only ever go so far in conveying trust and authority, and how ultimately, it is relatively unimportant, if that trust or loyalty is broken. In recent months, we have had many of the major banks shaken by the admission of poor decisions which have led to nationalisation of some, and at the very least, severe damage to the reputation of others. On the high street, we have lost Woolworths completely, and many others have had to call in the administrators, or are changing hands. So from a branding point of view, we see the brand equity of many well known companies, and the association we all have with them, changing on a daily basis as the bad news goes round. In the light of these problems, there is no quick fix from a branding point of view. As with the Icesave brand, it's a case of nice logo, but a terminally ill association, as soon as it froze its accounts leaving so many customers stranded. This serves as a reminder to all of us involved in branding, that what we do for our clients visually, whilst very important, is only the icing on the cake (no pun intended), which can turn stale very quickly if customers are let down and the company's reputation goes pear shaped.

ATL, BTL, TTL BLT?

A classic BTL with TTL aspirations and a seriously ATL Future? No, it's just a classic BLT sandwich.

And you think you're having a bad day at the wheel?

I think they're trying to tell us that this is Cleveleys Working Mens Club.

CASH FOR SCRAP

CASH FOR SCRAP


SCRAP

CASH FOR SCRAP...This is an example of a great copy line. It's directness and unequivocal message stands it apart from many other marketing headlines. We also get the exact nature of the transaction - that being the offer of cash, i.e. money, in a direct exchange for scrap. We don't get the benefit of an explanation of the kind of scrap referred to, but most people would assume this is in the form of scrap metal or perhaps a car past its useful lifespan. We also don't get an indication of the amount of cash that will be exchanged for the scrap in question, but we can assume by the large bold lettering often chosen, that the proposer is offering a worthwhile amount - furthermore, that it is well worth calling the accompanying number to find out how much. The use of the word 'Cash' as opposed to 'money' or 'financial incentive' positions the ad as probably aimed at those who would commonly prefer a slightly slang term when referring to their financial affairs. So what about the common choice of colour? Well, of the variety of examples I have noticed, the preference seems to be a primary red, no surprise given the need for the wording to stand out against the metal chassis of the lorry. Red also positions the offer as value and suggests the immediacy of the transaction available.

Remember the Invacar 70?

As we tend to do in creative agencies, our conversations drift into all kinds of areas, one of which was about those funny turquoise disabled cars you used to see around (or should I say, cars driven by disabled people). We were wondering about that particular colour and how it carries, even now, a strange association with disability in general, just as a colour, well, maybe that and Barclays...! So then I got looking for a good image and a little bit more information. The car is an Invacar model 70, it was banned from UK roads only in 2003. They stopped manufacturing them in the 70's. On one level, I kind of miss them, I remember seeing them and dodging a few on the road, they would usually be going hazardously slow on the very far left of the road, and even then I thought, how come they only come in one colour? I don't know if anybody can shed any more light on this? The other remarkable fact is just how few images there seem to be on the web. We just couldn't find one we could use legally, so we had to draw it from scratch. Contact us if you want to use our pic for anything! Phil

As our thoughts turn to Easter!

With Easter on the way, is it time to face up to your marketing...? This is a portrait of me, Phil, complete with goatee beard, in association with local chocolate sculptress, Madeleine Ashforth, 6. (Think I can see a bit of Easter Island in there too, or maybe that grumpy one out of Sesame Street)??

In the studio this week, 16th Feb 08.

This week (16-02) has seen us working on a wide range of projects, we delivered a new trade ad for Dudley Industries, which incorporated a new product shot of their new stainless recess steel modular hand wash and dry unit. The full page ad will be used to promote their attendance at a forthcoming trade show. We are also working on visuals for a new website for Urban Hair, a contemporary hair design salon, in which we will be using many Loreal images. We have worked on a number of flash and animated gif banners for Graduate Prospects in Manchester and also a similar project for our client, Freightlink. We have some fantastic opportunities coming up over the next few weeks, and hope to have plenty more to announce very soon. Despite the downturn, we continue to be very busy, so we are grateful to our clients who continue to market themselves positively, it is great to see our work contributing to their success.

ABC Video Facilities site goes live...

We have recently designed a new website for ABC Video facilities. Chris and Julie live two doors down from me, (Phil), so there's nothing like keeping it local. So if you are looking to tie the knot this summer or you need a great corporate video filming, go to www.abcvideofacilities.co.uk

We have recently created a new website to look after the marketing consultancy side of our business. Through Celsian, clients can access more strategic and marketing problem solving services, rather than solely creative. You can take a look at the new site at: www.marketing-consultant-uk.com

Our studio can undertake all kinds of illustration commissions, see www.apple-design.com

The images here were designed by Laura Haire, our super talented illustrator and senior graphic designer, we had the designs printed onto a stretch canvas and they are placed at the entrance to our corporate offices, ok then.. our small office suite.

Welcome.

Hi and welcome to Apple Creative design's blog. Everything has to have a start somewhere and for our blog this is it. you can see our main site at http://www.apple-design.com/ we are a graphic design agency, based in Preston in Lancashire.