We were asked to create a new identity for the newly formed Perranporth Pavilion based in Cornwall, we also created a suite of logos for it’s consumer facing brands – Pavilion Ice, The Pavilion Boatshed and Pavilion Catering. The Perranporth Pavilion identity is steeped in local Cornish history, telling the story of ‘The Bear, The Badger and The Fox’.

We gave a presentation in February at Design Network North’s Rise & Design about growing your business through export. Why us, well we’ve got some experience ourselves of producing work for clients outside of the UK.

Whilst we stay in our comfortable office our work travels as far as China and Australia, helping clients to communicate their message clearly. Our understanding of brands and strategy and our curiosity and willingness to learn provide clients with strong, insightful creative work.

The following is a brief overview of the talk Paul gave at the event.

Exporting! Arghhh

Exporting is often seen as a large step into the unknown, with differences in language, business terms and cultures. A lot of businesses see these issues and think it’s more complex and harder to approach than ‘local’ business. Whilst they know their offer is great, communicating it internationally can seem daunting so steer clear of it.

Exporting! Oh yes

Language, business terms and cultures may be different but all business is about needs, relationships and communication. With planning and knowledge, these elements can be focussed and communicated clearly, proving a great platform to seek out new clients.

Making a plan to export your product or services is also a great way to focus your business on your offering and your communication;

• You’ll work harder at defining and targeting clients, to make sure they’re a good fit for your business
• You’ll work harder at communicating your message, benefits and offering
• You’ll develop better relationships as you’ll understand their needs, and they’ll understand why they need you

And the benefit of all this hard work is two-fold. Not only will you make your message clearer to international clients it’s also likely to impact your ‘local’ business;

• You’ll understand more about your ideal clients and what they may be looking for
• You’ll communicate clearly your message, benefits and offering
• You’ll develop better relationships too as you understand your skills and your clients needs

Start exporting everywhere.

There’s never a ‘good’ time to start. Apart from now.

1. Develop a plan – Seek advice and work out what you want to achieve
2. Assign a budget – It’ll take time and money to reach new clients
3. Put it in motion – Work with partners you trust to make it happen

If you’re thinking of exporting as a way to grow your business the team at UKTI are well worth talking too. They have a great understanding of what it takes and can offer various levels of support to your business.

visit the UKTi site - www.ukti.gov.uk

Alongside developing the new Blackfriars website we designed their new mobile site too. Based on the design features of the main site the mobile version gets users straight to the main points of the site – such as the menus and how to find Blackfriars – to help those of you who want to grab some great food get some.

The best way to see this is, of course, to jump on your smartphone (if you’re not already there!).

www.blackfriarsrestaurant.co.uk

We helped to rebrand a holiday cottage business, based in Northumberland. We developed a new name for the business that reflected their core business offering and that would help them be found online. From there we designed a new identity to reflect what they have to offer the people who stay with them.

If you care how your website looks on a mobile phone you’re more than likely to have already launched a mobile friendly version of your website. Yes? If the answer is no, we suggest you do!

So, what is a mobile friendly website? A mobile friendly website is either a concentrated version of your main website, built as a separate site or a responsive website, which will adjust the size and position of content to provide an ‘accessible user experience’ for users of mobile devices. Making sure your website is readable on a phone isn’t something you should ignore. If your site is less functional when viewed on a phone versus a PC or laptop, most users will simply leave the site. In short, if your website isn’t mobile friendly you’re preventing potential customers from easily navigating your site.

Accessing the web with a mobile phone is usual practice these days. Last week I read that ‘by 2014 mobile internet should take over desktop internet usage’. In a very short space of time, mobile has become an necessity. 71% of 16-24 year olds are now accessing the internet via a mobile phone. Things like apps, news, social media, e-mail, and downloading music are commonplace, therefore making your website mobile friendly is essential. Lots of consumer-focused companies have already realised how valuable mobile is, most have armed themselves with a mobile friendly version of their ‘main’ website.

Some benefits of being ‘mobile friendly’;

• Reach more customers
• Generate more sales
• Convenience
• Speed
• Easy to navigate
• Minimal typing required
• Increase traffic to your site
• Offers click-to-call functionality
• Visual instructions makes it easier to buy

Keep your mobile site clean, easy to browse and of course amazingly beautiful.

If you’d like to know more about making your website ‘mobile’ – including the benefits and the pitfalls, give me a shout - kevin@wonderstuffstudio.com

We can’t quite believe it ourselves but it’s been 3 years since Wonder Stuff Studio opened it’s creative desktops and started working for, well you. So, thank you for working with us, we really appreciate it.

Not only have we continued to build the business through a recession, but over this time we’ve worked for clients in the Far East, America, Canada and Australia. After a busy three years, our core focus for 2012 is growth. We’ve laid down some exciting plans and the studio now has an extensive ‘to do’ list for the coming year. The first tick off the list is the appointment of Kevin Robson as Project Manager (read his article on mobile sites here).

We’re committed to building a design studio that makes a difference to your business and provides a creative, forward thinking place to work for our team.

We love what we do and what it does for our clients. And we hope you do to.

A simple, beautiful blog for one of the North East’s finest wayfinding experts. We developed the identity to complement Sarah’s business – Picto Sign Solutions – and the blog to allow her to showcase all the things she loves about signage!

We developed a series of three adverts for Travel Bureau’s Corporate Travel team. The beautifully written adverts were targeted at business owners and travellers and appear as full page adverts over a twelve month period.

Children North East, one of the regions oldest Charities, asked us to help them develop a new approach for their visual material, to launch at an upcoming conference they were attending. We planned the project down to the last minute and working closely with the team at Children North East and the printers we delivered a bold change for them.

To develop a strong website to reflect security for SB Security needed a strong brand message. We developed a clear brand message for SB Security to position them as the security provider of choice. From there we developed a strong, simple website to promote the business. And some lovely icons for them, too.