November’s here. The nights are drawing in, we’re all wearing thicker jumpers and winter is on its way.

We’re welcoming November with open arms here at Huw David Design. We’ve got a pretty action packed month to look forward to. Our month begins with a two day workshop for one of our clients, where we will be providing their marketing teams with additional skills with regards to using social media and digital marketing.

Towards the end of the month we are running our Autumn App Workshop. This workshop will again be based in the impressive facilities that can be found at the Cardiff School for Management. It promises to be a great day and there are some limited spaces available, so book now (sorry for the plug!).

The team are also fully embracing another one of November’s challenges. That is the hugely popular Movember. During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in the UK and around the world. The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.

This year Craig, Tim, Graham and my good self are all participating. If you do meet any of us over the course of the month, we apologise in advance for the ridiculous facial hair we will be wearing.

We’ve setup a donations page, which can be found here.

So, we’ve got a lot to look forward to during November. It promises to be a busy month, with plenty to shout about. We also have some great branding projects that should be completed within the month, we’ll hopefully update the site with these before too long.

Have a great month!

So the 2011 Rugby World Cup has ended. Remember it? Congratulations must go to New Zealand for winning the tournament, but what about Wales?

Wales’ World Cup performances gripped the nation. If only the referee hadn’t mistaken red for yellow and one kick had gone just a few inches further, Wales would have made the World Cup final. Just imagine.

Wales finally finished the tournament in fourth place, but for me personally, they have done so much more. For me, Wales is now back on the map and not just in a rugby sense. The Welsh rugby team has shown how a relatively small nation can make an impact on a global scale.

Rather than trying to be like every other nation, Wales had their own game plan and strategy that suited them, the players were comfortable with this and they genuinely believed in it. The result of this was the highly impressive performances both on the field and off the field that had other teams genuinely worried.

From the outside looking in, Wales seemed to go about their business with smiles on their faces and gained numerous plaudits from around the world.

The Welsh way was the best way.

I believe the Welsh rugby team has proven that with the proper resources, dedication, a well-formed strategy, lots and lots of hard work and a genuine belief in what is achievable, great things are possible. A small nation can indeed be a great nation.

I find this is inspirational, not just from a sporting viewpoint, but also in the business world and particularly from a brand development viewpoint. If brands adopted these values, the same results are possible.

Small brands can be great brands. Small businesses can have a big impact, they can attract a wider fan base, and they can grow to become a powerful force that is recognised on the big stage.

It’s a big challenge, but the rewards are greater. We’re undertaking a process of tweaking our strategy and game plan here at Huw David Design. We help our clients with this and we’re taking a moment to do this for ourselves.

The Welsh rugby team has inspired us. First up, a team trip to a fridge freezer in Poland!

We’re always excited to work with Welsh companies that produce world class products. The Kite Brewery is one of these types of companies. We’ve partnered with The Kite Brewery as they begin the initial start-up phase of the business and we are providing a wide range of services to their team.

The Kite Brewery is a brewery located in Carmarthenshire, West Wales. It was established in direct response to the explosion of hand-brewed ales that are highly fashionable throughout Wales and the rest of the UK. However, rather than being a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ brand, The Kite Brewery has been setup by a hugely experienced team consisting of brewers, distributors and wholesalers to make a real statement within this sector. The beers produced by The Kite Brewery have already been widely acclaimed for their taste and quality.

We were approached by the team at The Kite Brewery to provide them with branding, product naming, marketing material, promotional material and early sales material. We are in the process of working with the team to ensure the brands core values are implemented across all touch points.

Following an initial product launch, we will be completing a process of evaluation to ensure the brand continues to grow.

We are looking forward to launching the main website, due for completion this summer, before developing an iPhone App for the business.

Work undertaken

— Branding
— Positioning
— Naming
— Style guidelines
— Website design and build
— Digital marketing
— Art direction
— Print management

Project website

www.thekitebrewery.com

As part of our long-term relationship working with Cadw, Welsh Government’s historic environment service, we were commissioned to provide design services for a flagship schools project.

A series of 6 large scale mural panels inspired by the history of Harlech Castle and created by over a 100 local schoolchildren was unveiled on Thursday 14th July 2011 at the former Castle Hotel, Harlech, which is soon to undergo major refurbishment following its purchase by Cadw. A choir from Ysgol y Moelwyn were also on hand to sing at the launch event.

The event marks 365 days to the day until the Men of Harlech celebrations at Harlech Castle in July 2012 which forms part of Cadw’s own Power of the Flame Cultural Olympiad initiative, Cauldrons and Furnaces. Cauldrons and Furnaces is a partnership between Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic environment service and Arts Council of Wales with funding from Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to create a lasting cultural legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK.

Students from Ysgol Ardudwy (Harlech), Ysgol y Berwyn (Bala) Ysgol Eifionydd (Porthmadog) , Ysgol y Gader (Dolgellau), Ysgol y Moelwyn (Blaenau Ffestiniog) and Ysogl Uwchradd Tywyn (Tywyn), have been working with Ian MacKenzie-Thurley from Cytser – The Constellation Project to develop ideas for colourful 2m x 1m murals which will be placed in the former windows of the building while it undergoes renovation to become a new visitor centre for the World Heritage Site.

Additional resources

Featured on the BBC website (additional pictures)

Article in the Daily Post

We are pleased to have been selected for the current phase of the Service Design For Designers (SD4D) programme that is being run by Design Wales.

The SD4D programme brings together six leading Welsh design agencies for training in service design principles, methods and activities. The programme is aimed at innovative, creative and forward thinking businesses, so we were naturally interested in being involved.

The purpose of the programme is to provide support to the selected companies as they embed these new approaches within their business. The programme is a mix of interactive workshops and one-to-one business support.

We recently took part in the the first ‘Action day’ which was held at Cardiff School of Management. This was an introduction to the key principles of Service Design and was also a great opportunity to meet with like minded people. We were also able to practice some of the techniques used in Service Design, one of these being ‘serious play’.

By using serious play we are able to design services around individual personas, or users. It is a fun, but very focused way of really understanding how a product or service can be used.

Our understanding of Service Design

We see Service Design as being a valuable tool to complement our capabilities in the more traditional field of branding. In today’s competitive world of business, what separates an industry’s players is often the service that comes with the product offering – the customer experience. Quality of service determines whether a customer will be loyal, or leave.

Services, much like products and systems can be designed. Service Design is a process that can help you do this in a strategic, practical and efficient way.

Service design asks some fundamental questions: what should the customer experience be like? What should the employee experience be like? How does a company remain true to its brand, to its core business assets and stay relevant to customers?

Service design is a process and set of methods, tools and approaches that can help answer all of these questions and help design a better service for your business and your clients.

About the Programme

The Service Design Programme has been established to help Welsh design and advanced manufacturing companies use service design to increase competitiveness, innovation and capacity, as well as generating new employment opportunities in Wales.

The programme is operating from July 2010 to August 2013, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government Department for Economy and Transport. Over the three years Design Wales will deliver a number of service design activities to both sectors.

Design Wales have been funded by the Welsh Assembly Government to provide support and training to businesses that want to innovate their existing services or develop completely new services. Paul Thurston, who leads the programme says, ‘It’s come about due to combination of two factors, firstly the growth in the practice of service design across Europe and secondly, the need for companies to think beyond the products they produce and start thinking about the service they provide’.

We are now looking forward to the next stages of the Programme and will share these with you in due course.

We’re very pleased to have Craig on board as part of the full-time team here at Huw David Design. Craig allows us to expand our client offering as he brings with him a reputation for being a social media and mobile applications expert.

Craig has almost 17 years of experience in consulting, designing and creating digital marketing tools for businesses and has settled in well to the studio environment here. His abilities and experience are already proving to be powerful tools when combined with the highly skilled design team that is already established here at HDD.

Craig offers a unique combination of technical expertise and business acumen gained through his experience as a professional marketer and developer. On his appointment, Craig commented, ‘Huw David Design has built an impressive reputation for cutting edge and collaborative services to a wide variety of clients. The company is driven by an ambitious team of experts and I am excited to join them and bring something different to the table.’

‘The new and improved digital services the company can now offer reflects the booming popularity of apps and mobile sites, particularly when it comes to promoting business products and services.’

Craig also has an extensive background in training and as part of his role within HDD has already run a two day workshop as part of the App Development course at the University of Glamorgan. We are also planning a wider range of ‘App Workshops’ to train business people in the marketing opportunities available through apps.

HDD Managing Director, Huw David added, ‘Appointing Craig has not only strengthened our service offering to the market but his specific knowledge of social media channels and mobile apps really sets us apart from the competition.

‘Craig brings vast knowledge and an ‘outside the box’ approach to the company. This was demonstrated perfectly by his pitch to work with us; Craig set up his own website, www.iwantajobathuwdaviddesign.co.uk and provided daily updates demonstrating his various skills and passion for the company, needless to say, we were impressed.’

Huw David Design offers a team of talented and proactive design professionals who specialise in delivering exciting and fresh branding and design. With a diverse client portfolio, including international businesses, start-ups, and non-profit organisations from various industries, Huw David Design builds strong working relationships and helps businesses connect with their audiences in order to grow. For further information contact info@huwdavid.net

After months and months of discussions, ideas, more discussions and several draft concepts, we’ve finally managed to roll out Phase 1 of our website revamp.

Just like the builder who’s house is never finished and the cobbler’s children that never have any shoes, we’ve been guilty of neglecting our own projects. Thankfully the reason for this neglect is not from apathy or laziness from within the team, it’s due to the great number of client projects that we have been working on.

Take the last few months for example. Our team has grown, we’ve entered our third financial year as a limited company, and we’ve restructured the studio, finished some great projects and began working with a host of new clients. We’ve also been selected to take part in a Service Design Programme, currently being run by Design Wales, which will further enhance our capabilities.

We’ve been exceptionally productive of late, but guilty of not sharing this with the world outside of the studio.

We also appreciate that we have been guilty of demonstrating a lack of consistency. When we work with our clients we preach the need for a consistent, fluid approach to projects. Deadlines are always met, no matter what.

So, we’ve decided that we should really practice what we preach.

What you see in the shape of our current ‘holding page’ is only Phase 1 of a much bigger project. We’ve already begun work on integrating our blog into the main site framework. The holding page will grow with the addition of content and functionality, transforming what you currently see into a more substantial site.

By continuously working on the site our challenge becomes more manageable and we can have something that we are proud of.

We’re looking to push the boundaries a little and we’d appreciate your feedback along the way. Learning and sharing makes us better.

So here we go, to Phase 2 and beyond…

Thanks for reading,

The Huw David Design Team

P.S.
We’ve also managed some time to have this cheesy photograph done. We’re planning to use it on the HDD Christmas Album!

A project that we’re particularly proud of here in the HDD studio is our branding work for Leon’s Handmade Sauces. Click here to read more »

An item which we came across the other day is a range of beautifully designed notebooks by London design agency, KentLyons. Each book comes with coloured section labels, features an internal pocket, printed ruler, comes in three colours and is available in plain, lined or gridded.

For us KentLyons have made something ordinary quite extraordinary and we’d very much like to add the notebooks to our studio wish list.

The 2011 Studio On Fire Letterpress Calendar designed by Minnesota design agency, Studio On Fire is an item we stumbled upon when completing a bit of research for a wedding stationery project we’re scheduled to work on.

The creativity of the beautiful illustrations each month mixed with the high standard of production methods makes it achieve an instant thumbs up from us and is yet another item we’d like to add to our ever increasing studio wish list.

There’s been an air of nostalgia within the HDD studio lately with Tim adourning a sheepskin coat (John Motson-esque), Huw’s recent discussion of a Live Aid documentary ‘When Bob Met Harvey’, Andy’s old school Van trainers and Graham’s Wookie-like sneezes. As such an item that popped up this week left us fondly remembering the past ‘The Genius of Gerry Anderson Special Stamp Set’ launched by the Royal Mail this week.

The set was designed to celebrate 50 years of work by created by Gerry Anderson and features Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and other colourful nods to Anderson’s puppetry. F.A.B.

The limited edition 2011 Glow in the dark calendar designed by London design agency, Mash Creative is an item we stumbled upon via Behance today.

We particularly love the way in which it’s been designed with glow in the dark ink enabling the calendar to take on a completely new persona at night and thus it becomes a worthy candidate to add to our wish list.

If you would like to own your own copy of this calendar head over to the Counter Objects website.