Need a design friend?
Imagine you had a good mate that you could call on for all your design needs. He knows you. He understands what you want. He’s got your back. You can call him up. He’s on your side. That’s exactly how we operate.
About
Let’s get pally. That’s a good word. It’s a pal and an ally.
We’ve been working with organisations of all types and sizes since 2011, as ‘design friends’. We join the team, we get stuck in, we sit in the office, make the tea, come on your corporate days out. You can text us and rely on us when something urgent comes up. Need something for the same day? If it’s possible we’ll make it happen.
We get our head into your business so we understand you and your viewpoint and use all of our skills to help you as best we can. Just like a mate would.
what we do
Website design
Attractive, responsive websites for your business or project. We use WordPress to create sites that are reliable, expandable and simple for you to update once published. We can host your site too.
SOCIAL MEDIA
From setting up branded social media channels to being strategic about what and when you post. We can help you to build your social media presence and teach your team how to manage it.
BRANDING
We can create logos and brand identities, giving you a consistent visual palette to use both on and offline. Branding is also useful for individual projects and events that require a unique look and feel.
E-learning design
From a full Learning Management System or VLE install and customisation, to individual course design using popular e-learning authoring tools, we can help to bring alive your online learning.
PHOTO & VIDEO
Multimedia content is a necessity to keep your social media feeds lively. We can capture content of your events and activities and put it together into the right formats for your various outlets.
WEBSITE MAINTENANCE
It’s not glamorous, but your website needs to be cared for on an ongoing basis. We’ll keep your software updated, your site backed up, and make sure everything is secure.
DESIGN FOR PRINT
From posters, brochures and flyers to reports, proposals, large format design and merchandising items. We can handle it all, giving everything a consistent style.
Content management
It’s a lot of work to keep generating new content for your site and social media. We can help you to make the most of what you have, find the stories happening in your organisation and present them effectively.
Email Design
If you regularly email your customers, we can set up dynamic templates and create compelling campaigns that work on desktop and mobile.
Project stories
Tweets from the Studio
That time of year again, launching paper submissions for the IPDA conference. Looking forward to helping implement another virtual conference this year, although it would be nice to met in person!
Read MoreOne day, four video interviews recorded for company careers web pages. Find out more and watch here - https://t.co/BuXvpV7AL7
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Escaping the home office to take some photography of a client undertaking #covid lateral flow testing for their employees. #covid19 #lateralflow #covidtest https://t.co/GSAhSzM8rP
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It was great to put together this mental health awareness video for the Tara Group on #TimeToTalkDay. With so many people experiencing difficulties at the moment it’s nice to see them looking after their employees. .
Read MoreNew website live for the fantastic @StNicholasTema. Please check out their great work bringing education to children in #Ghana https://t.co/v9BHBuB1mR
Read MoreAnother pre-Christmas site sent live, to help gather momentum for a board game to help young people explore issues of personal safety https://t.co/hwvBuRRTyk
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A nice pre-Christmas launch of a coach booking tool for the Thandi Coaches website for their Birmingham to London service. A great example of something that could be expensive as bespoke software, but can be quick and cost-effective with @WordPress https://t.co/dw90DUtqfa
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Give yourself the gift of a SELF-EMPLOYED PENSION for Christmas. We are still loving using @getpenfold. You also get a £25 GIFT from the government for every £100 you pay in! #selfemployed #entrepreneur https://t.co/XErbzwezTR
Read MoreIn the lead up to Christmas it was a pleasure to get away from the home office and visit Chasetown to capture some videos of children singing at the local school and the Christmas lights being switched on. Click the link to watch the video - https://t.co/ZqUPurWEhy
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It was great to be able to film and edit this virtual Christmas lights switch on for #chasetown this past week. Got us all in the Christmas spirit!
Read MoreJust published this blog post for @wlvcidt on the proposal to cut UK development assistance. "This could not come at a worse time for the world’s poorest countries and people and for international cooperation more broadly."
Read MoreWe've just published the first IPDA Podcast. Taking our client's audio, adding a short intro and publishing with @anchor. We're releasing one a day this week so if #educationresearch and #professionaldevelopment is your thing then you can tune in here:
Read MoreRecommendations
If you are forging your own path and looking for tools to help you set up your online presence or support your business, here are the tools we use and have used for years. If you need help setting them up then get in touch.
Web Hosting:
Siteground
We have been more than happy since we took the plunge and moved al of our sites to Siteground. The hosting, especially for WordPress, is fast, reliable and their control panel is simple. If you are already hosted somewhere else, they make the switch super simple with their migration plugin.
CMS:
WordPress
There are dozens of CMS platforms out there these days. We have used a lot of them and aways come back to WordPress for its flexibility, security and endless extensibility – from ecommerce and elearning to forums, calendars and multi-lingual sites, it’s all possible.
Page Layout:
Elementor
Of the various page layout plugins available for WordPress, we have found the most flexible and easy to work with to be Elementor. There are built in templates and page layouts that are ready to go, or you can start with a blank pafge and create any layout you can imagine.
CREATIVE ASSETS:
MOTION ARRAY
Creatives need more than just photos. Motion Array has videos, music, video editing templates and presets. Plus, your subscription includes an unlimited license! No need to license each item separately. Just download what you need and create! They have freat tutorials too.
Pensions:
Penfold
If you are self-employed you need to have a pension in place. In fact, Penfold is for Directors and employees too. We have found the experience with them to be very good. The technology is easy to use and they claim a 25% Government contribution for you.
Creative software:
Adobe Creative Cloud
For everything from document design, illustration and photo editing, to video and audio editing, and a great array of mobile apps to create on the go. Adobe is the industry standard for a reason and it will save you a lot of headaches.