Just heard some great news from one of our clients, regarding a recent campaign that we produced for them, in partnership with Wirral Council. 

Studiowide created the Warmer Wirral campaign for Energy Projects Plus. The campaign which ran from October 2011 to March 2012 greatly contributed to the overall uptake of the scheme and included, direct mail, email marketing, videos, website and press releases. 

"The Gas Industry Energy Efficiency Award went to Wirral Council for their highly successful community scheme, which delivered insulation to nearly fourteen thousand homes, created over twenty local jobs and which will have saved more than a quarter of a million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the lifetime of the measures."

This is our third in a poster series design for the NHS, to promote and inform people of the awareness of a cleft lip transition focus group.  The group has been set up to help and encourage children who’ve been in the care of the cleft team, to attend a forum to discuss positive and negatives aspects of their care.

The NHS poster campaign consists of a cartoon like speech bubble holding significant words to represent what the group has to offer; using different forms of typography and colour to make the concept more eye catching and appealing to teenagers. The message helps to communicate the key subjects with which the group covers.

The poster will appear in both NHS Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and NHS Manchester Children’s Hospital.

"We're extremely pleased to welcome Kevin to the team as we move into the next phase of our business growth. Kevin will bring additional knowledge resources into the business, such as Drupal and WordPress development. We now look forward to being able to offer an even greater range of web development diversity, to meet the ever changing needs of our customers".

After finished his BSc in Physics, Kevin decided that a career in research was not for him. He therefore decided to move towards the IT world and consequently chose to do a MSc in e-commerce at City University London. 

Inspiration

“I get inspiration from science and nature and look forward to what the future has in store. I hope that affordable space travel happens within my lifetime.”

Music

“I listen to J-Pop and J-Rock due to the influence from anime. However I’d listen to anything if it sounds good with the exception of dance.”

Travel

“I frequent Hong Kong, which is my birthplace, and enjoy long summers there mostly eating and shopping. I love travelling to new places and try to go somewhere new every year. On my list of places I want to go is America and South East Asia.”

Free Time

“At my core I’m a PC gamer sinking a lot of time into RPGs and the like. I follow many youtube personalities and gaming channels. I enjoy reading manga and anime and due to the amount I have seen have practically learnt how to speak Japanese. I keep up with science news and enjoy reading about new inventions and discoveries. I also enjoy building and upgrading computers when I get the chance.”

Annoyances

“I rarely get annoyed, though I dislike people who are stubborn and close minded. Ignoring or misinterpreting facts also gets on my nerves.”

Philosophy

“Everything in moderation”

We’ve just finished filming another segment for our client’s promotional video at Tranmere Rovers FC. This was the last game of the season and involved our bestest buddy, Lofty the Polar Bear!This final piece will form part of a campaign to raise awareness of a free loft insulation scheme, in partnership with Wirral council.

After initially setting up outside the main entrance and shop, Lofty begin greeting all the fans as they arrived. It was only a matter of time before Lofty became everyone’s best friend, giving out more ‘high fives’ than I thought humanly (or is it bear-ly?) possible.

Our role was to capture all of this buzz. As the crowds started to grow, we moved through into the stadium to greet the fans inside.  Also in the ground was Tranmere’s own mascot, Rover. We captured Lofty meeting Rover and waving/greeting all the fans in the stands, whilst becoming a bit of a celebrity.

Lofty was busy enjoying being the centre of attention – we filmed all of this buzz whilst helpers, handed out fliers with all the relevant information about the scheme. We rounded the event off with getting everyone in the stands chanting ‘Lofty, Lofty, give us a wave, Lofty, Lofty, give us a wave!’ …Fantastic!

We have just completed another great piece for one of our clients.

The Grim Reaper Food advert will be appearing in June’s magazine edition of Fine Food Digest.

The design features 3 chilli oils as the centre piece, engulfed by flames to emphasise the chilli flavours of the products. The design context we created is of a hellish nature, to again let the consumer know the intensity of the food range.

After the textual information had been included, a simple Grim Reaper branded stamp containing the titles of the chilli oil names was added. This was to give a seal of approval feel to the advert and acted as an effective detail to finish off the concept.

The client is very happy and we think it’s pretty cool too!

PS. Did you know we also did the product labelling design and product photography now that's what we call Full Service!

On the back of what seems to be a 'roll' for us regarding interesting products coming into Studiowide; we have just completed more professional photography for another new client. This time the images are destined for use on websites and packaging. The project was for a local, and pretty cool, company called BEEcycle, based in Liverpool. These guys are extremely innovative when it comes to creating and providing solutions to solving the problem of waste.

BEEcycle required our services for professional photography of their Beanstalk Pods. The Beanstalk Pod grows without the need for soil or watering. Almost zero effort is required to magically grow a beanstalk containing a bean with a special message of your choice. 

There are a total of 4 different coloured beads that you can use; blue, green, yellow and red. We had to photograph each set of coloured beads in the pod and a varying amount of beads and seeds scattered next to it. Overall, we took a series of 8 photographs for the client.

This shoot was a little tricky compared to our usual professional photography projects, as the Beanstalk Pod is made of transparent plastic. This meant that once we applied the necessary studio lights to create the required lighting, we had to diffuse with constant lighting in order to keep the light reflections to a minimum, whilst still keeping the item sufficiently lit. 

As with all projects of this type; when you shine studio lights directly onto a transparent and 'very' shiny item, you naturally get copious amounts of glare and reflections – our role as professional photographers is to overcome problems like this. In this instance we achieved the right outcome by reflecting from whiteboards, back onto the far side of the plastic dome, whilst also using the white backdrop as a diffuser. This process made it much easier to photograph the Beanstalk Pod correctly and achieve the desired result.

If you get a chance then we recommend taking a look at the Beanstalk Pod website, it'll make a great gift. More importantly though, if you’re interested in finding out how our professional photography service can help you, then don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Check out this sample picture above…

Oh, wait, what!? It spins!? What the heck is going on… that’s right, it’s interactive, awwwwhh yeah!

We’ve just completed some more 360 photography. This time round it’s for our client Bobby Barton Inventions Ltd and a product called ‘Walking Stick Mate’.

This device has been 100% designed, manufactured and marketed by yours truly Studiowide (more information to follow ref this great product – including case study).

The Walking Stick Mate is to aid people with a walking stick, allowing them to use their hands when needed and prevents the walking stick from being dropped. This nifty little device keeps the stick at your side, ready for use. It simply clips to a belt/pocket, attaches to the walking stick and then you’re good to go. The tensioned wire makes sure that your stick will constantly be by your side when you need it, but doesn’t hinder your movement when using it.

360 photography is a great way to show your product off to your customers. No longer do they have to be in the store or be physically holding the product to take a good look at it. We take a series of 32 photographs and then seamlessly stitch them together to create a full interactive 360 degree image viewer.

Take a look at some more of our 360 photography

If you’re interested in seeing how our product photography could help you, don’t hesitate to get in touch, or pop in for a cuppa! 

On the back of a recent successful graphic design project with a Warrington based bottle cap manufacturer, Plastic Closures Ltd, Studiowide were offered the chance to get involved with even more bespoke graphic design work by creating an emblem to celebrate their 30th year in business.

Plastic Closures Limited (PCL) was established in 1982 and will be celebrating 30 years this June. We were commissioned to create a pictorial image in the form of an emblem to represent the plastic caps and closures company. The design was to symbolise both the Plastic Closures Ltd logo, ‘Celebrating 30 Years’ and the supporting text ‘A Closure For All Applications’.  The final concept was to be used in a variety of environments, such as their website, signage, stationery and correspondence.

The emblem will act as a side element for potential customers as well as its existing customers. Plastic Closures Limited wanted an aesthetic, distinctive and effective way to promote and create a buzz about their achievement. PCL required all these things to be constrained into a single emblem form to help evoke a sense of tradition, trust and to celebrate the company.

The client supplied us with specific instruction as to how they thought the final design should. It was our task to bring it to life and make it sparkle! The bespoke graphic design emblem was to be used in a range of sizes, therefore we created the artwork using our favourite vector based program, Adobe Illustrator. This means the final image could be scaled to any size without becoming distorted.

After the basic structure of the emblem was formed we then added a series of gradient angles. Emboss and shine effects were also added to get the desired 3D effect our client requested.

The complete 3D symbol was unique in the sense it carried all the elements required so it was purely Plastic Closure Ltd branded. The emblem is instantly identifiable and recognisable to its audience and serves its purpose – to promote and celebrate the Plastic Closures Ltd Company.

The design has already been embedded into the Plastic Closures Ltd website and will be printed on an A1 foamex board to be displayed internally at their head office in Warrington.

The Background to the Campaign

Prinovis UK Ltd is a leading gravure print group with its head offices in Germany.

Studiowide was commissioned – alongside our motion graphics work which we also recently completed as part of the same project for Prinovis – to come up with an exhibition stand design concept for a 6 metre back wall area.

The back wall design, including podium, was for the Prinovis stand at the upcoming Retail Business Technology Trade show, where the company launched their new mobile couponing retail system.

The original brief requested for the 6 meter stand to be divided into 3 x 2 metre areas, with each section focussing on a particular market. From our evaluation of the original brief, and as a consequence of our feedback, the client re-evaluated their requirements to a more suitable design which maximised the stand in the best way possible.

The Challenge

Our task was to construct a visual piece that was intriguing to exhibitions goers. The challenge was to be informative to a point, whilst also not revealing too much information. By doing this we would take away any pre-conceived ideas regarding mobile phone marketing and encourage stand visitors to speak with the staff on the stand in order to find out more.

This project was to help launch the Prinovis UK Mobile Couponing scheme. The finished size of the design was 2 metres x 6 metres and the target audience were representatives from a wide variety of retail sectors.

A further challenge was to create a message that was not just directed at users of Smart phones, but those with older generation ‘dumb’ phones. As for phone diversity, we also needed to convey that the Mobile Couponing scheme would drive footfall and sales, and not to confuse the idea with that of a mobile phone advertisement.

Another important consideration was to ensure that the Exhibition stand design was consistent with the Prinovis corporate branding. In addition, the design had to share other style elements and vector illustrations used in our previous Prinovis motion graphics project.

Finally, our client wanted us to create an exhibition environment which stood out from other ‘similar’ product offers at the show. Above all, our exhibition stand design had to inspire people to approach the stand for further information.

The Solution

After much research and planning we came to the conclusion to use illustrated, silhouetted people, forming a queue to a generic cashier desk. The queue was to represent the demand of the couponing scheme.

Next to the queue of people we proposed to place two over exaggerated generic phones; a Smart phone and a ‘dumb’ phone. The background would also contain building outlines hinting of a city centre high street; this was to give a sense of environment to the design.

The people in the queue would also own, and have in their hand, either a Smart phone or a ‘dumb’ phone to represent the phone diversity of the queue.  The Prinovis colours, blue and turquoise were also used as a design tactic to differentiate users and phones.

The Results

The tagline ‘Increase Loyalty -Drive Footfall – Develop Your Customer Database’ was added to provide a clear message, directed at the retail store representatives, alerting them to the fact that Mobile couponing could increase the sales of their retail outlets.

In addition to the exhibition stand design, the Prinovis motion graphics video was also showcasing on a television screen and tablet. Although the design concept looks generally quite straight forward, the narrative is quite complex which gives a charming contrast to the overall project. Both projects were created within the same timescale.

Studiowide graphic design team and animation team collaborated in order to ensure these projects remained consistent. Working closely with the client via group meetings, phone calls and email, ensured the project was completed, printed and ready for the trade show on schedule. 
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We recently filmed, produced and edited a company promotional video for Knowsley based hydraulics engineering and supply company, Primary Fluid Power.

The aim of the video was to highlight the sheer scale and the vast array of services that Primary Fluid Power offer. Not only does the company supply hydraulic components to customers they also; design, engineer, produce, paint, build and repair complete hydraulic power units and systems.

We shot the video over a number of days in order to capture the array of products going through their production. Following initial storyboard layout and review meetings we then set about capturing all footage. On this shoot we used our Sony Z5 with steady cam and Canon 550D plus multiple lenses.    

Once we had all of the footage it was time to start the editing process. The running order of the video was planned to follow the production process and logical flow of products and services as they moved through the company. For example, demonstrating how a computer aided design drawing would end up being a fully completed, functional power unit, ready to be shipped and put into use.

To help emphasise the size and scale of Primary Fluid Power and their capabilities, we designed and produced some motion graphic title banners that would slide into each shot, whilst also describing the process being shown.

Overall, the company promotional video shows all of the different aspects and services that Primary Fluid Power offer. This provides the viewer with a good insight into the capabilities of the company and the process involved in hydraulic systems and components, from design to delivery.  

We delivered the video in 2 DVDs. One in HD MP4 and the other in DVD format which the client intends on using in their website and also in standalone DVD players.