Tag: graphic design belfast

Say it with Social Media!

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

We are living in the new, digital era. Social media is single handily the most powerful tool for business and it is important to capitalise on this.

From Instagram to Twitter, to TikTok and Facebook. Each platform has a different art and getting it right is key. Promote what you do to the endless stream of scrollers.

Failing to maintain a consistent presence on online may result in your organisation going unnoticed and your competitors stealing your target audience and potential customers.

Invest in the best social

Social media has become an incredible resource for staying updated on current events, connecting with friends or family, and engaging with businesses online.

For brands hoping to leverage the popularity of different online platforms and reach the ever-growing user database of those platforms, investment is key.

Developing a well-thought-out social media campaign can be an incredible investment, helping to build brand recognition and boost the success of your business.

Keep up with Competitors

Social media is a brilliant tool, allowing an open access platform to monitor the progress of competitors. Yet, it is crucial that organisations do not get sucked in and begin mirroring the behaviour of their competitors.

Innovative and original behaviour will breed success and ensuring your organisation maintains a competitive edge is key. A massive asset in this process is to hold a consistent presence online.

Communicate with your target audience

Social media is a great platform for organisations to maintain real time communication with customers, clients and target audiences. Hence, continuously updating your platform is key.

Whether you conduct online surveys via your Instagram stories, engage with your audience through question and answer sessions or operate an open direct message policy, all is beneficial.

Additionally, social media can be used to promote your company as a customer focused business and encourage engagement and feedback. Doing this will not only benefit customers, providing them with the best possible service but will also benefit your company, highlighting what your audience wants and incidentally generating ideas for future projects.

Get your timing right

Posting on social media requires considered, calculated planning. Many people still have suspicious holdups about online platforms and do not see the immense power that it holds.

When it comes to posting, timing is key. There are certain times of the day that is best for posting and capitalising on this is key. You could have a perfect social media campaign but the benefits are often disregarded if posted at an incorrect time.

#Hashtags #Are #Key

The power of the hashtag is not to be undermined. They are a valuable tool, used strategically across almost all social media platforms.

Using relatable, relevant and engaging hashtags are key, boosting your exposure and targeting your audience of choice. If correctly implemented, the use of hashtags holds the power to boost your campaign engagement, increase your audience, generate sales and enhance your organic social reach.

Furthermore, using hashtags allows your organisation to get involved in conversations and other important issues on social media. Hence, when running a campaign, it is worthwhile to research topics that are trending in relation to your focus and placing the campaign amongst that conversation through hashtags.

Track your social stats

Getting to know your audience has never been as simple as it is at the moment. Through tracking your audience’s activity, you can gain an accurate understanding into their social habits, with active time being one of them.

Posting content at optimal time, when most of your audience are active on social media is key. This will encourage their engagement and boost your exposure.

How Kaizen can help YOU with social

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we understand how to navigate platforms and how to perform well on each relevant site.

We understand how each site can be used to benefit your business differently. We use this knowledge to create a social media strategy so you can begin to master your own social media accounts.

For organisations seeking to leverage celebrated insights, social media campaigns can be very worthwhile, targeting the ever-growing users of online communities. Kaizen Brand Evolution differentiate between social platforms and categorise which platforms will work best for you. Incidentally, we can evolve your platform by creating stand-out designs that are sure to surge your insights.

Blog Writing: Tips & Tricks

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

In the modern era of online social sharing, writing a blog holds a massive opportunity for your company. The power of blogging will give your company a competitive edge, boosting your products and services into the online community in an enlightening and engaging way.

Blogging brings a massive boost to an organisations place in the market, increasing custom and growing sales through educating consumers about what you do.

Intriguing titles

When deciding on a blog topic, it is important to consider your audience and the impression this blog will make. Capture their attention instantly, making them want to click straight away!

We have seen it time and time again, where brilliant blogs go unnoticed due to a lazy, boring title. They say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but believe it or not, we all do it. Often, a title alone is enough to draw your attention in. Incidentally, the title of your blog has the power to make or break a readers decision to entertain your blog.

First impressions are key. We find ourselves gravitating towards reading material that hold exciting titles. On the other hand, we often find ourselves overlooking content that have poorly thought-out titles.

Understand your blog readers

In every aspect of business, it is crucial that you recognise, value and understand your audience. This is no different when it comes to writing a blog.

There is no better way to showcase all the brilliant things your organisation does than through blogging. A blog provides an unfiltered, unlimited and underrated platform to shout about what you do, sharing your achievements, your improvements and your advancements.

Blogging provides an opportunity to educate your audience on matters that are important for your business. Using your platform to blog about your products and services will ensure there is a more well-rounded understanding of your organisation. When readers have a clear vision of what your company has to offer, they are more likely to follow through and become a valued customer.

Featured images and social posts

We are now living in the digital era, where visuals are preferred to text. Unfortunately, this is not good news for blog writers but there are some loop holes that can lure people in and encourage them to take 5 minutes out of their day to read your blog.

Using your own images is even more valuable. Whether you offer products or services, you will find that first-hand images will resonate with readers and intrigue them.

Equally, creating consistent blog posts ensures you will always have content to share on social media. It is so important to share images when posting on social media.

Spending lengthy periods of time carefully creating blog content must be followed up by an impressive promotion plan in order to reach your target customers and potential new audience members. Remaining active on social media is paramount for organisations and ensuring content is continuously fresh and innovative will give you that competitive edge.

Let your blog tell a story

When writing a blog, it is important to consider a brand-new customer, one who has never heard of your products or services. Taking this approach will ensure your content tells a story about your brand, guaranteeing that readers will understand what you are aiming to achieve.

Blogs must be educational and informative in order to work. Although it is desired that customers recognise your brand identity, this is not always the case and you must be prepared for this eventuality.

The 5 W’s in your blog

Who, When, What, Where and Why?

When creating a blog based on your products or services, it is advisory to incorporate the trusty 5 W’s. Who are your target audience? When are your target audience going to realise what the blog is about? What is the product or service you are aiming to showcase and does the blog represent this? Where are your target audience going to avail of your product or service? Why have you chosen to write about this?

Recognise potential questions and answer them

A tip for blogging would be to integrate answers to possible questions into your content. We are all too familiar with google when it comes to questions; just ping in your query and you are likely to have the answer in seconds.

If your blog holds a solution to a query of a potential customer, it will likely appear on their search results and lead them directly to you. Providing engaging and informative blogs is imperative for your organisation as it will be a key deciding factor for potential customers.

Get in Touch

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we work internationally with brands large and small, delivering a suite of brand assets through which to promote their business.

Having one of the largest graphic design teams in the country, we are equipped to meet the demands of both large and small organisations. We work to the tightest of deadlines, while always retaining the highest level of design possible.

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Brand design to make you stand out

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

A brand design is the visual illustration that the public hold of your organisation. Your brand is the associative feeling that people get when considering your product or service. From first impressions, to long-lasting associations, it is important that your organisation holds an applicable brand design that will capture attention and boast positive reactions.

Branding is an innovative way to create your own narrative and educate your audience. From your service offerings to your company values, it is important that your branding relates to your identity and engages your audience.

Brand design is important for all businesses, whether you are a brand-new business, or an established, long-standing firm. The design that your organisation holds will promote your organisation as a whole, as well as the more complex details. These details include representing your brand strategy, vision, goals, personality and much more. 

Consistency is key

Running a brand requires detailed consideration across all areas, including brand representation. It is crucial to develop a recognisable brand in the early stages of establishment and maintain this over time.

Brand design is a massive asset in this process, helpful in establishing a familiar identity and building trust within your industry. Unfortunately, society has become unsettled and gaining trust is not an easy task due to technical scams. Hence, the importance of an established and consistent brand identity is second to none.  

Like everything, consistency is key. Whether it is online; through websites, social media, or advertisements or physically; in events, posters, billboards or retail, it is paramount to maintain a consistent design. Consistency will create a sense of unity in your brand and promote a recognisable and dependable identity.

Involve the experts in your brand design

One of the most valuable understandings a brand can hold is the benefits of involving the experts in your brand design. Investing in your design is crucial. Availing of top-quality service will stand the test of time for your company, particularly when it comes to design.

Brand design holds an equal power status to that of your products, services and indeed your workforce. Consumers will resonate with a design that is captivating and this will in turn boost your reputation and establishment.

Gaining and maintaining this established identity is massively beneficial for your organisation, especially in the early stages. Nonetheless, it is also beneficial for long-established organisations to conduct a brand redesign, in order to boost existing opinions and better position your brand for future consideration.

Brand Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have a team of experienced graphic designers. We have worked alongside organisations across the UK, Ireland and beyond, creating premium, consistent and recognisable brand designs.

Our branding team have created bespoke brands for some of the most widely known businesses organisations across the country. Some of our branding clients include: Fusion Antibodies, Slims Healthy Kitchen, Down Royal Racecourse, Punchestown Racecourse, McQuillan Companies and United Wines.

Our established experience positions us as industry experts. With widespread knowledge in delivering successful brand design packages for all types of organisations, including B2B, B2C and third sector, we have a vast experience in creating brands that engage your audiences.

Whether you are starting out and need a new innovative design for your business or you are an established organisation who requires a revamp, we can boost your brand massively. Through creating brand designs that can add significant value to your products or services, Kaizen create meaningful change and evolve every brand through innovative design.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we strive to create successful and commercially driven brand designs. Each brand design that we conduct is unique and bespoke to your business, promoting the key areas of performance and ensuring a stand-out reputation.

Brand Designs that deliver

We understand and value the importance of individuality when it comes to brand identity. Incidentally, we approach every task with a clean slate and open mind. Through detailed research and collaboration with the team behind your organisation, we will create an exciting, innovative brand design that will showcase the drive and ambition that lives in your brand identity.

Start a project with us

Our team are enthusiastic to create an innovative, recognisable and premium brand design for your organisation. We also understand that the process can be daunting and unknown to your team. Therefore, we promise to provide a detailed introduction to the service and walk you through every stage. We aspire to showcase the endless opportunities that brand design can provide for your organisation.

Brand Name: Get it right first time

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Deciding on a name for your brand can initially seem like an easy task. In some situations, this can be the case. Some organisations may have been decided on their name for a long time, which is great. Yet, in some cases organisations jump at the first name they can think of, failing to take into consideration the countless name opportunities out there.

Your brand name plays a massive role in your identity. It is often the most recognisable associative term used by the general public. Hence, it is crucial that it makes sense and represents your most important goals, aims and offerings.

Make sure your name is a memorable one

Make them remember your brand name. From Google, to Nike to Starbucks, there is no doubt that absolutely everyone that you ask would be familiar with these, and many other brands. Hence, picking something unique, relevant and understandable is key. The importance of a brand name is endless. Be it in-store, online or through word-of-mouth, it is the one term that will be constantly used to discuss to your business.

In todays environment, there are organisations galore in every industry. Brand names are becoming more difficult to think of due to the sheer lack of original names left. Hence, brand owners have to put their thinking caps on to ensure their company stands out from the crowd. The importance of an individual, identifiable and recognisable brand name has never been more imperative.

Credibility

With a charming brand name, you will increase credibility and achieve a memorable, positive association with customers, clients and competitors. This is key in the modern consumer market as credibility is very hard to come by. Holding an established association with consumers is massively beneficial. The goal is to be the first brand that people think of when they are discussing your industry. For example; when you think fast-food; McDonalds is bound to be up there in your thinking! This is a common occurrence, with company names holding industry related connotations.

How many times have you heard someone talking about ‘hoovering their house’? Did you know ‘Hoover’ is actually a brand name and the correct term is vacuum cleaner? This is a primarily British association that came from a brilliant advertising campaign and brand dominance in the industry. So, even if the consumer doesn’t own a ‘Hoover’ branded vacuum cleaner, they are more than likely going to call it that, from habit! Imagine that! Hoover are the certainly the kings of brand naming.

Will your brand name suit for social?

When making any decision for your business, you must be aware of how that impacts your online presence. Unfortunately, it can be an area that is overlooked until it is too late when it comes to choosing a company name.

Your name will be the point of contact for absolutely everything online. This includes website name, social media handles, advertisements and hashtags. If your name is unique to your business, there should be no issues in getting the best possible domain names and social handles, which will raise the position of your organisation online. However, if the chosen business name is a common expression, word or phrase, you may face numerous issues, resulting in a less identifiable online presence.

Create your Brand Name with Kaizen

Kaizen Brand Evolution have widespread first-hand experience in developing brands for organisations just like yours. Whether it is creating a brands identity from scratch, rebranding an out-of-date company or creating a revolutionary brand name, we have you covered.

Kaizen recognise the importance of your company name in the process of developing your brand. Whether your naming journey is established or unidentifiable, Kaizen have an incredible team of creative experts that can discover unique insights into your organisation to create an incredible name.

In order to creative an authentic and convincing brand name, Kaizen conducts intense research into your organisation, involving their experienced team as well as conducting an intense client consultation. Doing this enables an in-depth understanding of the organisation which will incidentally produce a limitless quantity of ideas.

To make the process of choosing your brand name an enjoyable experience, the Design Director at Kaizen will collaborate all developed ideas into justified and appropriate list of concepts. This process enables you to creative informative and measured decisions on your brand name.

Get in Touch with Kaizen to create your Brand Name

At Kaizen, we pride our creativity and attention to detail. If you are considering a brand name and would like to involve an experienced brand studio, get in touch today.

Brand Implementation: Keeping Up

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Brand Implementation is a massively important component of brand development that ensures continued success and interest. Developing a new brand is a massive achievement and getting that far is a huge success in itself.

 Yet, a common misconception suggests that once established, the hard work is done. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as that. The next steps are just as crucial to ensure your branding is presented in the highest value possible, through brand implementation.

A fresh brand is an exciting, motivating experience for your business. Yet, if it is not continuously showcased correctly, it can develop a motionless status and fall behind the competition.

Organise your brand implementation

Whether you have started a business from scratch or directed a much-needed brand refresh, the same applies. It is crucial that you conduct a robust promotion campaign and showcase your innovative brand to consumers in your industry.

The methods of promotion are endless and dipping into all areas is recommended. From digital promotion to traditional marketing and word-of-mouth communication, all can make powerful noise about your brand and generate the desired, deserving attention.  

One way to implement your brand would be through producing printable goods, e.g. posters, business cards and flyers. On the other hand, digital brand implementation is an extremely widespread area of opportunity. This is how your organisation appears online, including your website, making sure it is purposeful, engaging and designed well.

Get ahead of your competition

We are now living in a saturated environment, where each industry has a massive portfolio of options. Hence, the importance to stand out from the crowd and remain relevant with a unique selling point has never been more important.

Whether you are the new kid on the block or an OG, it is crucial that you showcase to your audience that you are an innovative brand that is committed to consistent evolution, development and growth. People want the best of the best and if it is evident that they are not going to receive this, they will very quickly move on.

Promoting your business through brand implementation is just as important, if not more important than creating it.

Successfully communicate the story behind your brand

We all love a story. Whether it is one we relate to, one that inspires us or one that makes us feel happy inside. Most businesses have an inspiring story behind them and it is important to share this and build a valued rapport with your audience.

Organisations should share their story through their branding. For a brand to be successful, people must be able to see it, hear about it and hold an engaging connection with it.

Consistency is key with brand implementation

In the initial stages of brand development, business owners are motivated and keen to promote their product or service to the world. It is not unusual for this motivation to begin to dwindle once establishment is complete.

Organisations will gladly invest large sums of money into the creation of a robust and engaging brand identity. From research to design to campaign consideration, businesses will often invest as much as it takes to position their company in the best light possible. Yet, when it comes to showcasing all of this to the world, this can often fall short.

Failure to maintain a consistent momentum in brand implementation can be detrimental to success. It is important for businesses to realise that brand implementation is a continuous task and must be always applied.

Incidentally, brand implementation is a constant part of the branding, marketing and advertising progression for any business. For an organisation to achieve and maintain recognition, brand implementation must remain steady via all communication and publication channels.

Kaizen Brand Evolution can help YOU

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we specialise in evolving brands, as well as creating and maintaining modern identities that you will love.

We recognise how important continuous brand implementation is. With widespread branding experience, we have worked across a vast industry base, including hospitality, finance, IT, print and science, effectively sharing company messages, communicating their stories, striving for evolution and delivering success.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, the customer is at the heart of everything we do. We will work directly with you to showcase your company to the highest of standards.

Get in touch with Kaizen today.

Better your Brand with Brochure Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

In the modern, digital world, we often fail to consider the continuous benefits of traditional marketing concepts, for example brochure design.

It is undeniable that the benefits of digital platforms in some situations, massively outweigh the perks of traditional platforms. Yet, this is not the case in all situations.

When we think traditional marketing, we think newspapers, posters, brochures, and flyers. It would be unreasonable to suggested their popularity remains the same. Yet, if implemented correctly, their power remains prevalent in the modern day.

Brochure Design

In a digital world, we often overlook some of the most tried and tested traditional opportunities to engage our customers. Brochure and booklet design is still one of the most effective opportunities for your business to develop sales and marketing opportunities, and it is therefore imperative that your brochure design is delivered to the highest of standards.

Printed Brochures

The printed brochure is the concept we are all most familiar with. From annual reports, to sales brochures and seasonal product catalogues. They are often placed in our company through many methods of communication, including postal marketing, public hand-outs, and workplace distribution.

The perks of a printed brochure are second to none. The longevity of their value remains prevalent for days as the brochure will be available to read at all times. Additionally, a brochure can boast a wonderful design that will boost brand identity and reputation.

Digital Brochures

Like all innovative organisations, Kaizen Brand Evolution take pride in evolving with the times and adapting to change. This applies more than ever in the marketing industry comes to marketing techniques.

In addition to creating eye-catching print brochures, we ensure that our designs can be adapted to function in a modern environment. Incorporating innovative ideas, they can be evolved into a contemporary and digital tool.

Understanding that digital delivery is often paramount to a project’s success we output your brochure in any number of required digital formats.

Within interactive, digital brochure designs, we can add advanced functionality such as hyperlinks, UTM tracking codes and animations intended to engage and fascinate your target audiences.

Do your Bit for the Environment

We are now living in a world where it is more important than ever before to look out for the environment in everything we do. Many organisations are taking a stand against waste and as a result are reducing their paper usage.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we felt it important to provide clients the choice of digital design as opposed to print, reducing unnecessary distribution. This option is massively beneficial for both the environment and for organisations in promoting your efforts to protect the environment through corporate social responsibility.

Types of Brochure Designs Available

The variety of brochure designs to choose from are endless. The team at Kaizen Brand Evolution have widespread experience across the range and are happy to consider your suggestions throughout the process.

Our most common brochure design projects include:

  • Annual Report
  • Booklet
  • Company Brochure
  • Bulletin
  • Catalogue
  • Directory
  • Guide
  • Handbook
  • Magazine
  • Manual
  • Newsletter
  • Programme
  • Prospectus

Brochure Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we design brochures for numerous industries across the UK and Ireland. From annual reports to training manuals, sales brochures, and gallery collections, we have experience in designing 1000s of brochure designs for all types of businesses.

Here at Kaizen, we are extremely lucky to have an esteemed partner in print; Kaizen Print. Hence, we have the unrivalled knowledge of understanding what is needed to create a premium, eye-catching brochure design that will be sure to stand ahead of the competition.

Get in touch with our team to discuss a brochure design project. Upon interest, we will explain the professional process in which we undertake to create your product. Once we have agreed on this, we will request content, imagery, and assets that we need to create the design.

Once we have quoted the project and received approval from the client, we will begin the exciting brochure design process. We involve our clients in every step of the process, requesting sign off at every stage. Doing this ensures that we deliver the best possible results, staying on brand and meeting the commercial needs of the project.

When the final product is approved, we will output this promptly and professionally in the agreed formats for print or digital use.

To start a brochure design project with Kaizen Brand Evolution, please get in touch with our team via the contact form or call us on 028 9507 2007.

Perk up your Packaging Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

When it comes to packaging design, consideration of the printed output and knowledge on how to achieve this is critical to the project success. Carefully considered packaging will ensure your brand is developed at every touch point of the purchase process.

Creating a relatable and attractive packaging design is very important for businesses, big and small. The packaging design for a product is often a primary element of association for consumers, particularly in a physical setting, such as in retail stores.

For example; when we enter a grocery store and see a can with chromatic red and black packaging design, we instantly associate it with Coca-Cola. This is the overall goal for organisations, to be instantly recognised by their brand identity. Packaging can play an influential role in this process.

Don’t Leave Packaging Design Behind

Unfortunately, packaging design can get the back seat when it comes to product design. As the last step in the product process, it can be forgotten about and as a result of this, rushed in the last minute.

It is important to carefully consider this stage. Yes, it is essentially the final step but is a massively important asset to your brand identity.

Packaging design can be used across many platforms, not just in a retail setting. Other uses of packaging design include online product promotion, delivery services and many more.

Stand out from the Crowd

The massive variety across all markets has resulted in a difficulty to stand out in the crowd. Appearing pride of place in a retail setting is the overall goal. Hence to achieve this you must carefully consider your design, remain consistent and boost your brand identity.

We have all done it, bought a product based on their packaging design alone. A beautifully designed packaging concept has enough power to draw attention to a product and encourage purchasing. Yet it is important to realise that the design of your packaging has the power to make or break a customer’s purchasing decision.

Premium Packaging is Key

Packaging is in essence the most important step of the product creation, as it is essentially what makes people purchase your brand. Often though, this is overlooked and the packaging can become an afterthought.

Yet, organisations who involve professional graphic designers in this process have no need to worry about this. Graphic designers recognise and highlight the importance of every step in the product creation process. From the product itself, right through to the packaging, each stage is equally important.

Poorly designed packaging can be detrimental to the success of your product. Consumers will recognise this immediately and incidentally ‘judge a book by its cover’ and avoid purchasing the product.

Packaging Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are experienced in the design and development of packaging design for numerous industries. We can produce packaging design for an extensive variety of products. These include food packaging sleeves, gift bags, gift boxes, labelling and many other types of outer packaging.

With great experience in B2C moment of choice decision influencing, our creatives will ensure your brand has the best opportunity for purchase and engagement.

We have an excellent team of dedicated and world class designers, who have helped many organisations evolve their packaging, ensuring that their products are the best looking on the shelves.

Drinks Industry Labels & Packaging

We work with independent and multinational drinks brands to develop their brand strategy, brand activation and their range of packaging including labels and gift boxes.

Kaizen design with overall consideration for your brand strategy, but with a direct commercial focus that ensures our designs can be output in a cost-effective manner. Some of our drinks industry clients include: Bushmills Whiskey, Kraken Rum, Glencree Whiskey, Thompsons Rum and Shortcross Gin.

Start a Packaging Design Project with Kaizen

To begin your project, please get in touch with our client services team 02895 072007.

We will explain the steps, find out about your project and send a quote to bring the project to life.

The Power is in the Poster

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Posters, a powerful marketing tool that has been utilised for centuries across the world. Securely positioned at the forefront of promotion since its inception, poster design remains a powerful and influential tool for businesses universally.

The Perks of a Poster

A huge perk of using posters as a method of promotion for your brand would be the exposure they gain. In order to achieve the highest exposure possible, it is important that your organisation considers poster location. Choosing a position that will reach high volumes of footfall is key, catching the attention of as many people as possible.

Additionally, posters hold the power of flexibility. They can be placed on a wall, on a table, handed out to commuters. The possibilities are endless.

Involve the Experts

Poster design remains a powerful tool in promotion, hence the importance it holds is second to none. Yet, a common error of judgement by organisations is to conduct a DIY design job.

Often, DIY design jobs can fail to showcase the business in all its glory. Although this is not always the case, with several DIY designers being able to come up with impressive concepts through platforms such as Photoshop and Canva.

Although this is a cost-effective solution, if implemented poorly, it can be spotted a mile away and affect your brand reputation. It is important to always showcase your company as a premium, reputable business and a poorly designed poster can lead to a dip in this opinion.

A valuable realisation for any business when carrying out a marketing and advertising campaign is investment is vital. When creating a promotional tool, particularly a poster, you know it is going to hold a long-term position in society. Availing of top-quality service will stand the test of time for your company. This will lead to impressive results and the deserved recognition.

A business should always aim to hold a recognisable brand identity. To ensure this, organisations must implement consistent designs to create and maintain a familiar company recollection with customers, clients and competitors.

Remaining consistent in design is key and without professional training, it can be difficult to maintain this. Graphic designers are familiar with remaining consistent through brand guidelines, sticking to agreed fonts, design, colour palette and measurements. Doing this will ensure a distinct brand, constantly boosting brand identity and remaining competitive in your industry.

The Technical Bit

Posters are a unique promotional tool, that target audiences from all different demographics, 24/7. It is crucially important to recognise the different audiences that your promotion will be reaching and ensure that it is understandable for all.

People that are looking at these posters every day, need to be able to read them. They need to be able to understand what exactly is going on and act upon your sales message.

Designing a poster requires detailed creative consideration. From the location, to the distance from which it will be viewed and the level of content that is added.

Poster Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Lucky for you, here at Kaizen Brand Evolution we know what it takes to design a brilliant poster. Stand out from the crowd while using our tried and tested design techniques.

We have a knowledgeable and enthusiastic team of graphic designers, who have proudly helped many local, national, and international companies get their print marketing campaign right first time. We design with purpose and through a considered discussion with your marketing and sales functions, we will understand and design your poster accordingly.

Whether you need an A3 short run digital poster or an A0 nightclub poster, we have created thousands of poster designs for organisations like yours. With vast experience in poster design of all sizes and for almost every conceivable use, our graphic designers will create the perfect poster design to meet your project goals.

Perfect Poster Design for Every Industry

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have the unique benefit of being part of the Belfast’s’ leading poster printing companies; Kaizen Print. With this said we have designed thousands of posters for organisations across the country.

To discuss a creative project, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Logo Design: Stand the Test of Time

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Logo design is extremely important to any brand or organisation. A logo is the primary identifier for your brand that will immediately engage with the public. Acting as a symbol to represent the brand, your logo plays a key role in boosting brand identity and recognition.

Commonly customers and clients will associate your logo with their experience with your business. Hence, logo design is a key element in the buying process, encouraging customers to invest in your company.

Consider your all-time favourite brand… was the first thing you pictured their logo? It is common that consumers are often able to picture the logo design instantly when they think of a brand, more so than the typeface or name.

Creating a Logo Design for your brand

Logo design is often the first step in any brand development and should be considered at the earliest stages of business planning. As the first step in brand development, there should be a detailed and considerable amount of time spent on logo design. This will ensure that the design begins to take shape how you would like it to, from the outset and throughout the branding stages.

When beginning the logo design process, it is crucial that organisations conduct a thorough mind mapping exercise, to be sure all elements of your brand are considered in the logo development. A brilliant logo design will clearly represent your brand, its goals, and its purpose.

It is equally important that in everything you do, you consider your audience. At the end of the day, your clients, potential customers, and target audience are your most important critics.

In order to target your audience successfully, you must hold a clear understanding of who they are and what they are looking for. By conducting this thorough research, you will be on track to creating a logo that clearly resonates with your audience. This will prove advantageous to your reputation, positioning your organisation as a customer focused brand.

Keep up with your Competitors

We are now living in a world that is constantly changing. Organisations are quickly evolving, shifting and altering their service offerings. In order to keep up with other organisations in your industry and curb the competition, it is important to remain attentive to the altering trends in logo design.

If your organisation has evolved in service offerings, it is important to showcase this through an update to your brand assets. This includes logo design, an extremely important tool for representing your identity. It is crucial that your logos align with company values to permit a stand-out position in the market, remaining competitive and evolutionary.

A logo is the visual representation for your business, hence the importance it resounds with the audience. From the font, to the symbol, it is vital to choose wisely, representing your business in the finest manner.

Involve the Experts in your Logo Design

One of the most valuable understandings a brand can hold is the benefits of involving the experts in your brand design. Investing in your design is crucial. Availing of top-quality service will stand the test of time for your company, particularly when it comes to design.

A logo design holds an equal power status to that of your products, services and indeed your workforce. Consumers will resonate with a logo design that is captivating and this will in turn boost your reputation and establishment.

How Kaizen can help YOU

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have designed hundreds of logos for businesses nationwide, as well as on a universal scale. We have one of the largest design studio teams in Belfast and Dublin and our focus is always on developing the best logo to suit your business needs.

Our industry experience and understanding of many market sectors and the ability to draw on our skill, ensures we are experts in logo creation. With one of the largest design studio teams, our focus is always on creating a stand-out logo to represent your business to the highest standard possible.

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Get ahead of the game: Festive Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Yes, it is approaching that time of year again. No, we can’t believe it either! Some are excited and others filled with that all too familiar seasonal dread. If the latter is you, don’t panic! Kaizen Brand Evolution are here to help you combat those stressful hospitality design preparations and get you on track for the most wonderful time of the year.

Menu Design

Let’s face it, when we think Christmas, we think food. The festive period is a time to indulge, eat out and celebrate with delicious seasonal dishes. Aside from the festive food, your restaurant menu is your most important component.

Many hospitality businesses will introduce a festive menu, offering an altered choice of dishes, especially chosen for the Christmas period. Capture attention with a beautifully designed festive menu that will impress customers, before they have even got their food. The quality of the menu itself leaves a lasting impression with your customers. 

Brochure Design

A method of traditional promotion that remains popular to this day is brochure design. Printed or digital brochures? We say both, be sure to target all arenas. Brochures provide opportunities for your business to achieve sales in both a digital and physical setting.

Many organisations have lots of seasonal products and services to promote in the lead up to Christmas. Why not avail of our incredible design service, and go above and beyond customer expectations.  

Christmas Cards

Personalised Christmas Card design is the perfect opportunity to keep in meaningful contact with friends, colleagues or customers this festive season. We provide a variety of choice with pre-designed options or you can design your own with our graphic design team.

Whether it is an employee, a stakeholder or a customer, this personal approach will be effective in showing your sincere appreciation. We recommend that you make a list of recipients that have supported your business during 2022 and use a personalised Christmas card to thank them and wish them an enjoyable break. Make it memorable and you are guaranteed a happy new year with repeated business and a happy workforce.

Gift Vouchers

People love receiving gift vouchers for their favourite local businesses, particularly at Christmas time. Promoting gift vouchers for your business is a genius gateway to target new audiences and boost revenue. The success of gift vouchers stretches far beyond the Christmas period with new customers entering your doors for months to spend their valued revenue.

Invitations and Tickets

They don’t call it sparkle season for nothing! Christmas is the only time of year where it is socially acceptable to go to events every night!

Are you throwing the ultimate Christmas party? Start the event off right with some custom designed invites. Your guests will love them and it provides an opportunity to send all the event details in one fell swoop.

Christmas design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are experts in designing hospitality stationary for both printed output and digital delivery.

Our design studio have created thousands of festive designs for businesses, charities and other organisations spanning every conceivable market sector.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have the unique benefit of being part of the Belfasts’ leading printing companies. With this said we have designed thousands of graphics for organisations all across the country steeped in print design. Our designs can be seen proudly placed in the following hospitality sectors: Retail Stores, Fast Foods, Nightclubs, Bars, Restaurants and Hotels.

Our experience and knowledge of type, layout and photography ensures we position your brand perfectly, while providing opportunity to meet the strategic goals of the project, whatever they may be. We understand that the delivery of your stationary may take many forms and so our team of graphic designers can expertly output your design for both print and digital delivery.

If you want to explore a design project further, please get in touch with our client service team via the contact form or by calling us on 028 9507 2007.

Wow this Winter with your Event Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

We know, we know! Summer has just begun, but winter is coming… faster than you think. Although winter is an unfavourable season for many reasons; the cold, the dark and the dreary, it does have its exceptions. Winter is the ultimate event season, boasting Halloween, Christmas and New Year parties, to name just a few! Whether you are hosting an event or attending a trade show, it is important to make a memorable impression on your audience with event design.

Event branding offers companies, organisations and collectives a chance to massively amplify awareness, using experiential design best practices to offer an impactful and unforgettable experience. Through the power of distinctive, dynamic design, businesses can harness the immense potential of event branding – but it’s only through an intelligent and cohesive approach that you’ll experience the full effect.

Let the experts deliver memorable results

Event planning can be extremely stressful, particularly around the festive season. Why not take the pressure off and involve a professional graphic design team in your planning and implementation? Not only will this take a huge chunk off your workload, it will also ensure the highest quality content is produced and promoted.

There are many complex layers to the task of event design. Many of which go unrecognised until the late stages in planning and preparation. Elements include website design and monitoring, campaign design, branding and promotion, to name a few!

Involving a professional design team in this process offers the prospect of massively amplifying brand awareness for your organisation, using experiential design best practices to produce an attractive and unforgettable experience.

Consistency is key with event design

When hosting an event, the overall goal is to impress your audience and ensure they have a wonderful time. Equally, you hope to receive the deserved recognition and reputation boost.

To achieve the optimum brand recognition and create a memorable impression with attendees, it is crucial that your event design is consistent. Whether your event is a one-off occurrence or a frequent experience, holding consistent design is advisable to ensure both a high standard of delivery and a familiar brand identity.

Maintaining this consistency can be difficult without the involvement of a professional in event design. Graphic designers are experienced in developing projects that hold a unform template through meeting careful considered brand guidelines; using brand fonts, design, imagery and colours. Without the correct software or design knowledge, implementing event design in-house can be both time consuming and unobtainable for your business.

Consider your attendee

Creating a sense of togetherness throughout your event branding is especially important where the attendee journey is concerned. The journey an attendee takes from entrance to exit needs to be subtly and strategically designed.

With all elements of the event working together, the journey from A to B should be seamless, that way, your audience will have the most immersive and engaging experience possible. Maintaining a sense of perspective throughout the event branding process guarantees results.

It’s by keeping one eye on the big picture, exploring how different elements interact and how they work to communicate your core message, that you’ll deliver a meaningful and memorable event.

The benefits of event design

Event design is a massively beneficial tool, promoting a top-class reputation and providing an inclusive feel for attendees. Whatever the definitive aim of your event is, whether it’s to boost brand exposure, advance awareness on a topic or promote sales and subscriptions, the journey an attendee takes from start to finish needs to be subtly and strategically designed.

Within Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have worked with a number of different businesses, right across Belfast and Northern Ireland, as well as event organisers themselves, to provide them with the right display products and design for their events.

Our designers will make sure that the design used for your event material are the best you can get, being both eye catching as well as durable, so that no matter where you are, potential customers and clients will notice you and want to come and talk to you.

To discuss a creative project, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

The Wonder of Wayfinding Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Wayfinding design is an enlightening experience, guiding and steering people through their surroundings. From arrow markers to directional stickers, the opportunities are endless to deliver a simply understood wayfinding design.

Whether you own a small warehouse or a skyscraper block of office space, wayfinding is a must. Everyone who visits your organisation, be it staff or visitors should be able to freely navigate their surroundings in a straightforward manner. The goal of wayfinding is to direct people through unfamiliar settings. To achieve this, a thorough planning and implementation is required, using the correct language, typography, colour palette, all of which maintain and boost your brand identity.

Create a positive atmosphere from the get go with wayfinding design!

We have all been there. Getting lost in a new environment is never fun and often leaves a feeling of embarrassment. This is not the desired association that brands want visitors to create when visiting their organisation. Hence, the importance of wayfinding design.

To combat any confusion from the get go, wayfinding navigation can be extremely useful. When providing navigation, it is crucial to deliver this in an easily interpreted manner, this will not only benefit attendees, it will also assist your staff members by reducing direction enquiries. Additionally, using a unique wayfinding design will help you to promote your brand throughout the location. 

The skill in designing wayfinding is understanding the visual and physical clues that help pull people through a space without the need for intensive signage. In doing so, the interpretive journey is much less stressful and therefore, much more enjoyable.

Seize the opportunity for some shameless self-promo

Designing your wayfinding design from scratch can provide many opportunities to boost brand recognition.  Yes, purchasing typical, generic signage will save your brand time and money but in the long run, it can depreciate your organisations reputation and brand identity.

In order to boost your brand identity at all times, it is important to seize every opportunity that comes your way. Incorporating your brand guidelines into all elements of your business is key, including that of wayfinding design. To promote and represent your brand highly, it is important to remain consistent in your design.

It is often the case where organisations invest highly in large-scale branding, leaving very little budget for smaller scale elements. Wayfinding design presents a unique opportunity, it is designed to be looked for. This alone should encourage organisations to avail of branded wayfinding, guaranteeing a boost in brand representation and incidentally, recognition.

What wayfinding design works for you?

Identification

Identification wayfinding design offers an informative clarification to visitors, outlining where they are presently located. This wayfinding signage is frequently used in offices, outlining rooms such as the ‘Meeting Room’.

Regulatory

Regulatory wayfinding is an extremely vital design, alerting individuals of regulations, rules and laws. These signs are essential when it comes to ensuring safety and compliance. Common regulatory wayfinding can be seen in ‘No Parking’, ‘No Smoking’ and ‘Wear a Mask’ signs.

Directional 

The most popular form of wayfinding is directional design. Directional wayfinding supports individuals in their journey around a specific location. Common directional signs point out entrances and exits.

Informational

The final category of wayfinding is informational design. Providing valuable information to individuals, informational wayfinding is commonly used to deliver answers to frequently asked questions, including ‘WIFI Available’ and ‘Free Parking’.

Wayfinding Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have widespread and detailed experience in designing wayfinding. Through working with numerous businesses across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, we have developed an esteemed portfolio in wayfinding.

We can help you progress your brand identity through wayfinding design. We can help you with the planning, design and implementation, ensuring this is executed appropriately and successfully.

Wayfinding can be unclear if designed unprofessionally. Our graphic designers are experienced in creating clear, attractive wayfinding designs. This ensures visitors experience a smooth and enjoyable journey.

We aspire to create wayfinding designs that make visitors almost spend as much time looking at it as they do with whatever they are on-site to see. To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our esteemed team of graphic designers via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Blog for your Business: Top Tips & Tricks

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Blogging for your business is an extremely advantageous opportunity. Say how you feel, deliver information in an unfiltered way and educate your audience, all through your own blog.

The mass uptake in online communication in recent years has been immensely overwhelming. It is indisputably problematic to gain exposure and become a familiar and established name. Incidentally, the authority of blogging will provide your company with an opportunity to communicate in an engaging way.

Blogging for business is a great way to reach your target audience. Know your readers. Informative blogs offer valuable and unique content in a memorable voice. A catchy title can make your blog go viral.

Blog Consistency is Key

Consistency is key when it comes to online content for your company. Sharing blog posts on a regular basis will increase your website traffic, driving more online users to visit your website and increasing your position in the online rankings.

Ensure your blog serves a purpose and not only benefits your company. Good content will promote engagement. Find creative ways to keep your audience engaged and once you have established the areas of interest, centre your content around this and avail of the attention available.

Know your Audience

To achieve audience interest, it is recommended that you research the data of your target market and current customers. Doing this will outline a pattern, showcasing the age, location and areas of interest of your site visitors. Once this information is attained, you have the power to engage with your audience in a way that meets their interests and blogging is the perfect way to start.

Keyword research will help you outline the topics that are relevant to your target audience, the questions they are searching for online and the topics your competitors are blogging about. On the other hand, researching key words provides you with an insight into the topics that are not being blogged about. These are gaps in the market and hence are opportunities to provide pioneering content to readers.

Add Personality to your Brand through your Blog

Blogging for your business provides endless opportunities, including adding a personality to your brand identity. Often, organisations are considered to be simply a business that offers a product or service.

The personality of your brand is really important. It is what makes you different from your competitors. Having a brand personality that matches your vision will make sure that you attract your ideal customers. Want to promote this identity? A blog is the perfect way to do this         ! It allows you to talk freely about topics important to your business in a way that your customers will understand.

Answer Frequently Asked Questions

Every business has them. Questions that come up time and time again. Blogging provides the perfect opportunity to put some of these constant queries to bed. Even better, catch the customer with the answer before they ask the question. When writing a blog about a particular product or service, it is recommended that you incorporate all relevant information.

Informative blog posts also pose the opportunity to achieve new leads. If your blog holds a solution to a query of a potential customer, it will likely appear on their search results and lead them directly to you. Delivering informative blogs is important for your organisation as it will be a key deciding factor for potential customers.

Additionally, blogging provides the platform for organisations to share important information with your audience. From sustainability, health and wellbeing to human rights, blogging allows you to share the values of your business freely, boosting corporate social responsibility and engaging with readers.

Be Your Own Biggest Fan

There is no better way to showcase all of the brilliant things your organisation does than through blogging. A blog provides an unfiltered platform to shout about what you do, sharing your achievements, your improvements and your advancements. If your organisation has gone that extra mile on a project, why not write a detailed piece to share this with the world?

Kaizen Brand Evolution are proud of what we do. We enjoy sharing a detailed analysis about our services through our blog platform. Inviting readers, clients and potential customers to experience an insight into the ideas and functioning of our brand.

Like what you see? Great! Stay tuned for more behind the scenes insight.

Get in Touch

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we work internationally with brands large and small, delivering a suite of brand assets through which to promote their business. From seasonal campaigns to reactionary creative concepts, we are always on hand to understand the creative brief and output the highest quality designs.

Having one of the largest graphic design teams in the country, we are equipped to meet the demands of both large and small organisations. We work to the tightest of deadlines, while always retaining the highest level of design possible.

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Graphic Designer: Involve the Experts, Reap the Rewards

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Graphic designers are creative experts who produce visual concepts both digitally and traditionally. Creating complex and innovative designs, a graphic designer aspires to inform and inspire audiences. From website design, brochures, posters and social media graphics, graphic designers hold widespread experience across numerous industries.

In the modern day, many professionals would consider themselves to be a jack of all trades (yet a master at none). In many instances, organisations fail to see the benefit of involving a professional graphic design team in their plans. Many view graphic design as a DIY opportunity. This perception can unfortunately lead to poor results and a drop in reputation. The notorious excuse for this often links to financial savings. Yet, the question to ask yourself is, “yes, you are saving money, but are you wasting time and affecting your reputation?”

Of course, the service will cost you money but involving a graphic design expert in your campaign planning and implementation will be a massive asset to your success. The return on investment is guaranteed and what you pay out in money, you will regain in reputation. This collaboration will offer your business expert design insight, creating a recognisable, innovative design that will boost both brand recognition and identity.

DIY Graphic Designer Fails

DIY graphic designers can often be spotted a mile away. A logo created on Word; a poster designed on Photoshop… hey, congrats on the resourceful creativity, it works for some but unfortunately, the majority of times it does not. Incidentally, the lack of creative expertise could cost your company credibility.

Don’t get us wrong… if done correctly, DIY graphic design can be a functional and accessible tool for organisations. Yet, it is still advised that a graphic designer is involved to implement the technical design for your business.

Ask the Expert: Gain the Insight

As well as designing all of your content, a graphic designer can provide revolutionary insight into the industry. Graphic designers are connoisseurs in their field, with an imaginative flair like no other. They hold direct insight into the dos and don’ts of the design industry and this awareness can be crucial to your success.

Stick to the Status Quo

Although investing in a graphic designer is more expensive than a do-it-yourself job, it saves immense amounts of time for your organisation. This time can then be invested into your original area of expertise.  Win-Win really!

Instead of wasting countless hours trying to implement a technical graphic design campaign in-house, it is advised that you invest your money in a professional graphic designer, who can create first-class designs, in a fraction of the time.

Create a Lasting Impression with a Graphic Designer

You have heard it a million times before, first impressions are so important. In general, people take in graphics quicker than text. We are more likely to catch attention with an exciting graphic than with an engaging paragraph.

With this in mind, the involvement of a professional graphic designer is paramount, ensuring the visual design is excellent, achieving the desired first impression.

Trustworthy Design is Key

In the modern day especially, we are becoming less trusting. Due to the rise in scams and fake news, we have become more reserved when it comes to our consumer habits. When buying a product or service, consumers seek out reliable, identifiable brands to trust and purchase from.

A business should always aim to hold a recognisable brand identity. To ensure this, organisations must implement consistent designs to create and maintain a familiar company recollection with customers, clients and competitors.

Remaining consistent in design is key and without professional training, it can be difficult to maintain this. Graphic designers are familiar with remaining consistent through brand guidelines, sticking to agreed fonts, design, colour palette and measurements. Doing this will ensure a distinct brand, constantly boosting identity and remaining competitive in your industry.

Graphic Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, graphic design is our forte. We have executed a huge portfolio of design projects in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and beyond. Our esteemed reputation did not happen by accident, our design studio boasts and expertise, ensuring your graphic design is implemented to the highest standard possible.

From logo design, poster design, social graphics to vinyl signage, we have you covered.

If you are interested in involving a Graphic Designer in your brand, please contact our studio by calling us on +44 (0)28 95 072 007, emailing us at studio@kaizenbrandevolution.com or filling out the form on our contact page.

Belter Billboards for Summer 2022

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Billboards are a very important marketing tool in the modern day, particularly due to the extensive reach they can achieve. Regardless of the digital age in which we now live in, billboards continue to play an important role in the success of a marketing campaign.

Though the power of traditional platforms in advertising and marketing campaigns has reduced, it is important we do not discard the potential lasting impression it can have in real life. 

With online platforms, we can create giant, sweeping campaigns. These initiatives receive exposure across numerous social platforms, websites and digital advertisements.

Yes, these campaigns are innovative and will hold an impressive reach in audience but will it stop people in their tracks and catch attention? There is no doubt that an eye-catching billboard design will capture the attention of commuters, far and wide. As a physical marker that reaches thousands of people daily, a billboard design holds great potential for exposure, particularly if it holds an easily understood, memorable message.

Your Message is Key

Your billboard design requires measured consideration in order for it to hold a memorable impression. Think of a story, a slogan, an idea to use on your design. It is important that your billboard clearly states your call to action, encouraging people to take action upon seeing it.

The wording and style are equally important to the content itself. Many billboard viewers are going to be driving, walking, running or in a rush. Hence, it is important that your brand message is clear, straightforward, easily readable and snappy.

You want your billboard to tell a story. People remember stories, the basic details of it and the exciting points. One thing they do not recall when retelling a story is the facts. Hence, the incorporation of visual graphics in your billboard is also advised. Whether it is an image or a particularly recognisable colour pattern, choose something that will likely resonate with viewers.

Don’t Forget Font

We all know what a billboard looks like… huge. With such a large platform, it can be easy to get carried away with font, features and design. It is particularly important to get your font right, ensuring easy readability. We recommended that you use a legible, bold and clean font. 

It is important to remember that with billboards, you have a brief period of time to catch attention. You have approximately 6 seconds to make an impression with your billboard.

Consistency is Key, Especially with Billboards

People are creatures of habit. They rarely like change. It is important to channel this when conducting a brand design.

Your organisation should use the relevant and recognisable branding of their business to appear familiar to your target audience. Consistency is key and maintaining this through large-scale promotion will be extremely beneficial and boost brand identity.

Smaller Brand? Not a Problem

When we see a billboard, there is often an untrue connotation associated with it. Many think billboards are restricted to massive, corporate companies, who function on a large-scale basis. Yes, you are likely to see more of these due to an endless budget but the notion itself is untrue.

Billboards can be implemented for brands large, small, established and new. The association between large companies and billboards primarily comes from the idea that billboards are extremely expensive to create. This is also untrue. With the widespread reach and exposure your brand will achieve through a billboard campaign, the cost attached is relatively affordable and the results will undoubtedly see a return on investment. 

Location Location

A colossal benefit of billboards is that they are not secured down one audience. If tactically located, a billboard can catch the attention of numerous audiences, from numerous areas. A prime location for billboards is on a busy road, a popular walkway, an area that your target audience primarily live in.

Design your billboards with Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are extremely experienced in graphic design. We take pride in creating billboards that are boldly displaced far and wide. Kaizen Brand Evolution have first-hand experience in recognising the benefits of investing in adshels and billboards for your company, providing top quality design to ensure success. Go big or go home with a 48-Sheet or 96-Sheet billboard. 

Advertising campaigns we won’t forget in a hurry

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Advertising provides a massive opportunity for organisations. If implemented correctly, brands can evolve their identity massively through advertising, particularly through print and digital platforms. When it comes to advertising design, whether it is a complete campaign review, or simply a one-off advertising campaign to promote a single product or service, it is crucial that everything is implemented to the highest of standards.

An advertising campaign, by definition is ‘an organised course of action to promote a product or service’. Hence, your advertising is what your customers can see and feel, when you are promoting your product or service. Ensuring the right message is portrayed at every step of the process is vital, and this can be implemented through well-thought-out, measured advertising design.

Considering implementing an advertising design? We have you covered. Check out a few of our favourite advertising campaigns in recent years that have worked a trick.

Share a Coke with: Kaizen

You would be hard-pressed in finding a person who is not familiar with the Coca-Cola empire. Although this is a wonderful position to be in, it also presents difficulties for the brand in creating a trailblazing advertising campaign, when they are already known on an extensive scale.

In 2011, Coca-Cola begun a revolutionary campaign, targeting an audience that not often receives global attention. The individual. Share a Coke With…, by Coca-Cola was an ingenious campaign that targeted the normal person, sending them on a hunt to find their name on the famous red and black bottle. Every Tom, Dick and Harry had their own personalised Coke bottle and it was, for a time, the greatest thing to happen!

Coca-Cola thought of everything with this campaign, promoting a sense of representation which is massively important in the modern day.

We either are them or we know them, but there are always a few frustrated individuals who can never find their name on personalised products. Coca-Cola had the foresight to consider this and offered a personalisation service, offering those unique named customers a customised bottle.

The localisation, representation and inclusivity were something to be admired with this campaign. Although a worldwide promotion, Coca-Cola customised their advertising campaigns to resonate with the audience within particular locations. For example; the billboards across Ireland boasted names such as Tadhg, Aoife and Roísín and those in Italy included local names such as Giuseppe, Rosalia and Franco.

McDonald’s – Our Food: Your Questions

Similarly to Coca-Cola, McDonald’s is a brand that requires little to no introduction. However, the associations with the McDonald’s brand have not always been positive. Over the years, there has been an ongoing debate about the quality of their food products.

We have all heard the rumours… but McDonald’s were keen to put those to bed, with a clever, transparent advertising campaign. Releasing a behind the scenes look into the McDonald’s brand, the fast-food chain answered questions about their food quality, products and reliability.

McDonald’s wanted to showcase to their customers that their opinion and concerns mattered. This campaign was not implemented quietly but showcased for the world to see, by answering over 20,000 questions on online platforms, as well as traditional platforms including billboards, train stations and in print.

What makes these advertising campaigns stand out from the crowd?

If we refer to the above examples of successful advertising, there are numerous patterns. Many of these patterns lead to the exposure and success of these campaigns.

Transparency in advertising campaigns

Trust is uncommon in the modern day. We are all sceptics, cautious of the catch and concerned about the consequences. Consumers seek transparency in brands prior to forming an opinion. Promoting a sense of transparency in your advertising campaign is massively beneficial. This will encourage confidence in your brand amongst important consumers, including investors, customers, clients and stakeholders.

McDonald’s were spot on with their transparent campaign, massively boosting their reputation by showing that they have nothing to hide from their customers. This incidentally changed the way a lot of people thought about McDonald’s and put to bed a lot of false rumours about the brand.

Localisation in advertising campaigns

Advertising campaign localisation is a massive opportunity for brands, particularly those that function on a worldwide scale. When a brand is universal, we often feel disconnected to their story.

There is a simple, yet effective way to combat this. Localisation. The process is often overlooked but is extremely beneficial and you will reap the rewards from consumers on a massive scale. Coca-Cola encapsulated this perfectly in their Share a Coke With… campaign. This initiative enforced a localised promotion across the world, from Cavan to Chicago to Croatia, they had it covered.

Building these associative terms brings a sense of familiarity and representation to brand identity. Which in turn will create a positive opinion and encourage association.

Advertising Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we work internationally with brands large and small, delivering a suite of digital assets through which to promote their business. From seasonal campaigns to reactionary creative concepts, we are always on hand to understand the creative brief and output the highest quality advertising designs.

Having one of the largest graphic design teams in the country, we are equipped to meet the demands of both large and small organisations. We work to the tightest of deadlines, while always retaining the highest level of design possible.

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Retail Design: Remain Relevant

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Some may argue that retail stores are on the downward spiral when it comes to popularity. Unfortunately, this is the case in some situations, with consumers swapping out their shopping sprees with scrolling, but it is important we do not rule out the power of retail design completely.

Retail design can be an extremely powerful method of persuasion when it comes to encouraging consumers to shop in your store. Attractive retail design is key. You want it to stop people in their tracks and intrigue them.

An impressive design lends a hand in the success of a retailer. The overall goal is to develop a brand that consumers will choose. We all aspire to be the first choice, this is extremely relevant in the retail industry, due to the dropping popularity, as well as the dense competition.

Unfortunately, the industry progress in recent years has seen a new-found intricacy in the process of retail design.

Retail Design: A Customer Experience

Now more than ever, it is crucial to stand out in the crowd. This is no different when it comes to retail design, it is crucial to stand out in the high street or shopping centre!

To create an authentic retail design, you must incorporate your brand identity, bringing it to life through your physical store. A retail store should provide much more than simply products or services to customers. It should provide an experience that will resonate and bring a feeling that customers will identify with, when they consider your brand.

The Consistency within Brand Identity and Retail Design

A common misconception when developing a retail design is that it simply revolves around the physical store. Yet, a successful design will consider much more than simply what is in your bricks and mortar store.

Retailers must consider all elements of their brand identity. To maintain and boost their exposure, they should marry all of their design elements together, maintaining consistency and building familiarity. Ways in which this can be implemented includes a consistent font, logo, colour palette, design feature and retail store.

Create a Retail Design that Consumers will Trust

We now live in an era where unfortunately trust is not easily earned. Consumers have become extremely resilient to trust, particularly in the retail sector as the ‘too good to be true’ termis often proved to be factual.

An area that physical retail stores can use to their advantage is their trustworthiness. Having a real-life store brings a sense of reassurance and trust that online stores sometimes fail to deliver. However, it is important to note that competition is prevalent and shoppers are always going to prefer to spend their money in a retail store that has a polished branding and design.

With this in mind, it is important that brands maintain a premium retail design, updating it where necessary. Through an established retail design, brands have the opportunity to turn consumers into customers or clients by engaging with them through trust, understanding and memorable first impressions.

Incorporate Retail Trends

Trends come and go and it is important to recognise this. Yet, there is a fine line between an enduring trend and a passing phase, known as a micro trend. Longstanding trends will be an asset to your business, showcasing a forward-thinking approach. However, a miscalculated investment into a microtrend can be detrimental and a poor expenditure.

In times gone by, trends did not hold the power that they do now. The popularity of social media has provided a platform for worldwide exposure, reducing the timeframe for brands to hop on board the latest trends, in order to remain relevant. However, the investment of time and money must warrant a return on investment, so brands, particularly in retail must be smart to the areas in which they participate.

Retail Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Our design team at Kaizen Brand Evolution is made up of some of Ireland’s most experienced professional graphic designers. Our team of experts have a unique skillset across numerous industries, including the retail industry. This insight has afforded us with a first-hand understanding into the retail environment, the opportunities and the complications to overcome.

Our knowledgeable and enthusiastic team strive to create considered retail design that is suited to your anticipated business vision.

Get in Touch

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Social Media: Make an Impact

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Whether we like it or not, social media has quickly become a huge part of our day to day lives. From Instagram, Facebook, Twitter to LinkedIn, it is crucial that brands create an engaging presence online, promoting their products or services to the endless stream of scrollers.

Social media is an extremely advantageous platform for organisations to avail of. Providing the opportunity to maintain round the clock communication with customers, clients, stakeholders and the general public.

Unfortunately, society affords little consideration to those brands who choose to remain old-fashioned and stay clear of social media. Failing to withhold a recognisable online presence may lead to your organisation going unnoticed and falling behind social savvy competitors.

The Perks of Social Media

Like everything in life, there are pros and cons to the use of social media. Yet for instance, when it comes to business, the pros most certainly outweigh the cons. Social media is an incredibly valuable research tool for brands. The platform allows them to monitor competitors, connect with potential customers, investors and target audiences. These platforms also provide industry insight in real time, showcasing the top trends, as well as the passing fazes.

For brands that are either starting out or aiming to boost their brand identity and recognition, the use of social media is invaluable.

Impactful Social Campaigns we LOVE

Dove – #ShowUs

Dove is known for their impactful, human interest campaign design. Their widespread representation and positivity towards the human body is something to be admired. Particularly on social, where this is not always evident.

In 2021, Dove struck again with an impactful, user-generated campaign, cleverly captured with the name #ShowUs. The campaign was led with simplicity, asking social followers to show off their beauty, in all different shapes and sizes.

Through research, Dove discovered the disappointing representation of women in society. Body stereotypes are a massive issue worldwide and this campaign shone a light on the beautiful differences within us.

There is a key takeaway for brands from this campaign success. Dove’s #ShowUs campaign arguably performed so well due to its personal, relatable message, in which many consumers resonated with. In addition, the clever use of a hashtag quickly created a social trend, wherein online users could easily access other participants posts and interact with one another. When mind mapping ideas for your next social media campaign, think outside the box, consider your audience and incorporate your company values.

Spotify Wrapped

December. The month of Santa, Snow and Spotify Wrapped. Launched in 2015 and quickly rebranded in 2017, the Spotify Wrapped social media campaign promotes an aesthetically pleasing summary of an individual’s music habits for the year.

The ingenious graphic design team behind Spotify quickly caught on to the picture-perfect personas that we are all guilty of portraying on social media. The beautiful graphics, the fanciful filters and the desire to project our musical opinion, onto anyone that will listen.

Not only did Spotify excel with their own campaign, they also had a helping hand, with massive exposure from their audiences. A cool 1.2 million Spotify users shared the campaign to their own social media, promoting the platform, far and wide.

This campaign provides us with numerous learning curves, including the pinnacle point that is: it’s not what you post, its how you post it. Data is data, we see it every day, many of us shiver at the sight of a spreadsheet… so why is this campaign any different?

Let’s face it. Who is entertained by statistics? Long story short, everyone apparently, if it is presented in an #Instagramable design that allows you to show off your musical taste.

Genius Spotify, Genius.

Social Media Campaigns at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Kaizen Brand Evolution have a team of enthusiastic industry experts, who understand the dedication required to create and deliver an engaging social media campaign. Through evaluating your brand, as well as your proposed social platforms and target audience, we are able to categorise which areas you should be focusing on, in order to receive the best return on investment.

Are you struggling with your social media? Get in touch with Kaizen Brand Evolution for some industry tips. We can impart our wisdom through creating a detailed social plan, with stand-out designs and engaging material.

Availing of this service will not only resolve the confusion that comes with social media, but it will provide you with an understanding into the navigation of social media, affording you the knowledge to confidently manage your own social accounts in the future.

To discuss a logo design project, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

3 signs its time for a company re-brand

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

It isn’t uncommon for organisations to evolve and outgrow their initial branding concept. Think of it logically, we as individuals do not remain the same over time, we advance and grow, leading us down new avenues and directions in life.

What was once a perfect brand identity may now seem disconnected, outdated and in need of a revamp. In other cases, you may not have afforded enough attention to your branding concept when initially implementing this. If this is the case, it is paramount to realise this as early as possible and conduct a re-brand, allowing your organisation to progress, under a new, more fitting brand.

Is your brand is stuck in the past?

We are living in a fast-paced, ever-changing society. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Unfortunately, society can get very bored, very quickly and it is important to be reactive to this, in order to stay relevant.

It is no surprise that things become outdated, out of touch and in need of a refresh. We all get to the point where we need a new car, a new phone and a new haircut. It is no different in the business world. Your brand may have been the next best thing when it stepped onto the scene but unless it keeps up with the times, it may fall behind and fail to maintain its position in a very saturated market.

It is recommended that you regularly examine your brand logo, design, website, storefront, merchandise and print advertising to check if it remains relevant.

Re-brand if your identity no longer represents your purpose

As previously mentioned, it is expected that brands will grow and change over time. This evolution cannot be predicted when initially developing a brand identity. Hence, it is important to recognise this and consider a re-brand once developments have been made.

A brand identity must showcase your organisation in all of its glory, making it clear to clients, customers and stakeholders what it exactly is that you offer.

What is the point in making company advancements if you are not going to show them off through innovative branding?

Re-brand if you are trying to target a new audience

Target audiences grow and change over the years. This is all to do with societies trends and the age groups that are associated with these trends.

A prime example of this is the recent surge of popularity in Crocs. Until 2021, Crocs were considered to be a fairly ‘uncool’ brand of shoes amongst young people. Targeted at an older audience, as well as medical staff for work purposes, Crocs were rarely entertained by an adolescent. This all changed in the summer of 2021. Crocs became a major hit with young people and this was all down to their launch of ‘platform crocs’ which boasted a higher sole and youthful colours. Since this surge in popularity, Crocs have grabbed the attention and ran, evolving their brand in many ways, in order to secure their new, youthful target market.

When monitoring your brand progress, it is important to research your target audience to get a feel for what they are interested in. This will allow your business to adapt in order to meet the needs and desires of this market. If you fail to consider this element, your brand will fall behind and receive an outdated reputation.

Re-brand your organisation with Kaizen Brand Evolution

Here at Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are experts at re-branding. We have a widespread team of experts who are equipped with industry insight. In order to create the perfect re-brand for your business, we take the process very seriously, with a step-by-step plan of action.

In the initial stages, we will take a brief from our client, deconstruct this and have a number of our experienced designers interpret it in their own, unique and innovative way. We place the client at the centre of everything we do and aim to involve them in the process, every step of the way. Once our team has carefully considered the brief, we will invite the client into view all possible design concepts, discuss them and give them time to choose a favourite to move forward with. Once a final concept is chosen, the magic begins and the process of bringing a re-brand to life unfolds.

When choosing a re-branding with Kaizen Brand Evolution, we appreciate it can be difficult to decide on a new brand identity. In order to make the process easier for our clients, we create our design concepts using real life resources and produce digital images to match your industry. For example; if you are hoping to re-brand your music store, we will create digital images of a music store and fill it with the design concepts to give you a real life feel of what it would look like.

Have we convinced you that now is the time to re-brand?

To discuss a creative project or re-brand for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Logo Design we know and LOVE

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Logo design is extremely important to any business or brand. It is the primary identifier of your organisation and frequently clients will associate it with the experience they have with your business.

Consider your favourite brand, and you will instantly picture the logo clearer than you will the typeface or name. Logo design is often the first step in brand development and should be carefully considered at the earliest stages of business planning.

Apple

We all know it. Most of us love it. Apple. Undoubtedly the most powerful technology brand in the world. The logo is instantly recognisable, even to those who aren’t digitally minded.

Aside from a design change in its first year of trading, the apple logo has remained virtually the same, bar a few colour alterations, since 1977. This is a concept we rarely see, with business logos commonly changing a lot over time.

The benefit of this unchanged logo guarantees that audiences will not forget it in a hurry. People now subconsciously associate the bitten apple with the brand and any major changes would dissolve this association massively.

Fun fact: did you know that Apple have a rule that in movies, villains cannot use their products? Only the good guys. Hence, you will never see Lord Voldemort or The Joker with an iPhone.

McDonalds

Another brand we know and love from their logo is McDonald’s. It can be spotted from a mile away, with its unique and bright colour scheme. However, McDonald’s wasn’t always as we know it today. In its founding year, 1937, the company was established as ‘The Airdome’… imagine that! This name and logo lasted a mere three years, when the McDonald family decided to acclaim their family name.

‘McDonalds Famous Barbecue’ as it was known between 1940 and 1953 boasted a boring, black and blocky logo, completely parallel to now. In 1953, the franchise dropped the ‘Famous Barbecue’ and simply became ‘McDonalds’. Since then, both the name and the logo have remained consistent, dominating the logo market with the huge arching M.

Similarly to Apple, McDonald’s logo consistency has worked in their favour. We have all looked into the skies at one point, in hopes of seeing the yellow arches in the nearby distance. If this were to change, the novelty and association with the McDonald’s brand would be lost and the popularity would significantly reduce.

Google

Founded in 1998, Google is a youthful 24 years old. Yet contrary to its young position in society, it needs no introduction, being the most popular search engine in the world.

The Google logo is one we will all recognise, even those of us who claim no association with online platforms. The colourful, eye-catching and dominant design was first created in the founding days of the business and has changed very little since then.

The firm’s recognisable position in society has afforded Google great flexibility with their logo. Taking a unique stance, Google famously alter their logo design temporarily to represent current affairs and important historical dates. They have the power to do this as they know their brand recognition is strong and does not require consistent promotion.

If you closely study the Google logo, you will recognise a disrupted pattern. The first four letters follow the familiar primary colour pattern, showcasing blue, red, yellow and blue again. This consistency is then interrupted by the introduction of green, a secondary colour.  This green is then followed by red, reintroducing the primary colour pattern.

Some may consider this colour palette a miscalculated pattern, yet the meaning holds much more than this. There is a significant, ground-breaking message promoted through their uncoordinated logo.

By not following the pattern, Google are promoting an innovative, pioneering and revolutionary approach. With the introduction of green, steering away from the typical design, Google are promoting their mission; to break the mould, to go beyond what is expected and show they are not afraid to break the rules.

Consistency is Key in Logo Design

Although Google choose to interrupt the pattern, there is a clear sense of uniformity in all the brands discussed above. Consistency is key. The majority of brands that hold recognisable and dominant logos are those that remain consistent and avoid major design change over time.

With Apple, McDonalds and Google, although there may be slight tweaks in the form of font change or colour saturation, the structure of the logo remains virtually unchanged.

It is important that organisations take note of this consistency and recognise this when developing a brand logo. There must be careful consideration afforded to the logo design task, as the opportunity to make drastic changes in the future may present issues for brand identity.

Logo Design with Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are proud to have designed logos for products, services and organisations both locally and internationally. Our team of design experts have a unique industry understanding and with this, we are able to draw from our experiences and create innovative, engaging and memorable logo designs.

Kaizen Brand Evolution have one of the largest design studio teams in Belfast or Dublin and our focus is always on developing the best logo to suit your business needs.

To discuss a logo design project, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Improve your Annual Report Design every year

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

An annual report design is an important piece of communication between organisations and their key stakeholders. The annual report is an integral document of information that outlines the functioning of an organisation over a yearly basis. From finances to future forecasts to business operations, an annual report must provide a comprehensive overview of your annual company activities.

Avoid the Overwhelming Annual Report

It must be said, an annual report is a difficult document to produce for organisations. Annual reports have a corporate reputation that is associated with the word ‘overwhelming’. Often considered to be quite text heavy pieces, annual reports are famous for their comprehensive financial data reports and detailed activity documentation. With this in mind, the process of developing an annual report can be a daunting process for organisations.

Overdetailed and poorly designed annual reports can often result in people developing a reluctancy to read and digest the information. Additionally, this information can appear extremely overwhelming for stakeholders and potential investors. With this in mind, it is paramount for organisations to work towards creating an engaging, stimulating and user-friendly annual report, in order to remain competitive and efficient and boost future success.

Advance your Annual Report Design ANNUALLY

When it comes to the success of an organisation, it is anticipated and expected that as time goes on, the business becomes more successful and incidentally, the products and services that they deliver also improve. This is no different when it comes to creating an annual report design. The distribution of an annual report is imminent and each year, stakeholders are likely comparing the design to that of the previous year, in hopes for prosperity and improvement.

Involve the Experts at Kaizen Brand Evolution

In order to catch the attention of your stakeholders and impress with your annual report, it is imperative that the involvement of professional graphic designers is considered.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have widespread experience in creating innovative and engaging annual report designs. Working alongside organisations in the public, private and third sector, the team at Kaizen Brand Evolution maintain first-hand insight into the process and important elements in annual report design. From the organisation of information to the importance of visualisation and design, our skilled team of experts recognise and understand the elements of a successful annual report design.

Safeguarding the relevant and important information, the team at Kaizen aim to deliver an annual report design that is inspiring, informative but also user-friendly, clear and manageable. Our team of proficient graphic designers can ensure that your annual report excels, delivering the all-important data in a way that does not compromise the presentation.

Create the Perfect Annual Report Design

In order to design an impressive annual report, it is important to involve the experts. Additionally, it is crucial that there is an element of preparation and planning that goes into the process before delivery. The team at Kaizen Brand Evolution begin the process of creating an annual report design by generating an understanding of an organisation and conducting robust research into the project.

To create an excellent annual report, our team refer to a number of different design concepts to ensure all areas are implemented and represented successfully.

Stick to your Brand Guidelines

The first area we focus on is your organisations brand guidelines. When creating design projects, it is imperative to remain consistent to your agreed brand guidelines in order to maintain and boost brand identity. Brand guidelines include numerous design elements, including your logo, colour palette and language used.

Create a User-Friendly Document

The overall goal of an annual report is to display important company material. With this in mind, it can be a challenging task to know where to stop when it comes to information. When assisting your organisation, the team at Kaizen Brand Evolution will determine the information necessary and utilise the space available to promote a readable and manageable document. Easy to navigate annual report designs are implemented through an organised design, separating information into manageable chunks with engaging and relevant images.

Incorporate the Digital World

In the modern day, it is crucial for organisations to consider and involve digital platforms in all aspects of business. This should be no different with your annual report. At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we recognise the benefits of both print media and digital media. Hence, when creating your annual report design, we have the resources to deliver it in both print and digital formats to ensure all stakeholders receive it in the format they prefer.

Annual Report Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we work with organisations to create annual report designs that will leave a lasting impression without overwhelming readers. From traditional print reports to digital reports, our creative expertise is massively beneficial in guaranteeing user-friendly results.

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Navigate your Festival with Wayfinding Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Finally… Spring has sprung here at Kaizen Brand Evolution and we cannot wait to see what the season has in store. With the much-anticipated time change at the weekend, we have most definitely blossomed into the Spring time mood.

When we think of Spring and Summer, we associate it with brighter days and exciting activities in beautiful weather. Over the last 2 years, we have unfortunately been robbed of a typical Spring/Summer period due to the pandemic. Festivals, concerts, parties and holidays were all a distant memory that we longed for; in hope they would return some day.

We are finally starting to see the return of our much-awaited Spring/Summer activities and we just cannot wait. With the brief, unanticipated hiatus of social activities, comes a sense of anticipation, as well as a sense of unfamiliarity.

Create a Welcoming Atmosphere

If hosting massive events, such as a concert or a festival, it is massively important that attendees feel welcome and comfortable within their surroundings. It can be extremely difficult for staff members to provide constant navigation at large-scale events, particularly those in the dark. Hence, the implementation of wayfinding design at these events is advised, creating a sense of awareness and navigation for attendees.

Confused at a Concert?

We have all attended large-scale events, such as a concert or festival and as great as they are, they can become overwhelming when it comes to navigation. Whether the event is in a location you are familiar with, or a brand-new setting, the crowds and masses can hinder our sense of direction, as well as our ability to navigate.

Avoid Navigation Frustration

To combat the concert confusion, the employment of wayfinding navigation can be extremely useful. Typically, when people consider navigation signs, they think of arrows or sign posts. Incidentally, the use of typical arrows and signs can cause misinterpretation, confusion and conflict.

When providing navigation, it is crucial to deliver this in an easily interpreted manner, this will not only benefit attendees, it will also assist your staff members in crowd control. Additionally, using a unique wayfinding design will enable you to promote your brand throughout the event location. 

What is Wayfinding Design?

Wayfinding design is a massively advantageous tools for organisations, particularly those who are hosting events with unfamiliar attendees. Providing seamless navigation through waypoints, wayfinding design allows individuals to move from point to point to get to their desired destination.

Wayfinding design is much more than a simple sign post or arrow, it is a strategically designed navigation system that takes into consideration the visual and physical clues that assist people through a location without the need for intense and unattractive signage.

The incorporation of wayfinding will boost the experience for attendees, providing an interpretive journey in a pleasant and recognisable manner.

The Branding Perks of Wayfinding Design

When hosting a large-scale event, such as a concert or festival, we place a considerable amount of importance on the branding of the event. From tickets, to presentations to banners at the event, it is all go and important to provide a recognisable experience from start to finish.

In some cases, organisations place all of their focus on the large-scale promotion and forget to implement the more intricate but equally beneficial design tools. When it comes to events and festivals, navigation is an extremely important tool and your attendees will appreciate your consideration of this.

Unfortunately, many event promoters make the impulsive decision to use typical signs and arrows to navigate their location. Undoubtedly organisations like this have missed a trick, failing to recognise the benefits of branded wayfinding design. This lack of consideration can result in confusion within attendees, as well as a missed branding opportunity.

A massive perk when it comes to wayfinding design is that individuals will always be looking for it. Hence, maximise this opportunity and place distinctive branding within the design, you are guaranteed to boost brand identity. Additionally, the incorporation of wayfinding design will position your organisation as a customer focused brand. This showcases that you place consideration on the safety, security and comfort of their audience.

Wayfinding Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Are you planning a large-scale (or small) event that requires navigation for attendees? We have you covered. At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we can create easily-followed, innovative and recognisable wayfinding design for your organisation. Promoting your brand throughout the entire process, we can design wayfinding that will provide an enjoyable journey for attendees.

At Kaizen, we have a team of experienced graphic designers, with first-hand experience in creating distinct, attractive and eye-catching wayfinding design. Putting your attendee first, wayfinding design provides an enjoyable experience.

To discuss a creative project in wayfinding design for your organisation, get in touch. You can contact our team of graphic designers via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Event Design: Make it a Day to Remember

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

As we finally relax back into the swing of events, why not consider a revamp? There is no time like the present to inject some newness into your event design assets.

Many organisations attend or host numerous events across the working calendar. Whether you are attending a trade show or hosting an awards night, it is crucial that you maintain a consistent event design across all your materials.

When you are attending, or hosting an event, it is important to showcase to attendees what you have to offer. Presenting your organisation in a premium, high-quality manner is a brilliant way to boost your company reputation, as well as evoke interest in your brand.

Events are an exciting opportunity to network with others. After a long 2 years of restrictions, we are finally getting the opportunity to attend and host events. With this hiatus, many of us have taken time out to rebrand, evolve and grow. What better way to showcase your evolution than through event design?

The Importance of Event Design

Creating event branding will be a massive benefit for organisations. Event design offers a massive opportunity to boost brand awareness through consistent exposure, to offer an impactful and unforgettable experience.

By promoting your organisation through recognisable, engaging and exciting event design, attendees will build a rapport with your company, boosting your brand position for future opportunities.

Logo Design

Whether you are simply attending an event, or you are hosting your own, you need to have a stand-out, professional logo. Particularly when you are hosting an event, it is beneficial to have a logo to represent the event itself.

Logo design is the primary identifier for your organisation. This is no different when it comes to events. Individuals will associate an event or experience with a logo. For example, when we think of the Oscars, we think of the famous golden man, with Comic Relief, our minds instantly go to the red nose and for Children in Need, Pudsey Bear.

It is undeniable that when we think of popular events, we instantly picture the logo before we acknowledge the organisations typeface or name. With this in mind, it is paramount to place significant importance on developing a logo within event design in the early stages of planning and implementation.

Advertising Design

Once your organisation has established a logo design for your event, the next step is design. In order to promote the event, whether you are attending one or hosting one, you will need promotional advertising, such as posters, brochures, online graphics and potentially, billboards and adshels.

Advertising your event is a crucial step in the process in order to gain exposure with relevant bodies, including potential attendees, potential sponsors and stakeholders.

A successful event design will maintain consistency across the board. This will be implemented throughout the advertising design concept, ensuring the same colour palette, typography, brand guidelines and imagery are utilised across the board.

The benefits of consistency are massive, boosting customer recognition and building a reputation for your organisation and your event. Whether it is a promotional poster, an online post, or an information brochure distributed at the event, it is important that these elements maintain a similar design and personality. 

Wayfinding Design

Attention to detail is key when it comes to event design. Attendees will notice the finer details and the consideration of this will stand in your organisations favour.

A design feature that would be a beneficial consideration for organisations when implementing event design would be wayfinding. Wayfinding design is a bespoke method of navigation within an establishment.

When hosting or attending an event, it is important that attendees feel welcome and comfortable.  Incorporating wayfinding into your event design would be a plausible touch. Providing easy navigation through wayfinding will make an attendees journey straightforward and more enjoyable. Additionally, your branding will be visible to all, at every point in the process. 

Menu Design

Depending on your type of event, menu design may be a beneficial incorporation. For certain events, particularly awards or dances, there is a meal included. It is human nature when attending an event to head straight to the menu to see what is on offer.

Why not add a special touch by personalising your menu design to align with your brand guidelines? Menu design at an event will promote your organisation even further, displaying branding across all tables and guaranteeing interest.

The Benefits of Event Design

Event design is a massively beneficial tool, promoting a top-class reputation and providing an inclusive feel for attendees. Whatever the definitive aim of your event is, whether it’s to boost brand exposure, advance awareness on a topic or promote sales and subscriptions, the journey an attendee takes from start to finish needs to be subtly and strategically designed.

To discuss a creative project, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

The Important Elements of Retail Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

For organisations who work within the retail industry, it is imperative to withhold both a successful brand identity and retail design, as well as a retail identity with a positive shopping experience.

In order to achieve an engaging identity that can be implemented into a physical retail store, your organisation must initially build an innovative, relatable brand identity of its own. Bringing your brand identity into your retail store requires careful consideration and detailed design, ensuring that all elements of your brand blend within the physical store.

Consistency is Key

A brand identity within a retail store aims to create a memorable and positive shopping experience for customers. To ensure this brand identity ties into your retail design, it is paramount that consistency is maintained. All customer touch points must tie into your brand identity, incorporating a consistent logo, font, assets such as brochures, posters, signs and packaging and finally, the look and feel must fit in with the retail design.

Elements to Involve in Retail Design

Logo Design

When designing your logo, it is important to incorporate elements that are relatable to your organisation. Doing this will ensure a consistent and recognisable association between your logo and your brand. This will encourage customers to develop an affiliation with your design and incidentally your physical retail store.

No matter the scale of your organisation, your logo must clearly convey your purpose. The use of a professional logo design will guarantee your organisation prime positioning for the products and services that you offer.

The overall goal with logos when it comes to retail design is to develop an association with shoppers, wherein they are aware of your offerings and want to visit your store, time and time again.

Poster Design

Poster design is a very powerful, traditional tool in advertising for business, particularly in retail. Although many would consider the concept to be old fashioned, it holds an imperative position in a retail promotional campaign to this day. Particularly when it comes to promoting your retail store, posters can be situated on the windows of your physical location, in areas surrounding it and also in relevant locations to entice customers to seek out your store.

To ensure that your retail brand identity is maintained, it is advised that posters are designed incorporating the relevant brand identity used throughout your retail store. This will boost customer recognition as well as increase your brand identity amongst consumers.

Wayfinding Design

Many organisations who function in a retail setting fail to recognise the endless opportunities that are available in boosting brand identity and recognition. Right down to the finest detail, including that of wayfinding design can be a useful tool in retail design.

When developing a brand identity, it is vital to incorporate your brand guidelines and house style into all elements of your business. This is equally as important when it comes to internal assets, such as wayfinding. To promote and represent your brand highly, it is important to remain consistent in your design.

Using wayfinding is an innovative way to further promote your brand identity and unique character through providing an exciting, collaborative and engaging journey through your store. Promoting a clear and unique brand character is a beneficial tool for organisations as it encourages shoppers to remember and think fondly of your brand and retail store in the future.

Packaging Design

Whether it is packaging that will appear pride of place in your retail store or packaging that will be photographed and promoted through your online store, it is important to stand out, remain consistent and boost your brand identity.

Incorporating important elements such as logo, colour palette and relevant graphic on packaging design is key. Customers who purchase products in retail stores essentially become promoters once they leave the premises, through carrying your product through the town centre or sharing it on social media. The more premium the packaging design, the more likely a customer will be encouraged to show it off.

Retail Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, our team of experienced graphic designers are innovative industry leaders across numerous sectors, including the retail industry. Our first-hand knowledge and insight provide us with a brilliant understanding of the retail environment, what works and what should be avoided.

Ensuring your organisation maintains a consistent and inviting personality is the overall goal and we look forward to discussing a retail design project with you and your team.

Get in Touch

To discuss a creative project in retail design for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Let’s Talk about Label Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Label design is one of the most important features when creating a product. Undoubtedly, label design plays a pivotal role in consumer decision-making, particularly in a physical setting, such as a supermarket.

When creating a label design, it is extremely important to develop something that will resonate with customers, explain your product clearly and effectively, as well as represent your brand and everything it stands for.

Label Design is a key marketing tool for any product at the point of sale. Whether your product is a well-known brand, recognisable to all, or a brand-new company, just starting out, the design of your label is a key way to generate interest amongst customers.

Label Design and Consumer Decision-Making

It can be argued that eye-catching labels are extremely powerful. Powerful enough to encourage customers to purchase a product, with no prior knowledge to the brand, the product itself or its reputation. Engaging and inviting label designs can be enough to persuade purchase behaviour. Incidentally, this makes the process of even more important.

We have all experienced the impact of a brilliant label. Whether we decided to switch up our shampoo due to a new eye-catching label, or swapped out our choice of washing liquid due to the beautiful display of ingredients on a new product label. Simple scenarios such as these demonstrate the importance of labelling for product perception, and show how important it is to ensure your design and quality maintains a premium standard.

When Things Go Wrong

In some situations, brands can fall victim to a poorly designed label. These mistakes can be extremely detrimental for your organisation. A pertinent and hot example of poorly designed labels can be seen in the most recent episode of The Apprentice. In this episode, the teams were tasked to create a brand-new baby food, in which one team decided to take the name ‘First Time Foodies’.

Unfortunately, poorly executed and misjudged design work was implemented and their label turned out to be a disaster. What the team thought to be a clever use of design features, replacing the 2 O’s in ‘foodies’ with food bowls, turned into a catastrophic failure, reading to clients and customers as ‘First Time Dies’.

This poorly judged label design resulted in their product receiving zero sales, further proving that no matter how good the product is, if the label does not showcase it in a brilliant light, it is unlikely to excel and achieve the recognition it deserves.

Involving the Experts

When it comes to label design, it is advised that organisations invest and involve the expertise of graphic designers in the process. From the fonts, to the imagery and graphics, to the logos and consistency, it is imperative that your design is delivered to the highest of standards, in order to promote your organisation effectively.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we recognise and understand the importance of label design and believe that every organisation should use them to their advantage, ensuring they achieve the best possible results for their product.

Label design can be considered a first impression, with customers, clients or even competitors. We are always encouraged to make a brilliant and memorable first impression and label design is no different. The aspiration is for people to engage with your label and incidentally generate a memorable experience with the product, so when they see it again in future, they are encouraged to re-purchase.

Label Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Our team of experienced graphic designers at Kaizen Brand Evolution are dedicated to creating brilliant, innovative and eye-catching label designs for organisations just like yours.

Our industry insights and first-hand knowledge allows us to determine whether your label catches someone’s attention or gets lost in the crowd. Incidentally, our team have extensive experience in working with a variety of organisations across numerous sectors, creating bespoke and innovative label designs.

We can design a label that compliments and represents your brand, without compromising on performance. Labels are a popular way for every business to add a personal touch, character or personality to their product. On top of that, they can be a cost-effective promotional method, with a great return.

Get in Touch

There are endless opportunities when it comes to label design for organisations. Along with numerous other advantages, the promotion of your product requires an excellent label design in order to excel and receive the recognition it deserves.

Cutting corners can save time and money but often the outcomes lead to issues and potentially catastrophic downfalls for organisations. Hence, whatever your vision, you can be sure that the team at Kaizen Brand Evolution will deliver on an excellent, innovative label design.

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Brochure Design: Boost your Brand

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

We are living in the new digital age. An age wherein content is king and digital is queen. In the digital age, we often forget how important the traditional methods of communication once were in our society, such as brochure design. We frequently overlook some of the most tried and tested methods of communication and opportunities to engage with customers, clients, stakeholders and importantly, competitors.

Brochure Design

Brochure design was once one of the most, if not the most popular method of promotion for organisations. Informative, high-quality and attractive brochures were an unmissable tool for promotional advertisers.

Often overlooked in the modern day, brochures remain one of the most effective and engaging promotional tools for organisations. Enabling them to stand out from the crowd, brochures provide businesses with a physical and lasting competitive edge.

Stand out from the crowd

Hence, the lasting impact and importance of brochure design means it is imperative that they are created and implemented to the highest of standards, ensuring a lasting and positive impression.

An impactful brochure design can deliver a lot more than simply the information within it. It can also boost the reputation of your organisation and brand. Premium design, paper and layout will boost your position and assist your brand in creating a high-quality name for itself.

The opportunities are endless

When you think of brochures, you automatically go to the physical, foldable and compact design, often found at events and information desks.

Yes, printed brochures are the most popular and commonly used brochure design but it doesn’t stop there.

In addition to print, there is also a digital opportunity when it comes to brochure design. To keep up and remain relevant in the new digital age, organisations have had to adapt, quickly and intuitively.

Interactive Brochure Design

Interactive brochures are an innovative way to create an informative brochure, appearing in a digital format. These digital brochures can be utilised across online platforms, including computers, tablets and mobile devices.

Creating an interactive brochure is an extremely beneficial tool for your organisation, allowing you to promote on a large-scale platform without having to worry about distribution and delivery, as required for the physical format.

Additionally, interactive brochures provide further opportunities to promote your organisation and the topic of discussion within the brochure. The interactive element enables the implementation of advanced functionality. These functions can include hyperlinks, UTM tracking codes and motion graphics designed to engage and captivate your target audience.

Types of Brochure Design

When we consider brochures, we often think of a typical booklet. Yes, a booklet is the most commonly interchanged name for a brochure but there are numerous other types of brochures that are equally as impactful if created professionally.

Brochures come in all shapes and sizes, including the following:

  • Annual Report
  • Bulletin
  • Catalogue
  • Directory
  • Guide
  • Handbook
  • Magazine
  • Manual
  • Newsletter
  • Programme
  • Prospectus

Brochure Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have a team of creative experts who have worked on thousands of brochure design campaigns for organisations just like yours! Our experience is widespread and spans across numerous sectors, including business, charity and other areas in the market sector.

Our graphic designers maintain first-hand experience in brochure design and this enables us to create an innovative and advantageous design for your organisation.

At Kaizen, we recognise that the promotion and delivery of brochures require numerous formats to remain relevant in the modern day. Our team of graphic designers can expertly output your brochure design for both print and digital delivery.

With a partner business in print, we have the unrivalled knowledge of understanding what is required to create a world class printed brochure that stands out against the competition.

Additionally, having a partner printer business will ensure a prompt and efficient project completion. Kaizen Brand Evolution recognise and understand the importance of a prompt turnaround on projects, particularly brochures that may be required for events or functions.

Get in Touch to discuss Brochure Design today!

We are experts in designing brochures for both printed output and digital delivery. If you want to explore a brochure design project further, please get in touch with our client service team via the contact form or by calling us on 028 9507 2007.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Prep for Summer with Menu Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Whether it is a family day out, a visitors’ tour tea break or a summers day dinner, your menu design must be prepared and meet customer demands. Menu design is an ever-changing concept that must be carefully monitored to maintain relevancy in the hospitality industry.

Whether you update your menu annually, twice a year or seasonally, it is imperative that it showcases your offerings in an engaging and tempting way.

The Multi-Purpose Menu Design

Menu design is no longer tied down to one purpose. Gone are the days where the first time we see a menu is in the restaurant or café. How many times have you decided on a location to eat in and instantaneously went looking online for the menu?

Traditionally, menus hold the purpose of providing customers with a variety of choices within a restaurant or cafe. This purpose is extremely important as it is a key stage in the customers experience. However, the menu traditionally did not hold a massive responsibility, as the customer was already in the restaurant or café, which is the overall desired outcome.

The Modern Menu

Yet, in the modern day, menu design holds a much higher responsibility. Alongside reviews, online impressions and recommendations, the menu often plays an instrumental role in the decision-making process. When deciding where to eat or drink, it has become common practice to research the establishment online. This research includes looking for and analysing the restaurant menu.

With this in mind, detailed consideration should be granted to the menu design within your organisation. In the initial brainstorming stages, your menu design should be considerate of much more than the food and drink. The layout, the design features and the brand representation are equally important and must be carefully considered.  

Create a Marvellous Menu

When deciding on the design features of your menu, it is important that you showcase personality and individuality into it. Every business aims to have a unique selling point and often this can be overlooked when creating a menu design. Yet, it can be one of the most important features in the design.

When someone reads your menu, whether that is online or walking past your eatery, you want them to be wowed.

Yes, it is important to carefully consider the food and drink items that are chosen for your menu. This is arguably the most important decision. However, the involvement of enhancing elements such as quirky features and brand slogans is also beneficial.

Brand Identity is Key

The golden rule with design for your organisation is consistency. In order to boost and maintain a brand identity, we must establish a recognisable and consistent set of brand guidelines that are used throughout the design process. The benefit of this is to build a recognisable association with customers, which should incidentally encourage them to come back and recommend to a friend.

The Psychology of Menu Design

When creating a menu design, it is paramount that you consider the psychology behind it. This will incidentally assist you in creating a menu that encourages customers to visit and persuades them that you serve the best that the industry has to offer.

An innovative menu should showcase your restaurant or café’s personality. This personality should be inviting and exciting to customers old and new. Additionally, your menu should centre around your organisation’s objectives, advance your productivity and entice your customers.

Menu Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Kaizen Brand Evolution have widespread experience across a variety of industries, including the hospitality sector.

With this experience and industry insight, our team of graphic designers have first-hand knowledge and understanding of the psychology of menu design. At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we recognise how important it is for us to deliver a menu that not only looks good, but also focuses in on your brand identity and purpose.

With experience in creating menu design across Belfast, Dublin and beyond, Kaizen Brand Evolution have worked with eatery giants, such as Boojum, Tribal Burger and Slims Healthy Kitchen.

Transformative menu design is a feature that should not be overlooked. Our understanding of many market sectors and the ability to draw from our experience, ensures we are experts in menu creation.

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Prove it with Packaging Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Creating a justifiable and engaging packaging design is extremely important for businesses, large and small. The packaging design for a product is often a primary element of association for customers, clients, competitors and stakeholders. Particularly in a physical setting, such as in retail stores, events or on display.

Packaging design is undoubtedly one of the most important design features for an organisation, particularly for organisations who specialise in products.

Packaging is as important as Products

A common misconception when it comes to promoting products is that as long as the product itself is top quality, the rest will fall into place. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Unless each and every element of the process is premium, you will drastically fall down in success.

Incidentally, organisations with this narrow perception will likely struggle to understand why their top of the range product is not performing to the high standard that had been anticipated.

Yes, you may have a premium, high-quality product, but unless the packaging design that houses the product is to the same standard and level of professionalism, the entire product will reduce in customer value and fail to achieve the deserving and justified success.

Packaging Design that Fits

Once you have understood the importance of packaging design, it is time to ensure that it is created to a standard that maintains your brand identity and promotes your organisation in a justifiable and relatable manner.

Consistency is King, Identity is Queen

When people see your product on the shelf or in a store, the desired goal is recognition. We all aspire to create engaging, exciting and recognisable brands. For example, you go into the corner shop and spot a red metallic can with large lettering… instantly you recognise this as Coca-Cola.

Recognisable and eye-catching brands generate their infamous and instantaneously familiar identities through consistency in promotion, design and packaging.

Quality Consideration

As previously mentioned, packaging design can receive the short straw when it comes to planning and implementation. Often, people get so caught up in the product itself, that the packaging becomes an afterthought.

It is crucial this does not happen and rest assured if it does, people are going to catch on. Have you ever purchased something and instantly felt unimpressed due to the poor-quality packaging? Never judge a book by its cover… unless it has atrocious packaging design.

Whether it is a gift bag that gives way as soon as a drop of rain falls or a box that starts to collapse when lifted off the shelf, people take note and quickly form an opinion on the product inside. No matter how great it may be.

With this in mind, it is imperative that your packaging design is high quality and true to your brand identity.

Involve the Industry Experts in your Packaging Design

When creating packaging, it is advisory to involve industry experts, particularly graphic designers in the process. Considered packaging will ensure your brand is developed at every touch point of the purchase process.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, our team of creative experts have widespread industry experience. This insight has afforded our team an understanding in consumer purchase behaviour. This enables us to deliver what works and avoid what doesn’t. We can create a packaging design that will target the customer you hope to impress.

Packaging Design: What does it cover?

Depending on what your product is, packaging can come in many different shapes and sizes. At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we can cater to numerous different types of packaging design. From labels, boxes and sleeves for food or products to drinks industry labels and packaging, we have you and your product covered. 

Packaging Design with Kaizen Brand Evolution

To begin your project with Kaizen Brand Evolution, get in touch with our client services team. From the initial consultation, right through until the final product, we take care and consideration to guarantee we deliver what is right for you and your brand.

We work in partnership with packaging printers all across the UK & Ireland to ensure our packaging and labelling designs can be expertly output in the most effective and efficient manner.

Get in touch via the contact form or call us on 02895 072007.

Boast about your brand on Billboard & Adshels

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

In the modern day, we can create huge, large-scale campaigns. These campaigns stretch far and wide across social platforms, websites and digital advertisements. Yes, these campaigns are innovative and will hold an impressive reach in audience but will it stop people in their tracks and catch their attention?

The answer to this question is hopefully and often, yes. Online campaigns are extremely successful if implemented correctly. However, we can sometimes find ourselves guilty of overlooking the digital promotions that pop up on our screens. In some cases, we are even oblivious to the fact a campaign is attempting to catch our attention. This is undoubtedly due to overexposure through online platforms. Incidentally, it is important that we consider the potential disregard of campaigns primarily implemented through online means and look at incorporating more areas of promotion. 

Although the use of traditional platforms in advertising and marketing campaigns primarily does not hold the potential to reach audiences at an incomprehensible scale universally, it can leave an all-important lasting impression.

An area of traditional marketing that has an overwhelming role in catching attention is that of billboards and adshels. These large-scale promotional tools are targeting audiences in a bold and unapologetic way.

Bold and Unapologetic Billboard & Adshels

Billboards sit head and shoulders higher than other forms of promotional platforms. Situated at a height, in highly populated areas, billboards aim to make their mark through catching the attention of those out and about and commuting.

Position your Billboard Effectively

A massive benefit of billboards is that they are not tied down to an audience in a specific area. If strategically placed, a billboard can catch the attention of numerous spectators. A genius location for billboards is on a busy dual carriageway or motorway, a passageway for commuters to travel from locations far and wide. An eye-catching billboard design can engage with these commuters instantaneously if implemented correctly, which is the overall goal.

Day or Night: Let there be Light!

Alongside the beneficial use of billboards is the incredibly useful Adshel. Adshels are an innovative promotional tool, appearing on the side of bus stops, in highly populated areas and in shopping centres.

Offering a large area for promotional coverage, adshels are engaging and if designed correctly, really eye-catching. A unique and massively beneficial element of Adshels is their backlit light boxes.

Many traditional forms of promotional platforms are excellent, but only showcase what they have to offer in the daylight. When the sun goes down, so does their ability to promote a campaign. Innovatively, Adshels are the exception to this limitation.

Adshels are accompanied by a useful backlit light box, to showcase a promotional campaign, to the same scale, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Additionally, the light box brings an engaging and eye-catching addition to your campaign, drawing attention to your message when it is dark.

Less is Best

When it comes to promotional campaigns, it can become easy to get carried away. Value for money is often associated with fitting as much material as possible in and this can result in a complete information overload.

To create the perfect Billboard or Adshel design, we recommend that less is more. The benefit of including clear and concise information is massive. It is proven that promotional campaigns such as billboards hold an industry average of 6 seconds reading time. With this information in mind, it is important that your design can be read, digested and understood within this short time frame.

Consistency is Key – Especially with Billboard & Adshels

Additionally, it is massively important that your organisation uses the relevant and recognisable branding of their business to appear familiar to your target audience. Consistency is key and maintaining this through large-scale promotion will be extremely beneficial and boost brand identity.

Call-to-action… is it clear?

In everything you do, your call-to-action must be clear and concise. The overall goal of any promotional campaign is to encourage action and the only way to do this is to outline this clearly. To ensure the call-to-action is outlined and recognised, we recommend pairing back your Billboard or Adshel to only a core focus on each design.

Billboard & Adshels with Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are proud to maintain an experienced and enthusiastic team of graphic designers. Our team can transform your campaign through the creation of attention-grabbing Billboard and Adshel designs.

Our expertise and industry experience will ensure that your design will lead to successful results and return on investment.

Considering a Billboard or Adshel design campaign? Look no further than Kaizen Brand Evolution. Get in touch today to bring your billboard to life. 

Perfect your Poster Design to target Summer Strollers

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Poster design is a very powerful, traditional tool in marketing and advertising for business. Although many would consider the concept to be old fashioned, it holds an imperative position in a promotional campaign to this day.

When creating a promotional poster for your organisation, it is advised that you involve experts in design. This ensures the involvement of the required experience and expertise to create a ground-breaking poster.

Catch the Commute 

It can be argued that the most beneficial time of the year to deliver a surge of posters would be during the nicer, warmer months. The reason for this simply being, more people are out and about.

In the winter, we seldom spend our time strolling through the town or city. If we do, it is often accompanied by a vision restricting coat or an umbrella. Hence, autumn/winter poster campaigns can often go unnoticed and the benefits are unrecognisable.

On the other hand, in the summer, we are out and about. Whether you decide to walk to work or take a relaxing evening stroll, it is undeniable that more people are taking advantage of the outdoors. The footfall in towns and cities multiples during the spring and summer months, with more people taking note of their surroundings, including that of promotional advertising.

Catch their Attention

It is no secret that the modern individual has a reduced attention span. This is due to the instantaneous speed in which we receive our online information. With this in mind, it is important to deliver an eye-catching poster that will capture the attention of the public, quickly and informatively.

Involve the Experts in your Poster Design

When creating a poster, there are numerous elements that require deep consideration, from the typography, the colourway and the imagery selection.

The people who are going to see these posters on shop windows, nightclub walls and on public transport have to be impressed, recognising the call to action instantaneously.

The public must understand what exactly is the purpose of the poster and this must encourage them to act upon your sales message. Whether you need an A3 short run digital poster or an A0 nightclub poster, the attention to detail is equal and the involvement of a graphic design expert is advised.

Designing a Poster

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we take pride in our poster designs. We can make your posters stand out from the crowd and catch the required attention it deserves.

Using our tried and tested design techniques, we have an experienced team of graphic designers on hand to deliver impressive results. From local businesses to international organisations, we have produced impressive poster campaigns that deliver in a successful marketing and advertising campaign. 

Kaizen Brand Evolution take a considerate and responsible approach to creating your poster design. We create with purpose and through comprehensive research, we recognise your company vision and design your poster accordingly.

Where do I put my posters?

Starting a poster campaign can be an overwhelming and often unknown territory for some. The task of poster campaigns stretches far beyond that of designing the poster itself. Creative consideration must be granted to deciding the location of the poster, whether it will be inside or outside, or both.

Additionally, the area in which the poster is situated must be carefully considered. Research must be carried out on areas to determine where the target audience will mostly reside. This will help you decide the prime location for your posters.

Once that is decided, it is important to consider the size of your poster and the distance from which it will be viewed and the level of content that is added.

All of these important decisions can be daunting to approach, however with the involvement of an experienced graphic design team, they can be agreed on with practised insight and expertise.

Opportunities with Poster Design

Poster design, although a traditional marketing and advertising method, holds endless opportunities. At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are proud to be a part of Belfast’s leading printing companies. We have created posters for numerous sectors across Belfast and beyond. From retail to nightclubs to university posters, we have you covered.

Step-by-Step Poster Design

At Kaizen, our clients are at the heart of everything we do. If you decide to involve our expertise in your poster design, we will take you through a step-by-step process and involve your opinion at every stage.

Initially, we will conduct a meeting with you and once the primary stages are outlined, our client services team will be in touch with our design briefing sheets. Once you have provided us with all the required elements and a detailed brief, including content, logos, brand guidelines etc., the fun can begin. 

To discuss a creative project in poster design for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Tips and Tricks for your Logo Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Logo design is undoubtedly, one of, if not the most important design tool for a business starting out. It is the overall and primary identifier of your organisation. Often the first and most recognisable design element for customers, clients and competitors.

In the initial stages of developing a brand, logo design is often to the fore of importance. As the first step in brand development, there should be a detailed and considerable amount of time spent on logo design. This will ensure that the design begins to take shape how you would like it to, from the outset and throughout the branding stages.

Relatable Logos

When designing your logo, it is important to incorporate elements that are relatable to your brand and your organisation. Doing this will ensure a consistent and recognisable association between your logo and your brand. Failing to achieve a relatable logo may result in your customers failing to develop an affiliation with your design.

No matter how big or small your organisation, your logo must clearly convey your purpose, vision and goals. The use of a professional and identifiable logo design will guarantee your organisation is positioned perfectly for the products and services that you offer.

Logo Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Branding is our specialty at Kaizen Brand Evolution. We have created numerous logo designs for organisations across Belfast, Dublin and much further afield.

We take massive pride in our work and are pleased to say our customers also take great pride in our results. Our widespread experience makes us industry experts, with a keen eye for excellent logo design. Our graphic design team is one of the largest, and our focus is always on boosting our knowledge and bettering our services to suit the needs and wants of businesses, just like yours.

Invest in your Logo Design

Like everything, the amount invested into logo design will depend on your organisation, your aspirations and your end goal.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we tailor each project according to the deliverables and outputs of your design. Our bespoke service offers an initial consultation with clients, to generate a detailed understanding of the logo design plan and expectations.

Once our initial consultation is complete, we will create a detailed timeline and quote for your logo design, ensuring you are continuously kept in the loop of your design journey.

Logo Design Creation Timeframe

For every design project, there are different timeframes required. Fortunately, at Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have completed numerous projects to allow us to create a guide timeframe for you.

We are proud to maintain a robust design process that enables optimum output in the shortest period of time. Our guided timeframe for logo design creations is based on the 2–3-week mark but can vary depending on your project.

Logo Formats and Formalities

To ensure you have full accessibility of your logo, we will ensure we provide them to you in numerous formats, including digital and print. We will work to meet your requirements but our most common outputs for print are eps and pdf. On the digital side, we can create your logo design as a jpg or a png.

Additionally, your logo may come in numerous different varieties and all of these will be provided to you in all formats. Whether your logo has numerous different colour options or alternating foundations, we will ensure you have all elements on hand, at all times.

Your Rights, Your Logo

On completion of your project, we pass all ownership of the logo to you. This means that your organisation logo is all yours and you own the copyright. We will send over all files once we have received full payment from you and the exciting part begins. You have full disclosure to use the logo how you please.

Even more, we will keep a trustworthy backup of all project files on our system, just in case you do not have access to them at any stage, for any reason.

Logo Design Flexibility

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we offer full flexibility on our services when it comes to location. Yes, we are a Belfast based studio, however our client services spread far and wide across the world.

Through remote platforms, we can connect with clients to create logo designs internationally. Whether you are in Newry or New York, we can level up your logo design.

Get in Touch

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team.

The Benefits of Brand Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

A brand design is the visual representation that people hold of your business. From the initial first impressions, to the lasting familiar image, it is paramount that your organisation holds a relatable and innovative brand design that will catch the attention of customers, clients and stakeholders.

A brand design is an extremely important element of the branding process. The design that your organisation holds is essentially the visualisation that will promote your organisation as a whole, as well as the more intricate details. These details include representing your brand strategy, vision, goals, personality and much more. 

A premium design promotes a premium brand 

“You can’t judge a book by its cover”

A term we are all too familiar with, yet, we all do exactly that. Although we mean no harm, we create judgemental decisions, based on our impressions of how things initially look and appear. This is no different when it comes to judging brands on their design.

In the initial stages of development, it is advised that consideration is granted to the design execution. A carefully executed brand design will place your organisation as a reliable, trustworthy and established company.

Gaining and maintaining this respect and established identity is massively beneficial for your organisation, especially in the early stages. Nonetheless, it is also beneficial for long-established organisations to conduct a brand redesign, in order to boost existing opinions and better position your brand for future consideration.

Promote a consistent Brand Identity

Design is not only beneficial for gaining an established identity or promoting a recognisable visual identity. It is also important to promote consistency. When it comes to promoting your organisation, there are numerous platforms and arenas that your brand will be showcased.

Whether it is online through websites, social media or advertisements or physically, in events, posters, billboards or retail, it is paramount to maintain a consistent design. Consistency will create a sense of unity in your brand and promote a recognisable and dependable identity.

Common misconceptions with Brand Design

When we consider brand design, we often draw attention and focus towards the logo. It is important to understand that design stretches beyond logo design but incidentally, it is a great starting point in the process.

When thinking about brand design, it must cover numerous elements, including the logo, the visual elements to promotional tools, such as posters, merchandise, packaging and retail.

Your brand design is what people visualise when they think of your product, service or organisation. Branding and design educates and describes your offering when you’re not there to do so.

Brand Design with Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have a team of experienced graphic designers. We have worked alongside organisations across the UK, Ireland and beyond, creating premium, consistent and recognisable brand designs.

Our established experience positions us as industry experts. With widespread knowledge in delivering successful brand design packages for all types of organisations, including B2B, B2C and third sector, we have a vast experience in creating brands that engage your audiences.

Whether you are starting out and need a new innovative design for your business or you are an established organisation who requires a revamp, we can boost your brand massively. Through creating brand designs that can add significant value to your products or services, Kaizen create meaningful change and evolve every brand through innovative design.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we strive to create successful and commercially driven brand designs. Each brand design that we conduct is unique and bespoke to your business, promoting the key areas of performance and ensuring a stand-out reputation.

In every brand project we deliver the following outputs:

  • Logo Design
  • Brand Language
  • Brand Narrative
  • Typography Styling
  • Colour Palette
  • Tone of Voice
  • Photography Direction
  • Illustrative Direction
  • Brand Guidelines

Brand Designs that deliver

We understand and value the importance of individuality when it comes to brand identity. Incidentally, we approach every task with a clean slate and open mind. Through detailed research and collaboration with the team behind your organisation, we will create an exciting, innovative brand design that will showcase the drive and ambition that lives in your brand identity.

Over the years, our experienced team have developed wonderful brand designs for numerous popular organisations, including some household names, such as Slims Healthy Kitchen, Punchestown Racecourse and Applegreen.

Start a project with us

Our team are enthusiastic to create an innovative, recognisable and premium brand design for your organisation. We also understand that the process can be daunting and unknown to your team, therefore we promise to provide a detailed introduction to the service and walk you through every stage. We aspire to showcase the endless opportunities that brand design can provide for your organisation.

Revamp with Brand Research & Development

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

In order to generate an understanding and build ideas of an industry, business or environment, we must conduct thorough research and development. By completing a successful research and development process, organisations can collate in-depth information, brand-new ideas and methods to boost and improve their businesses position in their industry.

Research and development not only provides a detailed understanding into the industry in which an organisation works from, but it also provides opportunities to expand into new areas and unveil gaps in the industry.

Showcasing this forward thinking not only enables organisations to remain relevant, it also provides the opportunity to exceed expectations and position themselves in front of competitors, filling the gap in the market.

The aim of conducting Brand Research & Development

In the initial stages of conducting a brand research project, it is important to carefully look at the industry as a whole. Once this has been explored, you should hold a detailed understanding of the industry itself, your competitors and your customers.

Incorporating the opinions of others will be advantageous, enabling an understanding of what they are happy with, what they want or need from your organisation and what they would like to see change in the future. 

When you have gathered this information, you should be able to clearly outline a plan for development. These developments could include changes to existing products or services within your organisation, the adaption to change through incorporating new assets or an overall revamp.

Whatever changes you do decide to make, must be calculated and beneficial for your organisation in the current market, or in a new market you are trying to break into.

Research & Development can encourage an innovative brand

Conducting brand research and development is a valuable exercise for organisations. Although it can be time consuming, it will hold useful outcomes for the success of a brand in the long term.

Continuous research and development will position your business as an innovative and evolutionary brand. To ensure you keep up with the ever-evolving trends, it is important to hold an up-to-date understanding of the environment in which you trade in.

Failing to carry out regular research and development can result in futile investment in areas that no longer benefit your brand. For example, a product that was once massively popular, may no longer hold the same position in the market, therefore the investment into this product is impractical and the funds could be invested elsewhere, boosting your brand and bettering your position in the industry.

Research & Development at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are passionate about success and innovation. We aspire to help your brand achieve its potential through detailed Brand Research and Development.

Is your business not performing to the standard it should be? This is an extremely disappointing problem that can arise and it is important to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible to avoid future performance issues.

If your organisation isn’t doing as well as you had anticipated and you don’t know the reason why this is happening, we can help you out.

Evaluation

To understand and make sense of your current position in the market, Kaizen can evaluate your brand. This evaluation will allow us to assess your organisations pitfalls, which allows us to adjust your course to enable your business to get back on track.

Objective viewpoint

During our research and development, we take an objective viewpoint towards your organisation. This permits us to compile an educated document, outlining the areas that we believe would benefit from development or a revamp.

Steering you in the right direction

Our experienced team of brand experts will conduct thorough research and development for your organisation. Through this, we will assess every inch of your brand to ensure we get an in-depth understanding of the position it holds, the areas it is performing well in, the issues that it is facing and the opportunities it holds. This detailed understanding and insight will enable us to steer your organisation in the right direction for the future.

Insight, suggestions and improvements

With our insight gathered through brand research and development, our team are able to provide you with active suggestions on how to improve your brand. This can be done through creating brand guidelines and brand strategies, boosting your brands potential and providing you with achievable and reachable aspirations for your brands future, with a step-by-step guide on how to get there.

Get in Touch with Kaizen Brand Evolution

Does your organisation require brand research and development to ensure it remains relevant in 2022? We have you covered.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have a team of experienced brand designers. Our first-hand industry experience guarantees a unique understanding of research and development into the obstacles, advantages and opportunities faced by organisations. With this knowledge, we strive to deliver a high-quality service that will boost your brand massively.

Inspiration for your Brand Implementation

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Congratulations on your new brand, a wonderful achievement for your business. However, the evolution does not stop there. The next steps are just as crucial to ensure your branding is presented in the highest value possible.

Brand Implementation is an essential part of any brand creation and a step in the process that is often overlooked. A new brand is an exciting, evolutionary experience for your business. Yet, if it is not showcased appropriately, it can develop a motionless and stagnant reputation.

Don’t forget to show off what you have created!  

When conducting a brand refresh, organisations will gladly invest large sums of money into the creation of a robust and engaging brand identity. From research to design to campaign consideration, businesses will often invest as much as it takes to position their company in the best light possible. Yet, when it comes to showcasing all of this to the world, this can often fall short.

Share your ever-evolving brand

Brand Implementation is paramount, to display your brand refresh and deliver the desired message about your organisation in your industry and beyond.

When you have created your new brand, it is paramount to showcase to your customers, clients, stakeholders and wider audience that your organisation is constantly developing, growing and excelling. Promoting your rebrand is just as important, if not more important than creating it.

Tell your story

Organisations share their story through their branding. In order for a brand to be successful, people must be able to see it, hear about it and hold an engaging connection with it.

Delivering a successful Brand Implementation

Whether you have conducted a brand refresh or created a new, exciting brand from scratch, it is important to let the world in on your exciting project, as soon as possible. This can be implemented through numerous platforms, encompassing physical, digital, word-of-mouth and more.

Traditional Brand Implementation

One way to implement your brand would be through producing printable goods. Common examples of physical brand implementation would be posters, business cards and flyers. For example, if your brand is a shop, it may be a good idea for some brochures advertising the good you sell, or if you work remotely, business cards may be an ideal investment.

Here at Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are lucky to have a wonderful sister company and printing studio, Kaizen Print. This service provides convenience and opportunities for our clients, wherein Kaizen Print can create premium physical products for your business. From small format, to large format printing, Kaizen Print have you covered, ensuring you have a high-quality, eye-catching brand implementation people will remember.

Digital Brand Implementation

On the other hand, digital brand implementation is an extremely widespread area of opportunity. This is how your organisation appears online, including your website, making sure it is purposeful, engaging and designed well. As well as this, it is paramount to ensure your social accounts are designed purposefully and catch the attention of online users. It is important to make the most of these useful tools to help increase your brand awareness and sales.

Digital brand implementation can be exciting and engaging across numerous platforms. At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we can help you implement this to the highest of standards. Our esteemed design team can create revolutionary designs that will be sure to make your brand promotion stand out. From website banners, to social media assets, we have your digital brand implementation covered.   

Brand Implementation is Continuous

A common occurrence that organisations can face is an initial brand implementation and a failure to continuously promote afterwards. It is important for businesses to realise that brand implementation is a continuous task and must be applied at all times.

Incidentally, brand implementation is an unremitting part of the branding, marketing and advertising process for any business. In order for an organisation to achieve and maintain recognition, brand implementation must remain continuous and steady via all communication and publication channels.

Get in touch with Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen, we specialise in evolving brands, creating and maintaining modern identities that you will love.

We also recognise how important continuous brand implementation is. With widespread branding experience, we have worked across a vast industry base, including hospitality, finance, IT, print and science, effectively sharing company messages, communicating their stories and delivering evolution.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, the customer is at the heart of everything we do. We will work directly with you to showcase your company to the highest of standards.

Get in touch with Kaizen today.

Pro Tips for Brand Profiling

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

In order for a product or service to excel, it needs to have an appropriate, relatable brand profiling. Additionally, it is important that the business holds a detailed understanding of customers, clients and potential investors.

Arguably, many business owners hold an understanding of their brand, customers and competitors. However, this is often a generalised understanding that requires more depth and consideration.

To gain a thorough understanding of customers, it is important that brands follow a brand profiling process. This will permit business owners to consider the brand persona associated with the stakeholders within the organisation.

Brand Profiling: A Misunderstood Process

Brand profiling can be a misunderstood. It is essentially the process wherein an organisation discovers and develops a brand personality. In this process, it is important to create a brand profile that will not only represent your brand in an appropriate way but also in a manner that will engage with and resonate with your target audience. 

A brand profile should embody what your brand has to offer and clearly outline the reasons why it offers a particular product or service.

When should my business conduct Brand Profiling?

When it comes to brand profiling, organisations must conduct this as regularly as possible. Doing this ensures that your brand profile is up to date, as well as your knowledge of customers, clients and stakeholders.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we carry out brand profiling on a regular basis. This is conducted multiple times a year and particularly when we introduce a new service into our brand.

Kaizen Brand Evolution: Brand Profiling

At Kaizen, we are an experienced team of experts when it comes to all things branding. We have conducted brand profiling for many businesses across numerous sectors, including PLCs, FMCG consumer brands and private organisations.

We would advise that businesses who operate in a B2B and B2C market, as well as those in third sector organisations invest in brand profiling. This will enable a boost in communication with their customers, clients and stakeholders.

The Importance of Getting it Right

When brand profiling, it is important to dedicate time to research and development. It is paramount to design a brand profile that relates to the organisation it represents. When researching, it is beneficial to consider your brand strategy and concept, including core values, goals and mission statement.

Brand Profiling Process

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, our clients are at the heart of everything we do. We involve our clients to ensure the best possible outcome. When conducting brand profiling, we initially speak to the client to find out what you want. The vision of the client will be evolved through looking at how a business acts both internally and to its customers.

When the research is concluded and all of the relevant information is obtained, the team at Kaizen begin to research how the brand functions. This covers how team members communicate for the brand, how they act and how they react.

This observation will be carefully curated into the company brand guidelines. This will ensure that all organisation members are on the same page, using the correct language, tone and actions. This also avoids team members going “off-brand” which can be damaging for brand identity and reputation.

Think, Feel, Say & Do

Using techniques trained in by IBM, we develop our core personas across an avatar or multiple avatars. We use the distinct areas of Think, Feel, Say & Do to fully understand the factors that affect our personas decisions to use or buy from us, or otherwise. This process is usually conducted as a workshop whereby our commercial and design team leads prompt and shape the process of brand profiling.

This process is incredibly powerful in removing any doubt of who our customers are and it incredibly worthwhile to engage in, regardless of the stage you are in with your branding.

Start Brand Profiling Today

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have an esteemed design team in Belfast. Omagh and Dublin, with widespread experience. Our designers understand both the functional and technical requirements and can use their expertise to blend the two into a beautifully executed brand.

To start a project with Kaizen Brand Evolution, please get in touch with our team on 028 9507 2007.

Stand Out with your Brand Strategy

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

When starting a business, there are so many exciting areas of thought, preparation and execution. From the location, the products and services, to the name and logo design; we can often become completely consumed and forget to pause and reflect on the purpose and goal of the brand. The brand strategy is an essential piece of the puzzle when it comes to starting or re-branding an organisation. It is often considered the driving force across all aspects of the organisation.

Having a robust and well thought out strategy will be a massive benefit to your success. Whether your focus is a product or service, it is crucial to hold reachable goals that are outlined and identifiable through a road map that guides and shapes your project. Incidentally, a well thought out brand strategy will be an essential asset in guaranteeing the utmost prospect to be successful in the long term.

What is a Brand Strategy?

A brand strategy is a detailed and comprehensive plan. The goal is to clearly outline the purpose of your brand, what it aspires to achieve, how it plans to do that and the reasons for your project.

Creating a Brand Strategy

In order to create a robust and attainable brand strategy, there are numerous areas that should be discussed and implemented into the plan.

It is important to consider your brand objectives, this includes the goals and aspirations of your organisation. When developing brand objectives, people often incorporate the SMART acronym, including smart, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-measured objectives.

Secondly, it is a must that you consider the key customer attributes or personas. Modern day customers must be treated with the greatest importance to safeguard loyalty and satisfaction. When creating a brand strategy, it is paramount to consider the position of customers and ensure they are wholeheartedly incorporated into the strategy for success.

Finally, to succeed in creating a successful brand strategy, an organisation must highlight their definition of success within the project. The success of an organisation is often subjective and can be difficult to clearly measure. Yet, it is important to carefully consider and highlight a specific definition of success that is unique to your organisation.

Professional Brand Development

Involving a professional team of brand creators into your project will be massively beneficial for your organisation. Collaborative and experience driven discussions will aid the development of a justifiable and attainable strategy.

No matter the type of business, whether it is a new-start, an established company looking to rebrand or an international firm seeking a strategy revamp, we can help. The team at Kaizen Brand Evolution are experienced industry experts who are more than happy to assist in the creation of your brand strategy. Our outstanding industry knowledge in developing strategies for products and services is second to none.

How to Create a Successful Brand Strategy

Through collaborative discussion, we will assist you in defining the purpose and goals of your organisation. These elements will contribute to the development of a successful strategy that conveys the personality and motivation of your business.

The creative experts at Kaizen Brand Evolution are qualified in identifying measurable objectives, key persona profiling and driving success. We take pride in our ability to precisely recognise the areas that stand out to potential customers and clients, as well as the key factors that influence consumer decision-making.  

The Ever-Changing Environment

A brand strategy must remain variable throughout an organisations progress to allow for amendments and evolution to suit the success and expansion of the project if applicable. On the other hand, a brand strategy must also remain variable to adapt and overcome any implications that may occur unexpectedly.

In the modern day, our environment and popular culture is constantly evolving and changing. It is important to ensure that organisations consider these ever-changing ideologies and adapt their strategy to meet the current demands, trends and purposes. Doing this will ensure your business remains relevant, purposeful and successful in the long term, not simply through a passing phase.

Brand Strategy at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have assisted numerous businesses in the creation and development of their brand strategy. If this is something that you are considering, please get in touch with our team of experts to discuss your strategy on 028 9507 2007 or via our contact form on our website and we’ll arrange a meeting.

Better your Business with a Brand Audit

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

In order to progress and evolve, it is important to monitor our successes and failures to learn and grow from them. This is extremely important when it comes to running a successful business. To understand your organisation’s position in the market, you must conduct a brand audit.

A brand audit is an excellent method used to discover the inner workings of our business through analysing why certain things work and why other things do not. Additionally, it will create a clear outline of your organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

In our ever-changing world, it is extremely important to always reflect on your business and ensure it continues to function at the highest of standards to safeguard success and return on investment. If your organisation begins to fall behind in terms of progress, there will be a rapid decline in interest, success and position in the market. Therefore, the importance of reflection and development is key.

This is when a brand audit can come in to save the day.

What is a Brand Audit?

A brand audit is a project that is implemented by industry professionals, to discover and highlight your businesses prospects. Within a brand audit project, research is conducted to understand your business and the markets that you operate in. Brand Audits take a respectful review of your market, and outline the opportunities that you can take advantage of, as well as the challenges you may face and how to manage these.

Why choose us to conduct your Brand Audit?

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are an esteemed team of experts who aspire to assist your business in their growth as much as possible. Through widespread experience, we have worked with organisations across numerous sectors, including start-ups, established businesses and international firms.

Incidentally, we have a detailed understanding of the requirements of all types of businesses and believe we have the knowledge and expertise to deliver a brand audit successfully for your business, no matter its status or sector.

Refresh your Position

Understandably, it can be difficult to recognise the strengths and weaknesses within your business from an insider point of view, therefore the involvement of an external expert is massively beneficial.

Whether you want to better your position in your current market through an evolved unique selling point, or if you want to excel in a brand-new market that you have never explored before, a brand audit will unveil the areas in which you can refresh your position.

We understand the potential reluctance and hesitancy to change your brand. To ensure an organic and natural transition, we respectfully challenge your position in the marketplace and work collaboratively with you to fully understand the opportunities and challenges that your business faces.

With a collaborative approach, our team can work alongside your organisation to gain an informative insight that will enable a detailed and correct brand audit to highlight numerous ways to evolve as a brand.

Focusing in on the areas that your organisation is not performing to the expected standard in, we will take an all-encompassing approach and outline ways in which you could improve both in that specific area and overall. Additionally, a brand audit will seek out areas that your business does not have a presence in and consider the potential benefits of introducing a presence in these areas.

The 3-Step Brand Audit Process

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, once we have completed a detailed brand audit for your business, we will create and present 3 individual brand concepts to your management team. It is important to note that a brand audit will result in a brand refresh, not a complete company rebrand, therefore the concept is not as scary and overwhelming as it may initially seem.

Concept No.1 – The Safe Option

The first concept that we will present to your business is that of a safe method. This concept will be a detailed evolution of your existing brand design to provide a much-needed refresh. Although a safe option, it will still deliver in boosting your position in the market.

Concept No.2 – Exploring your Design

Secondly, we will step out of your comfort zone slightly and objectively explore designs and opportunities that meet and exceed the requirements of your organisation.

Concept No.3 – Wild Card

In the third brand audit concept, we love to push the boundaries and exceed all expectations. We utilise our creative flair and pitch an evolved, objective brand that completely transforms your businesses current position.

Why 3-Steps?

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have conducted hundreds of brand audits for numerous businesses and have found that by providing 3 individually thought out and researched brand options, we encourage collaborative discussions and assist in the decision-making process. Additionally, we often find that businesses take elements from each of the 3 concepts, which can be extremely beneficial.

A Successful Brand Audit at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Once carefully executed, an effective brand audit will have visibly acknowledged and placed your organisation in high regard in both existing and new markets.

Our brand audit projects are executed with utmost effort and detail. To ensure your brand audit is implemented successfully, we enforce a 4-week timeline to allow our creative team of experts the appropriate amount of time to research and develop your audit.

We understand that time is an extremely important asset for any business and aim to be as productive as possible when conducting your audit. Nonetheless, we also understand the importance of a detailed, premium and robust execution that we believe is worth the wait.

When it comes to cost, each and every business is different. Depending on a variety of factors unique to your organisation, we will create a unique quote for a brand audit with us. Get in touch with our team of experts for an initial discussion on your potential brand audit and we will be able to provide all the important details you need to make the all-important decisions.

To discuss a project with us, contact Kaizen Brand Evolution on 028 9507 2007 or email us via the contact page.

Why not update your Wayfinding Design?

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Wayfinding design is an informative experience, guiding and navigating people through their surroundings. From arrow markers to social distancing stickers, the opportunities are endless to deliver an easily understood wayfinding design.

The goal of wayfinding design is to steer individuals in the correct direction in difficult to navigate settings. To achieve these goals wayfinding design must incorporate the correct language, typography, colour palette and represent your brand identity clearly.

When designing wayfinding, it is important to understand the visual and physical clues that are beneficial and often necessary to pull people through a space without the need for intensive and unpleasant signage.

Wayfinding plays an important part of each and every interpretive journey. Undoubtedly, signage and notices have a significant role in navigating and leading visitors through spaces. Though the benefits of wayfinding prove overriding and effective, providing an intuitive, comfortable and enjoyable experience for guests.

Whether you need to kit out a small workplace or a massive company warehouse or head office, it is paramount that attendees are appropriately directed through your space using wayfinding design.

Invest in your Brand Identity through Wayfinding Design

Many make the neglectful decision to purchase cheap and typical signage for their business. Failing to invest in wayfinding can result in complications for your visitors, leading to confusion and mix-ups for.  Additionally, choosing to use poorly designed and created signage can depreciate your organisations reputation and brand identity.

When developing a brand identity, it is vital to incorporate your brand guidelines and house style into all elements of your business. This is equally as important when it comes to internal assets, such as wayfinding. To promote and represent your brand highly, it is important to remain consistent in your design.

Provide Comfort and Clarity for your Visitors

When visiting your business, you want attendees to feel comfortable and secure in their surroundings. Creating informative and engaging wayfinding design will enforce an understandable and interactive navigation tool for visitors. This will not only ensure they are aware of where they are, where they have to go and how to get there, but it will also enforce a sense of security in their visit. 

Promote your Brand Character through Innovative Design

Through creating and using wayfinding design that is unique to your organisation, massive opportunities are available. Using wayfinding is an innovative way to further promote your brand identity and unique character through providing an exciting, collaborative and engaging journey through your brand location.

Promoting a clear and unique brand character is a beneficial tool for organisations as it encourages visitors to remember and think fondly of your brand in the future.

The Different Types of Wayfinding Design

According to wayfinding expert Ernest Dwight, there are four different types of wayfinding design, including identification, directional, informational, and regulatory signs.

Identification

Identification wayfinding design provides an informative explanation to visitors, outlining where they are currently located. Commonly recognisable identification wayfinding signage is used in offices, outlining rooms such as ‘Meeting Room’ ‘Canteen’ and ‘Boardroom’. Additionally, identification wayfinding is commonly used when outlining ‘Toilet’, ‘Bin’ and ‘Parking’.

Directional 

The most common form of wayfinding design is directional. Directional wayfinding assists in navigating individuals in their journey around a particular location. Common directional signs point out entrances, exits, staircases and overall, provide direction when necessary.

Regulatory

Regulatory wayfinding is a particularly important design, notifying individuals of regulations, rules and laws. These signs are essential when it comes to ensuring safety and compliance. Providing individuals with necessary information, including warnings, guidance and alerts, common regulatory wayfinding can be identified as ‘No Parking’, ‘No Smoking’ and ‘Wear a Mask’.

Informational

The final type of wayfinding design is informational. Providing beneficial information to individuals, informational wayfinding is commonly used to provide answers to frequently asked questions, including ‘WIFI Available’, ‘Free Parking after 6pm’ and ‘Children go FREE’.

Wayfinding Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we can help you evolve and boost your brand identity through wayfinding design. We can help you with the design and execution, ensuring this is implemented correctly and successfully.

Wayfinding can be confusing and inconsistent if it is difficult to understand and interpret. Our graphic designers are experienced in creating clear, attractive and unique wayfinding designs, allowing visitors to experience a smooth and enjoyable journey.

We aspire to create wayfinding designs that make visitors almost spend as much time looking at it as they do with whatever they are on-site to see.

To discuss a creative project in for your business, get in touch with our esteemed team of graphic designers via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Discover with Digital Presentations

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

In recent times, the involvement of online communication and digital presentations has increased in our daily lives. Whether it is meetings, events or presentations, we now have multiple options for the structure of this communication; be it in person, on zoom or via communication platforms such as email.

The importance of creating an engaging and interactive digital presentation has never been more important. Due to the massive increase in digital screentime, we get bored more quickly and we lose focus more easily. Unless continuously stimulated and engaged, people fail to take in information. Essentially, your presentation can fall on deaf ears and hazy eyes.

Nevertheless, these occurrences can be avoided by creating breakthrough and engaging content, particularly through digital presentations. To make an impact, people must be impressed. Impressive presentations include ground-breaking graphics; including animation, eye-catching imagery and appropriate and engaging content.

Additionally, impactful digital presentations take time, effort and experience. It is important to consider the reputation of your presentation and invest accordingly. Involving a professional graphic design team will be an invaluable tool when developing a presentation, taking a cutting-edge approach and exceeding your competitors standards. 

Reasons to Invest in a Digital Presentation

The benefits of a professionally created digital presentation are endless. A premium presentation will position your organisation as a top-quality brand, allowing you to showcase your work to clients, customers and colleagues smoothly, professionally and confidently.

If you are an independent professional, potentially running your own business, you are likely to often run your own events or attend trade shows. In this situation, a digital presentation is extremely beneficial, providing a one-click performance to fit in with your busy schedule.

Additionally, if your role requires a one to one meeting with clients, customers or even interviewees, a digital presentation could be an essential tool in boosting your productivity. Involving a professional graphic designer allows you to focus your time and attention on other areas, with knowledge that your digital presentation is in good hands, with the professionals.

Digital Presentations at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution we have vast industry experience in creating exciting, informative and interactive digital presentations. Our creative leaders host business, branding and design presentations all over the country and more recently to an international audience via Zoom.

We understand just how tough it can be to keep an audience’s attention without the appropriate resources. That’s where we come in! Using our experienced background in design, we can help tailor fit your digital presentations and pitch deck designs to ensure your audiences large and small are impressed and engaged.

A digital presentation with Kaizen could be enormously advantageous for your business. Rest assured that your presentation will be purposeful, stylish and align with your company tone of voice and brand identity.

How Do We Create Digital Presentations?

To create a revolutionary digital presentation, our team of graphic designers will initially work collaboratively with you to incorporate all the necessary assets, such as content, images, logos and brand assets. We are understanding that not all organisations have a bank of elaborate assets, therefore we will do our best to accommodate you with licensed imagery to suit your brand identity and your digital presentation if necessary.

In our experience, less is more when it comes to creating memorable and engaging designs. We recommend keeping copy to a minimum, allowing you to do the explaining collaboratively with your audience.

Once we have worked with your team to gain an in-depth understanding of your brand and digital presentation brief, we will begin the design journey. To ensure you are happy with the content, we will work on a small number of slides initially and share these with you for approval. Once you are happy with the progress, our team of graphic designers will work their magic on your presentation.

Need to Edit your Digital Presentation?

We understand that things are changing constantly. The importance of easy access to editing functions is key, ensuring figures, dates and content remains relevant.

When initially discussing your digital presentation design with you, our team will confirm your chosen software platform. We recommend using a software platform that you are proficient in and are comfortable using for editing and making amendments. Our most popular presentation software platforms are Powerpoint, Keynote, Visme and Prezi. However, if you use a bespoke system, we can work to accommodate this. 

Once your digital presentation is completed, we will provide a final document in your chosen format, allowing you to edit and amend, when and if you need to. This feature will ensure your digital presentation is up to date and relevant. Additionally, we will also provide your presentation as screen-ready in PDF format for your convenience.

Are you considering involving a professional graphic design team to create your digital presentation for your next event, meeting or pitch? Look no further. Our experienced graphic design team are happy to discuss a project with you. Through knowledge and expertise, we can assist you in your digital presentation journey, every step of the way.

Get in touch with our team on 028 9507 2007 or email us via the contact form.

Modernize with Mobile Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

It can be argued that our mobile phones are the most used, most valued and most important item in the modern day. With instantaneous access to online platforms, providing the ability to search, discover and purchase, it is paramount that our online experience with mobile design is smooth, accessible and user-friendly.

Mobile Phone: A Pocketsize Portable PC

Gone are the days where mobile phones were primarily used for phone calls and text messages. We are now firmly living in the new digital age, where convenience is king and smartphones are queen.

To search for a website is no longer a case of turning on the laptop or desktop, letting it get warmed up and tackling the internet. It is now as simple as a quick search on google and instantaneous mobile friendly results.

The Importance of Incorporating Mobile Design into your Website

When it comes to creating a website, or even implementing a website redesign, we can often become consumed by the desktop design and appearance. Indeed, the desktop design is extremely important and is likely a primary platform that businesses will be viewing your website on. However, mobile design is paramount and must not be overlooked.

Scrolling with the Touch of a Finger (Trackpads are so Last Year)

The user experience when it comes to browsing a website on a mobile phone is very different to that of browsing on a desktop or laptop. Whilst the information should remain the same, the layout will be much different.

In order to ensure all of the website information is displayed in an attractive and engaging way, the screen orientation on a smartphone will appear condensed and tailored. As we are scrolling with a touch of a finger, instead of a mouse or trackpad, it is paramount to consider this and ensure all touchpoints are easily accessible and straightforward.

Nonsensical Navigation will Lose Leads

Designing a website experience to meet the needs of mobile users is key. It is important that they have a positive journey, that will encourage them to revisit the site in future. A poor website experience can leave a lasting impression and deter users from visiting again. Therefore, first impressions are key.

Desktop Design on a Smartphone: A Tiny Text Terror

We have all been there. Scrolling contently online via our smartphones, effortlessly navigating purposively designed websites and then we hit an issue. Desktop design on mobile. A tiny text terror, complemented with a compressed layout and grainy graphics, requiring intense concentration to simply click a touchpoint.

Although your website may be fantastic, incorporating all the elements needed to impress, if it does not appear in a mobile design format, smartphone users will be deterred instantly.  

Websites incorporating mobile design should boast easily navigated pages, with large text and images. Essentially, a simplistic version of your desktop website to deliver convenience and instantaneous information to mobile users.

Smartphone Users Spend More Time Online

Admit it or not, we are all guilty of the hypnotising scroll. Once we fall into the trance, it is hard to snap out of it. Surprisingly, the addictive nature attached to smartphone usage can be a massive benefit for companies who run an online business.

Arguably, we spent a lot more time online via our mobile devices than we do on our desktops. This is likely due to the portable, instantaneous access and it is paramount that businesses take advantage of this through creating an impressive mobile design for their website.

Whether it is on the bus, on the couch or on lunch, people are always using their mobile phones online. Catch their attention with your website and you could be onto something good.

Mobile Design for your Website with Kaizen Brand Evolution

Here at Kaizen Brand Evolution, we work collaboratively with organisations to ensure they receive a website that meets their needs as well as adhering to the latest trends and styles of mobile design.

With more people on the move and using their mobile devices to communicate with others, Mobile Design is vital. It is important that that people can access your business from anywhere at any time and using any device.

When designing a website, it is our duty and priority to ensure that your website is desktop and mobile compatible. This ensures it is both functionable and accessible for all online users.

To start a conversation about mobile design, please call 028 9507 2007 or email us via the contact page

We can help YOU with Website Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Strong website design is vital for any business. Online presence is without a doubt the most important presence any organisation can have in the modern day.

Before we even consider purchasing a product or service, we conduct research online, navigating websites, comparing options and ensuring our purchase decision is the right one.

The online world has never been more competitive and the only way to remain consistent and relevant in success is to evolve, grow and transform your position in the market.

Does your website need a redesign?

In many things, we get stuck in our ways… don’t fix what isn’t broken, right? Wrong. When it comes to website design, it is important to always be open to change and evolution.

The ‘sell-by-date’ of a website is a unique concept, wherein it differs depending on the business and their current position.

Websites that were professionally developed in the first place may require minor tweaks every now and then to maintain a modern and evolving reputation. Whereas armature and poorly developed websites may require some intense TLC.

Welcome with your website design, don’t discourage!

It is advised that you update your website every few years, to keep up with the ever-changing trends. Online users have become accustomed to the increasing easy access and navigating through platforms. As a result of this, users can become extremely frustrated if this premium navigation is not evident across all websites and applications they visit.

The difficulties that may arise as a result of an out-dated website can be detrimental to your organisations online presence, as well as your overall success. Problematic website navigation can lead to customers going elsewhere, for an easier consumer journey to find what they are looking for.

Additionally, outdated website design can reduce trust in your organisation. The rise in online scams have resulted in consumers taking a more guarded and conscious approach to their online habits. Commonly, a dated and unfortunate website design can raise alarm bells, leading to questionable connotations and reluctancy to trust your brand.

Everything needs an update every now and then

Like everything in life, updates and revamps are required. We all change our car, our bedroom design and our wardrobes without hesitation, why should this be any different with our website design? Although it may continue to serve you well and function like clockwork, websites get tired and old – just like the rest of us.  

To beat the aging algorithm, it is recommended that you evolve your website design to ensure it remains relevant as time goes on. Website design can be as simple as a few minor updates or it can be a complete website re-vamp, depending on your requirements.

First impressions are key

When creating a business, first impressions are key. The same applies when it comes to website design. Yes, you may have loyal customers who continue to support your brand over the years. But you will also have potential customers, who have never heard of your business before, that need to be impressed.

First impressions are so important, especially when it comes to website design. Consider your website and your physical store to be on equal par. If you knew a brand-new customer was going to visit your store, you would ensure it was presented beautifully to impress the potential customer.

This should be no different when presenting your website. It is exactly the same at the end of the day, a customer will visit your site to achieve a first impression of what you offer. Hence, it is paramount that your website design is also presented beautifully to impress the potential customer.

Website Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we are proud to have a detailed portfolio, having designed and developed hundreds of websites for clients universally. From small brochure style sites, to enterprise level e-commerce stores, we can progress and evolve your online presence to boost and deliver results.

Focusing on creating and redesigning websites that provide consumers with a smooth, efficient and enjoyable online journey is the overall goal. At Kaizen Brand Evolution we match creativity and passion with the technical capability to develop your website into one your customers will love.

Don’t forget the data

With the first-hand knowledge and awareness of the competitiveness throughout online platforms, we place a heightened importance on data driven website design and development.

Kaizen Brand Evolution are a data driven company and use these insights to create a detailed understanding of your customer requirements and habits, achieving the most effective and targeted website possible. 

What we offer in Website Design

We are fortunate to hold esteemed experience in website design. Through working with numerous businesses in both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, as well as further afield, we have developed a robust understanding of the industry.

Whatever your web design project, we’d love to hear from you. To start your website development with Kaizen Brand Evolution, please call us on 028 9507 2007 or email us via the contact form.

What is the Fascination with Animation?

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

We are all guilty of the constant scroll, image after image, click after click; an endless trance, often failing to take in the information at hand.

The overall goal with digital content is to catch the attention of users. We aim to stand out from the crowd and make an impact; stop them in their scroll. In the modern day, it is harder to do this due to the easy access and over saturation through online platforms.

The only way to guarantee that your content is king, is to do something different, something unique and something revolutionary.

Motion Graphics and Animation

Motion Graphics and Animation are visual concepts, commonly short videos, gifs and infographics used across digital platforms, including websites, emails, social media and digital advertisements.

The Perks of Animation

Alternative to a static image, motion graphics and animation are an eye-catching method of communication. Delivering much more than a simple message, animation allows the story to evolve and interchange, creating a connection with viewers that will leave a lasting impression.

Boost your SEO with Motion Graphics and Animation

Incorporating animation into your online presence is a massively beneficial tool. The algorithm used by Google often prefers visual content, resulting in a higher search ranking for your brand.

Additionally, the incorporation of motion graphics and animation provide site visitors with a reason to stop, engage with your content and potentially take action. Engaging and informative animation content will result in site visitors spending more time on your page which incidentally should boost your position on search engines. 

Use your Time Wisely

In the modern day, time is more precious than ever before. Our productivity is up, our desire to fit more into the day has increased and our capability to work smarter to achieve something in less time has increased. Using our time wisely is key and people are becoming more reluctant to sit down and read an extensive text explaining something online.

Incorporating motion graphics and animation into your online presence will tackle the time sensitive principles many hold today. Through an engaging summary of information, your material can be portrayed efficiently, achieving the same, if not more impact on viewers, in a fraction of the time.

Keeping up with the New Digital Age

Our society is always evolving through new discoveries and advancements in technology. In order to maintain an evolutionary approach, your organisation must adapt to growing trends.

The emerging generations have grown up online, watching animated videos and consuming information at a rapid pace. The use of traditional articles and information documents would be lost on their high-tech intellects and incidentally would fail to achieve company goals.

To effectively target these online users, motion graphics and animation is the way forward. Incorporating collaborative information, stimulating their mind with thought-provoking statements and eye-catching content will result in engagement and achieve in conveying the message, loud and clear.

Motion Graphics and Animation: Bespoke for You

Bringing a story to life through motion graphics and animation requires careful consideration, research and a professional graphic design team.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have a team of Motion Graphic Designers, who are experienced in the field of animation, boasting an impressive portfolio of businesses across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We are proud to have worked on prestige projects for well-known organisations such as Coca-Cola, Peroni and Keogh Crisps.

The Devil is in the Detail

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, each and every project is different. We develop motion graphics and animation content that are bespoke to you and your industry to engage with and inspire your customers.

The detail executed into each project is second to none. Whether your graphic is for Twitter or Times Square, the method of producing visuals is the same, irrespective of output.

Motion Graphics and Animation at Kazien Brand Evolution

Are you considering incorporating animation in your next brand campaign? Look no further. Our experienced graphic design team are happy to discuss a project with you. Through knowledge and expertise, we can assist you in your animation journey, every step of the way.

Get in touch with our team on 028 9507 2007 or email us via the contact form.

The Many Elements of Brand Identity

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

With any organisation, brand identity is essentially the most important tool in the road to success. From brand new companies to established firms, brand identity is revolutionary; shaping businesses, products and services worldwide.

Dedicating time and effort into creating an authentic brand identity is paramount for organisations in the modern day. Placing importance on developing a brand identity will be an extremely rewarding investment for your organisation and implementing this correctly is key.

Brand Identity: Explained

A brand identity brings a sense of individuality and uniqueness to your organisation through recognisable and engaging design assets. Consistent across all platforms, your brand identity is a familiar suite of assets. This suite supports your company image and overall boost brand recognition and engagement. When creating a brand identity, there are a variety of areas to focus on. Kaizen Brand Evolution place careful consideration and importance on these.

Brand Identity Guidelines

The most identifiable organisations in the world all maintain a tight set of brand guidelines, in which they stick to in everything they create. A key element to brand identity is the brand guidelines, which essentially is a bible for your brand to adhere to, including instructions, guidance and things to avoid.

Elements within brand guidelines include logos, colours, imagery, typography, tone, narrative, language, illustration and depending on the brand, potentially many more. Although time consuming at the brands conception, creating and sticking to brand guidelines is an extremely beneficial tool in the long term. Brand guidelines enable organisations to develop and enhance their brand easily and correctly; reducing time, research and avoiding potential mistakes.

Logo Design

A company logo is a vital brand design that will engage with the public and boost brand identity. A representation to promote brand recognition, logos speak a thousand words, hence the importance it engages with your target audience and enhances identity.

Like everything in branding, consistency is key. This is no different when it comes to logo design. Inconsistency promotes an unidentifiable business reputation.  A brilliant logo will aid your organisation in boosting brand identity through many ways, including convenience. Once the consistency is established through developing a brilliant logo design, this will reduce the time, effort and resources needed when creating additional design elements.

Colour Palette

When developing a recognisable brand identity, colour palette is one of the most important elements in the suite of assets. Many identify brands based solely on their colour palette used to develop elements such as advertisements, e.g. Coca-Cola and McDonalds. This recognition is developed through consistency and is something to be admired.

When creating your own brand identity, it is important to consider your colour palette, attempting to develop a theme through your artwork. Implementing this will contribute to your developing brand identity in the future.

Typography

Holding a consistent font and typography is imperative in the identity building process to ensure clear readability as well as a steady theme. The typography essentially explains your brand to the consumer, through outlining the product or service information, hence the importance of getting it correct is second to none.

When developing the typography, font must be considered, decided on and stuck to. It is advisable that the use of alternating font design is limited within your organisation as an overflow can reduce the standard of the design and make the product difficult to read.

As part of the typography, the size and positioning of fonts should be intricately decided and added to the brand guidelines for future direction. Ensuring a consistent and carefully measured typography will ensure your brand identity is visually striking and avoids a disorderly and distasteful reputation.  

Photography Styling

As part of an attainable brand, a photography styling is required to achieve the desired visual display for your organisation. Many organisations obtain an impressive reputation based on their photography styling alone.

In the modern world of social media, particularly linking to Instagram and Pinterest, an unwavering aesthetic is paramount to achieve a high status in the eye of many consumers. The success of these photography based social media platforms alone proves the power of imagery, hence obtaining a consistent and recognisable photography style within your brand identity is advised.

Illustrative Design

When building a brand, involving a professional graphic designer with experience in developing a dependable illustrative design is advisable. Over time, your organisation will undoubtedly create numerous campaigns, require promotional assets and social media content, all of which require a design.

To achieve a premium brand identity, create an illustrative design that is unique to your brand. Doing this will ensure all content developed for your brand maintains a familiar set of in-house design features and will appear recognisable for viewers. Additionally, creating an illustrative design package will allow your organisation to create content at a faster pace, with reduced planning, briefing and preparation.

Brand Narrative

The 5 W’s: Who, When, What, Where and Why?

As human beings, we are all curious and explorative. We want to know stories, reasons and explanations. The curiosity within us is important to incorporate in the development of a brand identity through a story or narrative. Presenting a brand narrative that will engage with people and present them with an understanding of your organisations values and goals is key.

Brand loyalty stems directly from brand narrative and relatability. If a consumer, shareholder or investor relates to your story or admires it, they are likely to show interest and engage with your brand.

An example of an inspiring brand narrative that has boosted the success and popularity of a brand is Gymshark. Started by 19-year-old student Ben Frances, Gymshark has developed into one of the fastest growing brands in the fitness world. The unique narrative that Gymshark obtain is key, placing them as a driven and unique brand that will be remembered.

Language and Tone of Voice

The language and tone of voice used by a brand is extremely important, creating your theme and unique position in the market. Brand language and tone involve the words, phrases, statements and type of conversations that your organisation starts and takes part in.

With access to a constant stream of information via social media, it is important to stand out from the crowd and create a unique and engaging communicative style. As part of your brand guidelines, all members of your company should be aware of the type of language and tone of voice to use in communication, in order for all messages to appear genuine, on theme and appropriate to your brand identity.

Promoting a unique selling point (USP), using words and phrases that relate to your brand and maintaining clear copywriting rules to uphold consistency will boost customer awareness and incidentally boost brand identity in turn.

Brand Identity Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Supported by research, experience and knowledge, our professional team of graphic designers will develop a brilliant brand identity for your organisation. Through collaborative discussion and justification of decisions, your identity will adhere to agreed business objectives and represent your brand faultlessly.

Please get in touch with Kaizen Brand Evolution about the creation of your brand identity. Contact our studio by calling us on +44 (0)28 95 072 007, emailing us at studio@kaizenbrandevolution.com or filling out the form on our contact page.

Event Design: Make a Comeback to Remember

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Unfortunately, like almost everything, events have taken a backseat over the last 2 years. The anticipation surrounding the planning and preparation is something we all miss and hope to once again experience in the near future.

As the world begins to recover and reawaken, the opportunities are endless. With the correct planning and implementation, you can make a comeback to remember. 

Whether you are hosting your own event or attending a trade show, it is equally important to make a memorable impression on your audience or attendees.

Happy people tell the world, disappointed people tell the world faster.

When it comes to events, it is paramount to create a function that is to a high-standard for all in attendance. To obtain a premium reputation with customers, clients, stakeholders and potential investors, the attention to detail should be unmatched.

Event design is an extremely important element when hosting. Yet, it is a stage in preparation that commonly gets overlooked or rushed. Poorly designed and implemented event elements, such a branding is often easily spotted and this can be detrimental to your company reputation and image.

Involve a graphic design team in your event preparation

To ensure you pull out all the stops when event hosting or attending a trade show, the involvement of a graphic design team is advised, to ensure the highest quality content is produced and promoted.

Event design is a complex tool, covering many areas, including animation, website content, campaign design and promotional design. Incorporating a professional team in the event design process offers the prospect of massively amplifying brand awareness for your organisation. Using experiential design best practices will undoubtedly produce an engaging and memorable experience.

Consistency is Key

When hosting an event or attending a trade show, the overall goal is to impress your audience. In order to achieve brand recognition and create a memorable impression, consistency in event design is key. Whether your event is a one-off occurrence or a frequent experience, holding consistent design is advisable to ensure both a high standard of delivery and a familiar brand identity.

Maintaining this consistency can be difficult without the involvement of a professional in event design. Graphic designers are experienced in developing projects that hold a uniform template through meeting careful considered brand guidelines; using brand fonts, design, imagery and colours. Without the correct design knowledge, implementing event design in-house can be time consuming and unobtainable for your business.

Spectators are Supreme

When running an event or participating in a trade show, creating an engaging and impressive journey for attendees is paramount. Ensuring your event provides an engaging and immersive experience for attendees is key. This can be implemented through numerous measures, including premium design, delivering your core message in an expressive and engaging way.

Gain Expert Advice

Involving a professional in the event design for your business holds endless possibilities. Opportunities include access to advice and insight from experienced industry experts. Graphic designers are specialists in their field, working in the event industry frequently. Hence, they hold an updated and evolving understanding of trends, the event dos and don’ts and the vast opportunities available. This insight can be massively beneficial for your business, creating a competitive edge when hosting events or attending trade shows.

Event Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have widespread and detailed experience in the event industry. Through working with businesses across Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, we have developed an esteemed portfolio in event design. As well as working with businesses, we have also collaborated with event organisers directly, providing professional design advice and execution to ensure the correct display of products and design for their events.

From content design, including logos, posters, roller banners, and even packaging design for table favours to website design and animation for presentations and video features, we have you covered. Kaizen Brand Evolution can guarantee that your event design requirements are planned, implemented and executed to the highest standard, boosting your position as a premium focused organisation.

Hosting an event in 2022 or attending a trade show and want to stand out from the crowd? Kaizen Brand Evolution can help you out.

If you are interested in involving a Graphic Designer in your event design, please contact our studio by calling us on +44 (0)28 95 072 007, emailing us at studio@kaizenbrandevolution.com or filling out the form on our contact page.

Eye-Catching Label Design you will Love

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

The importance of an eye-catching and engaging label design is significant. Labels are not only informative and explanatory, they are a gateway into the exploration of a product or service.

Label design is a key marketing tool for any product or service at the point of sale. After the detailed creation, development and finalisation, your product requires an exciting and attractive promotion to catch the attention of consumers and generate the desired sales.

A Label Design that makes you LOOK

It has happened to us all… the lure of an eye-catching label has sucked us into interest. From pester power at the toy store, with beautiful barbie dolls boasting bright labels to curiosity at the convenience store, picking up a bottle of wine, simply for its ‘lovely’ label.

Situations like these are all too common for consumers and it is paramount for organisations to target this area of interest, creating labels that simply cannot be ignored.

Getting a label design right is no simple task. It requires detailed consideration and execution, incorporating the all-important characteristics that will generate interest and sales.

Uniform Branding in Label Design

When developing a label, it is important to stick to your in-house branding style as much as you can, ensuring your existing customers instantly recognise your product and potential new customers gain brand recognition and familiarity.

Maintaining a uniform design in all of your label designs will be a rewarding process. A uniform design will ensure consumers instantaneously recognise a product. This familiarity can persuade consumers to purchase it if they hold favourable opinions towards your brand. For example, although Kellogg’s have an endless selection of cereal products with unique design, they remain uniform and recognisable due to the familiar Kellogg’s logo and in-house design.

Figure out your Font

When it comes to branding, it is crucial to maintain a consistent design. This is no different with label design, particularly when it comes to font. Fonts are a vital element in the process, delivering arguably the most important details on the label, the product outline and information.

It is advisory when developing a label to limit the number of different fonts used. An overflow of font designs will make your label look cheap and difficult to read, this will immediately appear off-putting and reduce product interest.

Secondly, the size and positioning of fonts is also important to consider. Ensuring the font is the correct size avoids a crowded or difficult to read label. A balanced and visually attractive label will boast carefully measured font distribution.

Does your Label Design need Images?

When developing a label design, as previously mentioned, it is important to incorporate your in-house branding and design. Different companies will have different elements as part of their design package, some will have a stand-out logo, others will include a mascot or a catchy slogan.

Whatever your organisation boasts as part of your brand identity, it is important to incorporate this, where possible in label design. Implementing this gives your consumer a quick and familiar way to differentiate and recognise your product from its label.

Colour Co-Ordination

To put it quite simply, we are all attracted to colours, particularly bright and exciting colours. The way your product is perceived on the shelf in a store or through a scroll on a website, initially depends on the colours used in the label design, therefore it is paramount that this is implemented correctly.

Similarly to fonts, images and logos, your organisation will host an in-house colour scheme, that is recognisable to customers and unique to your brand. When developing a label design, it is advisory that you utilise your brand colours, to boost brand identity and engage in a recognisable way with consumers. Additionally, the brighter the better when it comes to colour. The goal is to make the product jump off the shelf to the attention of consumers and the incorporation of bright and joyful colours will certainly contribute to an engaging label design.

Mesmerise with Metallic Label Design

If your brand is promoting a premium product, why not go that extra mile to promote luxuriousness through your label design. Foil blocking is a beautiful embellishment used to showcase products of a high-standard in a deluxe fashion.

When a product is of a premium standard, it is important to showcase this through label design, ensuring it stands out from the crowd and is promoted to a high-standard, as deserved. Moreover, when consumers are seeking goods of a luxury status, they will expect and seek-out a refined and sophisticated label.

Label Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

Our team of graphic designers have extensive experience working with a wide range of business to create exciting and attention-grabbing labels. We can design a label that elevates your brand, without compromising on design or performance. Labels are a popular way for every business to add a personal touch to their product. On top of that, they can be a cost-effective method with a great return.

To discuss a creative project for your business, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

The ABC’s of Advertising Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Advertising design is arguably the most powerful tool within any organisation’s marketing strategy. Aimed at generating exposure, sales and brand awareness, advertising campaigns are imperative in the success of your business.

Advertising can be implemented in many ways and with our constantly evolving society, the possibilities are limitless. From print media, including newspapers, posters, flyers and billboards to digital platforms, including websites, social media and PPC advertising, the opportunities are widespread, as well as the target audiences.

The Benefits of Advertising for your Business

Advertising can and should be implemented at all times within organisations, yet many fail to understand the importance of this, until they too have executed a robust and intense advertising campaign.

The benefits of conducting an advertising campaign for your business are endless, with guaranteed positive outcomes, including an increase in brand awareness within the industry, a boost of brand recognition, promoting what your company has to offer, as well as an increase in sales and profit through promoting a call to action within your target audience and beyond.  

A Consistent Advertising Design is Key

Whether you are advertising your business through a comprehensive campaign, or simply creating a one-off advertisement, the attention to detail and uniformity remains imperative. When advertising your organisation, it is so important to engage with your audience in a recognisable way, to ensure both brand recognition as well as consistency in advertising.

When promoting an advertisement, your organisation must communicate with potential customers effectively to make an impression and achieve the anticipated outcomes. In order to achieve these results, it is advised that organisations involve a professional graphic design team to conduct their advertising design. Investing in this expert service will boast massive achievements for your advertising campaigns, positioning your business as a focused, premium and established organisation.

Advertising Through Print Media

Unfortunately, there is a common misconception within the advertising industry in the modern-day regarding print media. People fail to recognise and acknowledge the immense power and privilege presented through advertising via print media due to the outdated associations it holds.

In order to succeed in advertising, it is important that organisations remain open to advertising through a variety of platforms, including print media, to ensure they reach a variety of audiences, young and old, as well as new and existing.

Print media is an umbrella term, covering advertisements through newspapers, posters, billboards, flyers and business cards. Although these platforms are often overlooked, they continue to hold a vital position in society and it would be incompressible to ignore this in a successful advertising campaign.

The perks of print media are unmatched. Although they cannot be instantaneously published like social media or website advertisements, but they hold a lasting impression through permanent print, with their bold and engaging design.

Advertising Through Digital Platforms

Promoting your organisation through digital advertising campaigns provide endless scope and possibilities. Digital platforms are extremely influential tools when it comes to advertising, whether it is website, social media or video advertising, the potential reach is powerful and the target audience is accessible 24/7.

Involving a design team in your advertising is key when conducting digital advertising, and the industry experience obtained by the design team will undoubtedly boost exposure and insights. When advertising through digital platforms, it is important to hold a robust understanding of the opportunities and limitations of each digital platform to ensure implementation is conducted in the best possible manner, ensuring success and return on investment.

Advertising Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have an established team of graphic designers, with widespread industry experience implementing successful advertising campaigns and projects. With an impressive portfolio, we have worked alongside numerous organisations, large and small, both locally and internationally.

Our extensive experience is a massive asset for Kaizen Brand Evolution, positioning us as a knowledgeable agency, with experience in a variety of industries, providing insight into what to look for and what to avoid when advertising your organisation.

Whether you wish to conduct a robust advertising campaign to promote a brand-new product or service, or simply wish to advertise your organisation to a new and growing target audience through a one-of-post, Kaizen Brand Evolution will develop an admirable advertising design to suit your aspirations, timeline and budget. 

Through working closely with your organisation, we are able to develop an internal knowledge of your focus, visions and goals. With this in-depth knowledge, Kaizen Brand Evolution will hold an invaluable understanding of what your company is all about and how to successfully advertise them.

To discuss an advertising design project for your organisation, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

The Power of Pitch Deck Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

If implemented correctly, pitch deck design is a powerful tool used to communicate with potential investors, clients, stakeholders and partners. The goal of a pitch deck is to attract, engage and impress those who will be an invaluable asset to an organisation’s development.

What is a Pitch Deck?

A pitch deck is essentially a method utilised by businesses who are trying to boost their position in the market by incorporating investors who will provide the all-important capital that is required for success and accomplishment.

A typical pitch desk design boasts 10/15 impressive and engaging slides, incorporating a brief synopsis about your organisation, your goals and your future vision. In order to achieve the overall goal of investment, it is paramount that your pitch desk is implemented to the highest standard, showcasing your organisation in a confident and premium light.

The Power of Pictures

A key area of importance in a pitch deck design is the visualisation. It must hold an interesting design and the best way to implement this is through topical images and graphics. The use of images and graphics not only showcases your organisation visually, but also engages with viewers in a memorable way, ensuring your pitch deck is effortlessly remembered and to the fore of potential investors thinking.

Additionally, the use of imagery and graphics will also ensure your pitch desk is more exciting. Potential investors will be accustomed to long and boring pitches, with endless realms of informative text, facts and figures; this provides an all-important opportunity to be different and stand out from the crowd and gain a competitive edge.

Pitch Deck Design

In order to achieve the optimum outcome for your organisation, the involvement of a professional design team is advisory when creating a pitch deck design. Hiring a professional graphic design agency is an invaluable decision, engaging with a team of experienced designers with in-depth knowledge and understanding of the implementation of pitch deck design. Whist the content within the pitch comes from you, the delivery of this can be revolutionised through effective design and implementation.

A typical pitch deck is designed through presentation platforms such as PowerPoint, Keynote or InDesign, primarily presented via a projector board, as well as printed for physical format. When considering the design of your pitch deck, it is important that your images and graphics are premium, ensuring they will be presented in a high-quality format irrespective of the platform the pitch is being viewed on.

Content is Key

It is advisory to involve the expertise of an external design team for the implementation of your pitch deck design, but it is crucial that your internal research is top notch in order to succeed with the content involved. 

When choosing what areas to cover in your pitch, it is vital to conduct extensive research in a detailed level on your organisation. The content within your pitch should provide a journey for potential investors, showcasing your purpose, your goals, both long and short term, as well as the all-important reason why your company is a worth-while investment.

Furthermore, your content should focus not only on your organisation but also the market in which it is a part of. Conducting external research throughout the market is key, detailing your competitors, trends, downfalls and potential areas of interest in the future, within your industry. This widespread knowledge and monitoring will position you as a focused and informed organisation that will boost your impressions on potential investors.

Pitch Deck Design at Kaizen

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have an esteemed team of graphic designers with widespread experience in creating revolutionary pitch deck designs. Our tried and tested design process can be implemented for your business, working alongside your team for advisory insight throughout the design process.

We understand the importance of a quick turnaround on design. Through a robust timeline, Kaizen Brand Evolution have a team of experienced and devoted pitch deck designers that can work to deadlines that suit you and your potential investors.

Additionally, we understand there can be last minute, unavoidable changes within your pitch. With this in mind, we ensure your presentation can be edited at any time by transferring the information into your chosen software. This not only provides the option to edit if necessary but also allows you to update details that may change over a period of time between pitches.

To discuss a pitch deck design for your organisation, get in touch with Kaizen Brand Evolution via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

Annual Report Design – Telling a Compelling Story

Posted on by Michael
Irish Football Association Annual Report Design - Kaizen Brand Evolution
Irish Football Association 2020 annual report design created by Kaizen Brand Evolution

The Annual Report is a critical part of a good business marketing strategy, both internally and externally.  Above all, it is the story of your business, whether it be for your investors, your customers or even your employees.  Annual Reports typically include:

  • The company’s financial data summary
  • Financial statements
  • General corporate information
  • Auditor’s report
  • Accounting policies
  • Financial transactional highlights
  • Letter from the CEO
  • Company Partners/Members’ Portfolios

Reasons Why Annual Reports are Important

An annual report is primarily for giving company financial performance to investors, but has evolved and therefore it is key your company should go with an impactful report. Go with a professional to make the most of your annual report design.

Annual Reports Communicate With Investors

Annual Reports are an integral part of a strategy to attract and retain investors, and ultimately illustrates proper management.  Above all, regular communication is good to keep everyone informed and the annual report is your most critical communication.

Builds Customer Trust

Annual Reports inform on a company’s statistics and vision, building trust in the brand.  They are also key to conveying the company’s stability and profitability.

Attracts & Retains Employees

No longer solely for investors, the annual report reassures employees with company success and awareness of any pitfalls/issues.  In addition, annual reports illustrate that the employer understands the marketplace and above all, has a vision.

Informs & Influences the Media

Reporters monitor and give details of a company’s fiscal year performance, health and future plans for coming fiscal years. In addition, any impacts to the community are illustrated.  Therefore, a clear and concise report is paramount in ensuring the correct message is conveyed.

Highlights Achievements

The annual report recaps the company’s mission statement, history and goals.  Following, it conveys the successes over the fiscal year, including but not limited to financial success, market share achievements, research progress, or any employee awards.

Therefore, engaging your audience is key and how to engage has evolved.  Annual report design is focused on visual content which compliments the text and holds the attention of your audience.

Compelling Annual Report Design Strategies

Statistics Featured With Infographics

Infographics should be kept focused.  A high level understanding of the presented statistic must be instant and should retain the attention of your audience.  There are various infographics you can select from to present your statistics effectively:

  • Statistical
  • Timeline
  • Process
  • Geographic
  • Informational
  • Hierarchical

A professional annual report design consultation with an expert can advise on what infographics can be utilised for a most effective presentation.

Effective Data Illustration

Your annual report is the story of your company’s fiscal year.  Think of it as a story and present it as such.  Use a unique cover page to grab the audience’s attention and interest.  The cover should include infographic elements and photography to best leave a favourable impression on your audience.

Share some of the main company highlights in the beginning of your report.  Allow your audiences to understand what you want them to readily comprehend.

Effective Photography Use

Photography adds the human element to your annual report.  When utilised effectively, photography an attract and inspire investors and shareholders, having a measureable effect on their decision making.

Following determining which pages would benefit from photography use, consult with an annual report designer to position in the most compelling way to grip your audience.  High-resolution photography is best practice to use in your report design.

Make It Interactive & Engaging

Keep the audience engaged with any relevant video presentations, image presentations, GIFs, and other elements in the digital form of your report.  Various interactive elements including graphs, subtle animations and characters will assist in making your annual report more compelling.  You want your audience inspired and engaged to review your most critical communication and adding some life will guarantee that.

Comparison Infographic

Giving context to your company’s performance allows you to tell the fulsome story about your fiscal year, without any ambiguity.  Comparison infographics clearly illustrate year on year performance effectively and efficiently.  Future growth expectations can also be made impactful with the use of comparison infographics.  A professional annual report designer can assist in advising on most impactful utilisation of comparison infographics.

Create a Short Motion Graphic

Make your report enticing and exciting.  Thank, welcome and impress audiences by creating a short motion graphic to introduce your report. 

There are many elements to consider when drafting your annual report, notwithstanding the content itself.  The story is one critical element to convey, but how you iterate that story is just as crucial for a successful annual report.  Consider your audience and how you want to convey the story of your company’s fiscal year in the most engaging and enticing manner.  It is your grandest statement, therefore, your design should be grand and well laid out.

Start a Project With Us

To begin an annual report project with Kaizen, or to discuss how we might work together further, please get in touch. Our client services team are available to contact on 028 9507 2007. Alternatively you can send us a direct message via the contact form. We look forward to working with you soon!

Get Creative with Campaign Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Marketing campaigns are an extremely powerful industry tool. With the correct implementation, a marketing campaign can generate mass exposure, increase sales and boost brand identity and representation.

In order to succeed, a marketing campaign requires intense planning and preparation, in numerous areas, covering not only the here and now, but also covering the aims and objectives of the campaign and the goals on conclusion. Surprisingly, this is an area that many organisations fail to spend a lot of time on. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

It is advisory when implementing a marketing campaign to develop a step-by-step timeline, outlining the sequence of events, the elements you need to action and the channels / services you will use to promote your campaign.

One element in particular that requires consideration when actioning is the campaign design. It is indisputably important to develop a robust campaign strategy and message, but if this is not conveyed in an eye-catching and exciting way, the overall campaign success may be limited.

Importance of Campaign Design

A successful campaign requires a premium and engaging design to generate the exposure it deserves. At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we recognise how much time and effort goes into the development of a campaign. Therefore, we understand the importance that it is implemented correctly.

Boost Brand Identity

The aim of a campaign is to boost your companies position through promoting a product or service. If implemented successfully, brand identity will receive a massive boost in professionalism, credibility, understanding and reputation. These are key assets for any organisation, shaping public opinion and rewarding the dedication of your team. On the other hand, if a campaign design fails to meet industry standards, promoting an unprofessional initiative, there is likely to be a drop in company success, a loss of trust and a drop in status.

Get Them Talking!

An exciting campaign gets people talking, sparking conversation with customers, clients and competitors. Develop a campaign that can be discussed in offices, at family dinners, on the bus or through online communication.

The goal is to create eye-catching designs that will spark attention and drive conversations. To ensure the conversations are aligning with the campaign goals, it is paramount that you enforce a clear message and call to action in your campaign. At the end of the day, if people are noticing and talking about your campaign, they are assisting in the promotion by spreading the word far and wide.

Campaign Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we take pride in creating campaigns that outsmart competitors. Developing campaign designs that follow a precise timeline, Kaizen ensure your time and money are utilised wisely and productively. Through widespread experience in campaign design, across numerous industries on both a local and national scale, we take an all-encompassing approach to achieve your aims and objectives in exceeding campaign goals.

Planning and Implementation

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we recognise how important the planning stage is in campaign design. In order to develop a successful campaign, it is our duty to understand your company comprehensively.  Once educated in your field, our team of creative experts will implement a strong campaign strategy that will undoubtedly succeed.

Campaign Design at Kaizen

At Kaizen, design is our speciality. Our esteemed design studio is experienced in developing striking content that will make your campaign stand out from the crowd. From digital design, including newsletters, social cards, digital advertisements and motion video content to traditional printed design, including posters, flyers and packaging design, we have you covered.

To discuss a creative project, get in touch with our team via the contact form or on 028 95072007.

New Year, New Menu Design?

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

When it comes to menu design, keeping things fresh is key. Whether you run a Michelin Star restaurant, a diner or a café, your menu is essentially the most important asset to your business, which is why it is so important that it is designed to a high standard.

A menu design should showcase your business in all of its glory. Think of it this way… if you thought every single customer was going to see an advertising campaign on a billboard, you would spend countless amounts of time ensuring the information is engaging and useful. This should be no different when creating a menu design, because uniquely, this is exactly the case.

Essentially, a menu is a powerful marketing tool for your brand. Absolutely every customer who enters your restaurant or café will receive a menu, therefore the opportunities are endless to promote your business and boost your brand identity.

Don’t Fix What Isn’t Broken

A common misconception within the hospitality industry is that change is scary. Understandably, as the saying goes, don’t fix what isn’t broken. Your business may have a loyal clientele, who visit your restaurant or café regularly, to order the exact same thing. This alone is enough to deter organisations from making changes to their menu design.

However, it is important to understand that a menu change is not as scary as it may seem. You do not have to completely change the contents of your menu; an evolution of the design and layout can do just the trick.

Menus are Temporary, Brand Identity is Permanent

It is advisory to rotate your menu design at least twice a year, if not seasonally. Doing this will bring an element of surprise for your regular customers, as well as showcasing your business as keeping up with the current trends.

It is recommended that you redesign your menu at Christmas time, showcasing the most wonderful time of the year in a festive and exciting design. Additionally, to ensure customers are satisfied all year round, it is imperative that your menu contents contain both popular seasonal options as well as the trusty regular options.

Post-Pandemic Menu Design

Like everything, restaurants and cafés have had to adapt and overcome massive challenges over the last 2 years. However, it is important to see the potential opportunities that have presented themselves.

With menu design, there has been a massive shift in focus. From QR codes to DIY ordering, the newfound opportunities are endless. With this in mind, it is very important to ensure all the required elements are included in your menu, making the new process as straightforward as possible for customers.

Menu Design Psychology

As previously mentioned, menus are arguably one of the most powerful marketing tools to exist. Hence, a professionally executed menu design will not only boost brand identity, sales and recognition but also enhance your position as a customer focused organisation.

Your menu should be much more than a choice of food, it should capture your restaurant/café’s charm, showcase your flair and creativity, as well as the functional requirements of food options, prices, ingredients and allergy alerts.

Creating your Menu Design

Designing your menu is not a simple task. It requires considerable time and consideration. Yes, you are the expert when it comes to the contents, but it is advisable to involve a professional design studio that will implement their expertise to develop a premium menu.

Menu Design at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have an esteemed design team in Belfast and Dublin, with widespread experience in the hospitality industry. Our graphic designers understand both the functional and technical requirements of a menu and can use their expertise to blend the two into a beautifully executed design.

We have had the privilege to work alongside countless businesses in the hospitality industry, including restaurants, cafés and bars. These experiences promote an understanding of the industry and our design team always tailor service to suit your companies wants and needs.

Graphic Designers: The Key to Design Success

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

A common misconception surrounding graphic design is that can be a DIY project. Unfortunately, many companies initially fail to recognise the importance of hiring a graphic designer, often leading to a design-at-home project. The renowned reasoning behind this excuse often links to saving money. Yet, the question to ask yourself is, “you are saving money, but are you wasting time?”.

Jack of all Trades, Master of None

Amateur DIY graphic design more often than not, stands out from the crowd, for all the wrong reasons. A logo designed on Microsoft Word, a newspaper advertisement manufactured on Paint, Website Artwork crafted through Photoshop – all resourceful measures, yet the lack of creative expertise could cost your company credibility.

It is important however to acknowledge that this is not the case for all DIY graphic designers. It is becoming more common for those with a creative flair in the marketing, advertising and digital industry to evolve their skills and step into the world of graphic design. If done correctly, this can be a functional and accessible tool for organisations. Yet, it is still advised that a graphic designer is involved to implement the technical design for your business.

The Benefits of Involving Graphic Designers

Involving a graphic designer in the design process for your business provides endless opportunities. This involvement provides your business with guaranteed credibility through a professional visual portfolio. Additionally, a graphic designer aims to create a recognisable and stand-out design that will inevitably boost brand recognition and identity.

Time is Money – Save it!

As mentioned previously, companies often fail to consider the involvement of a graphic designer due to the cost involved. There is an incorrect connotation connected to graphic design, suggesting it can be done in-house, for free, begging the question, why waste the money?

Unfortunately, this statement is vastly incorrect and those who believe it, often face issues relating to time management, failing to meet deadlines and failing to showcase the company with a deserving design concept. Although investing in a graphic designer costs more money than DIY design, it saves massive amounts of time for your organisation.

As the saying goes ‘Time is Money’ and instead of wasting countless hours trying to implement a technical graphic design campaign in-house, it is advised that you invest your money in a professional graphic designer, who can produce exceptional content, in a fraction of the time.

Consistency is Key

A business should always aim to hold a recognisable brand identity. To ensure this, organisations must implement consistent designs to create and maintain a familiar company recollection with customers, clients and competitors.

Remaining consistent in design is key and without professional training, it can be difficult to maintain this. Graphic designers are accustomed to remaining consistent through brand guidelines, sticking to agreed fonts, design, colour palette and measurements. Doing this will ensure a distinct brand, constantly boosting brand identity and remaining competitive in your industry.

Ask the Expert: Graphic Designers

Supplementary to designing all of your content, a graphic designer can provide your organisation with ground-breaking insight into the industry. Graphic designers are experts in their field, with a creative flair like no other. They hold first-hand insight into the dos and don’ts of the design industry and this awareness can be crucial to your success.

Make a Lasting First Impression

Like everything in life, first impressions are key. According to Paradigm, first impressions are 94% design related. With this statistic in mind, the involvement of a professional graphic designer is paramount, ensuring the visual design is excellent, achieving the desired first impression.

Graphic Designers at Kaizen Brand Evolution

At Kaizen, graphic design is our speciality. We have implemented a huge portfolio of design projects in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

From logo design, to billboard design, we have you covered. Our design studio boasts dedication and expertise, ensuring your graphic design is implemented to the highest standard possible.

If you are interested in involving a Graphic Designer, please contact our studio by calling us on +44 (0)28 95 072 007, emailing us at studio@kaizenbrandevolution.com or filling out the form on our contact page.

Better your Brochure Design

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Amongst the noise of the marvels of modern-day marketing, traditional methods are often overlooked. Yes, we are in a new era, wherein digital, online and instant are key, yet the traditional and physical forms of marketing remain prevalent, in their own unique way.

When we consider the previous era of traditional marketing, commodities such as brochures were to the fore of power. Undeniably, their popularity has lessened but if done correctly, their power remains mighty.

The Goal of a Brochure Design

Brochures are a prevalent element of a marketing campaign for all organisations, providing massive opportunities to inform and engage with consumers, customers and competitors. If done correctly, a brochure can deliver an innovative experience, displaying your company journey in a visually engaging manner.

Creative Communication

An imperative tool for any organisation is communication with customers. In the modern day, this is easily implemented through online platforms, social posts and email subscriptions.

Although the communication market is widely available in the modern day, there are some newfound limitations linked to this. An overexposure to communication through emails, social media and websites can cause over saturation, that reduces the impact the information can have on the reader.

Incidentally, the development of brochures can create a level of individuality for your organisation and for your information. This method of communication can engage with customers on a more informative and interesting level. This is not only refreshing but also encourages the reader to embrace the information, leaving a lasting impression that may be difficult to replicate through online communication.

Important Elements in your Brochure Design

In order to make an impression on readers, your brochure must stand out from the crowd. It is imperative that your brochure has a unique design that is recognisable and boosts your brand identity.

Secondly, your brochure design should have an interesting pitch, accurate and useful information, applicable and engaging graphics and most importantly, a clear and outlined call to action. 

Call-To-Action

As mentioned above, the call to action is inevitably the most important element of your brochure design. A call-to-action will direct readers to the purpose of the brochure, which aspires for action to be implemented.

Call to actions can have numerous different purposes, from purchase points, website links, discount codes to more information. Yet their purpose is universal, aiming to achieve a reaction from readers.

To ensure readers engage with your intended call to action, it must be a stand-out visualisation. It is recommended that a larger font, a prominent colour or a boarder is used.

Additionally, people love an incentive. Especially when purchasing products or services. To achieve a better response from your call to action, it is advisory to include motivations, such as coupons, promotions or discount codes.

Evolve your Brand to Suit Demand – Interactive Brochures

In the modern era, all organisations must be proficient in adapting to change. The ever-changing trends within industries require tight monitoring and innovation to remain relevant. Incidentally, this is no different when it comes to marketing techniques. As previously mentioned, brochures are a traditional marketing tool, yet with innovative ideas, they can be evolved into a modern and digital tool.

Kaizen are committed to covering all angles for your organisation when it comes to design. When it comes to brochure design, we ensure they are designed and formatted to work in digital formats. Doing this enables widespread delivery of the service, offering both physical and online delivery.

Additionally, providing the choice for customers and clients to avail of the online brochure option is an innovative stance. This can promote your organisations corporate social responsibility, considering the environment and reducing unnecessary distribution.

With our interactive brochure designs, Kaizen can utilise advanced functionality, such as hyperlinks, UTM tracking codes and motion graphics, shaped to involve and impress your target audience.

Brochure Design with Kaizen Brand Evolution

Kaizen Brand Evolution have an esteemed team of design experts who have widespread experience in the brochure design process.

Please get in touch with our team on 028 9507 2007 or through our contact form to begin your brochure design.

Rejuvenate your Packaging Design in 2022

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

A new year brings endless opportunities. It is a time for change, a time for evolution, a time for doing better. This should be no different in your business. As your organisation enters 2022, take time to consider the areas that could do with a revival and refresh.

An asset in organisations that often gets overlooked is packaging design. Yes, it is essentially the final step in the buying and selling process for your company but is a massively important asset to your brand identity.

Whether it is packaging that will appear pride of place in your retail store, packaging that will be photographed and promoted through your online store or packaging that will be used for online orders and delivered to your valued customers door, it is important to stand out, remain consistent and boost your brand identity.

They say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but believe it or not, we all do it, especially as a consumer. Often, a packaging design alone is enough to draw your attention to a product, be it online or in-store. Incidentally, the design of your packaging has the power to make or break a customer’s buying decision.

Make a Stand-Out First Impression with your Packaging Design

First impressions are key. This is no different in the buying process. We often find ourselves gravitating towards products that hold exciting designs, be it online or instore, the likelihood is, if the design stands out, you will investigate.

On the other hand, we often find ourselves overlooking products that have poorly designed packaging. This often links to our belief on first impressions – ‘if the packaging isn’t exciting, the product inside probably isn’t either’.

This is an area wherein many organisations face issues. You can invest a fortune in your product, website, brand identity, but if your packaging fails to showcase how brilliant your product is, it is likely to fail.

Let your Packaging Design Tell your Story

When developing a packaging design, it is important to consider a brand-new customer, one who has never heard of your products or services. Taking this approach will ensure your packaging tells a story about your brand, guaranteeing that customers will understand what you are aiming to achieve.

Packaging must be educational and informative in order to work. Although it is desired that customers recognise your brand identity, this is not always the case and you must be prepared for this eventuality.

The 5 W’s

Who, When, What, Where and Why?

When creating a design for your products, it is advisory to incorporate the trusty 5 W’s. Who are your target audience? When are your target audience going to realise what the product is based on the packaging? What is the product inside the packaging and does the design represent this? Where are your target audience going to come into contact with your packaging? Why have you chosen to design your packaging in a particular way?

Consider the Logistics

Although the design is our primary focus with your packaging, it is paramount to ensure that it is a manageable design, boasting the correct elements to guarantee functionality. Your packaging must be a protective shield for the product inside, as well as providing the necessary information for a customer to know what the product is. Additionally, your packaging design must be eye-catching on the shelf or the web page, this is so important, ensuring it draws the customers attention to your product, over a competitor’s product.

Packaging Design with Kaizen

At Kaizen, we recognise the importance of packaging design. We hold esteemed relationships with packaging printers across the UK and Ireland to guarantee our packaging can be proficiently developed to ensure success for your product.

Kaizen can create packaging design for a wide variety of products, including food packaging sleeves, gift bags, gift boxes, labelling and essentially all types of outer packaging.

With esteemed clients such as Bushmills Whiskey, Slims Healthy Kitchen and Thompsons Rum, Kaizen have an outstanding team of experts, who have advanced packaging design for many products, ensuring they appear pride of place in-store and online.

POWER UP YOUR POSTERS

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

To this day, posters have an extremely important role in organisations marketing, advertising and promotional strategies. Although a relatively traditional method of communication, posters remain essential for businesses worldwide.

According to Forbes, people are 70% more likely to remember a business promoted in print in comparison to businesses promoted solely through online communication platforms. 

With this in mind, it is pertinent to place considerable importance on the development of posters through research, the involvement of graphic designers and the opinions of those with experience and expertise.

The Perks of Posters

Exposure

A massive benefit of using posters as a method of promotion for your business would be the heightened exposure they generate. As a static piece of information, posters have the power to captivate people in ways scrolling on social media cannot.

In order to achieve the highest exposure possible, it is paramount that your organisation considers the importance of poster location. Choosing a position that will reach high volumes of footfall is key, catching the attention of as many people as possible.

Additionally, posters hold the power of flexibility. They can be stuck up on a wall, placed on a table, handed out to commuters… the possibilities are endless. Hence, the importance of a carefully crafted poster design to stand out amongst the crowd.

Recognising your target audience is key. Posters can be often overlooked when it comes to target marketing. Through internal monitoring of engagement, your business should hold a clear idea of a target market. With this information, your business holds the opportunity to engage with interested consumers through visiting areas in which the target audience would frequent to distribute posters. For example: youth clubs, universities, gyms.

Cost Effective

A massive perk to promoting your business through posters links to the cost. The creation, printing and distributing of posters is a relatively cost effective and rewarding initiative.

The longevity of posters enables an impressive return on investment, particularly in comparison to a digital poster, in which will disappear in as little as a *refresh*. Digital posters, although an incredible piece of promotion, are short-lived, remaining on social timelines for short periods of time. Opposingly, printed posters hold a more permanent position, at a similar or lesser cost.

Posters Boost Trustworthiness

It is a well-known fact that online media holds its limitations when it comes to reliability and trustworthiness. Particularly in recent years, the epidemic that is fake news has resulted in a mass reduction of faith in online communication platforms. With this in mind, print media once again holds massive opportunities that were once seen as outdated. Incidentally, the use of posters to promote your business can be seen as a reputable and credible point of communication with consumers.

Increase Brand Awareness

When creating a poster design, it is important to consider your brand identity in the hopes of increasing brand awareness. Businesses should aim to engage with their audience in a consistent way to encourage brand recognition and association.

Kaizen believe that poster design should encompass a recognisable and undeviating design, increasing brand awareness consistently.

Kaizen promote that a poster design should incorporate:

  • Company logo
  • Consistent Colour Scheme
  • Call to Action (contact details / web address)
  • Company Text / Font

Kaizen can help YOU

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, our team of experienced graphic designers have worked on a remarkable number of print campaigns, including poster design. Kaizen have an experienced and dedicated team of graphic designers, and have helped many local and national companies get their print marketing campaign right. We design with purpose and through a measured conversation with you, we will recognise and design your poster accordingly. Whether you need an A3 short run digital poster or an A0 nightclub poster, we’ve created thousands of poster designs for companies like yours.

Poster Portfolio

Kaizen are proud to maintain a competitive and considerable portfolio of poster designs for businesses, proudly promoted throughout the following industries:

  • Hospitality
  • Medical Practices
  • Retail Stores
  • Universities and Schools
  • Art Galleries
  • Council Offices
  • Third Sector Organisations
  • Nightclubs and Bars

At Kaizen, we recognise that developing a poster design is a very unique process that requires careful thought surrounding the design, the distribution and content and the measurements. With wide-spread experience, our graphic designers will create the perfect poster design to meet your promotional goals.

Contact Kaizen to discuss the development of a poster design today.

LEVEL UP YOUR LOGO DESIGN

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

A company logo is an important, stand-out design that will immediately engage with the public. A symbol to promote brand recognition, logos are a key element in the buying process, encouraging customers to invest in your company.

In the modern day, it is paramount to remain vigilant to the ever-changing industries. Organisations must ensure their logos align with company values to enable a stand-out position in the market, remaining competitive and evolutionary.

A logo speaks a thousand words for your business, hence the importance it resonates with the audience. From the typeface, to the mark or symbol, it is important to choose carefully, representing your company in the best possible manner.

Logo Blunders

A common mistake that organisations make is failing to recognise the power and importance of a company logo. More often than not, businesses consider their logo to be a miniscule design element in the bigger picture. This results in a rushed, poorly thought-out design that inevitably fails to showcase the business in all its glory.

DIY Logo?

Ever been tasked with a logo design project from a family member? The vast majority of us can vouch for this statement. Merely showing interest in the digital world can convince relatives you are a graphic design genius, resulting in gaining the responsibility to design posters, content and the all-important company logo. Although this is a cheap and cheerful solution, it can be spotted a mile away and fails to showcase your company as a premium, reputable business.

Invest for the Best

An important realisation for any business is investment is key. The longevity and top-quality service will stand the test of time for your company, particularly when it comes to design. A logo design holds an equal power status to that of your products, services and indeed your workforce. Consumers will resonate with company logos that are captivating and this will incidentally boost your reputation and position of trust and establishment.

Fake it until you Make it

As previously mentioned, a well-executed logo design holds the power to position your company as an established, reputable and premium organisation. This is a massive opportunity for businesses just starting out, providing them with an initial platform to build upon. Holding an established reputation from the get go is a massive opportunity for start-up businesses, showcasing your goals and aspirations through a recognisable and premium brand identity.

Logo Design: Where to Begin?

When embarking on a journey to achieve the perfect logo design, it is paramount to carefully consider all elements of your business, its aspirations and its purpose. You must also have a clear understanding of your audience, what they like and aspire to receive from your company. Having a logo that clients resonate with is key, showcasing your business as a customer focused organisation.

Consistency is Key

Having a stand-out logo will make your job considerably easier when it comes to designing artwork, advertisements and merchandise. The colour scheme chosen for your logo will become your staple colour scheme for all thinks design and artwork. This will reduce the time, effort and resources required when developing additional design elements, such as social media content, artwork for billboards and newspaper advertisements.

Inconsistency promotes a fragmented and unproductive reputation for a business, dropping the establishment of a recognisable brand identity and reducing trust. Holding a clear logo, theme and colour scheme will be a massive asset to your organisation, maintaining a clean image and consistent focus. In most cases, the starting point to creating a design package like this is through creating a logo.

Recognisable Logos

Once you have a brilliantly designed logo, the opportunities are endless. The goal for any business is to hold such a strong brand identity that their customers recognise them by their logo alone.

The swooped tick, the giant M, the 3 stripes… we all know them from that simple visualisation. Be it on a global scale, with the likes of Nike, McDonald’s or Adidas or a national scale, with the likes of Boojum, the Guinness Harp or the GAA, there are many instantaneously recognisable logo designs that you will be familiar with due to their unique colour palette or design style.

Moreover, the majority of recognisable logos maintain a very minimalistic design, with very little fuss and indisputably sleek.

How Kaizen can help YOU

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, we have designed hundreds of logos for businesses nationwide. Our experience and understanding of many market sectors and the ability to draw on our skill, ensures we are experts in logo creation. With one of the largest design studio teams, our focus is always on creating a stand-out logo to represent your business to the highest standard possible.

Revamp your Retail Design with Kaizen

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Although online shopping has evolved into a primary buying habit for many spenders, in-store retail shopping is extensively encouraged to save the High Street and #ShopLocal. For retailers who own physical stores, it is paramount to possess a recognisable brand identity and retail design that invites customers into an experience they will want to relive over again.

The last 20 months has presented extraordinary complications for the retail sector, with massive loss in sales, lockdowns and store closures. As we slowly but surely get back to a sense of normality within the retail industry, there is an enhanced emphasis on the importance of shopping local. This presents a massive opportunity for retail businesses who operate in a physical setting. There is no time quite like the present to revamp your retail design, reintroducing shoppers to the wonderful and exciting world of local retail stores.

Brand Identity

When creating a retail design, it is important to base your project around brand identity. Incorporating your retail brand identity into your physical store boosts customer recognition which will only bring people back. The end goal of a retail design campaign is for customers to identify your brand, know what you sell and understand your company goals.

Consistency is Key

Retail stores are unique, there is no pop-up advertisements, notifications or email alerts to entice customers into the store. It relies on the visual design and store presentation to engage with passing footfall. Incidentally, when it comes to developing your retail design, it is paramount to maintain a uniform focus across all branding. From storefront displays and shopping bags to webpages and social media, there must be a consistent design that is recognisable amongst all company elements.

Eye-Catching Engagement

Retail stores rely on their merchandise to catch the attention of shoppers. Essentially, current customers are representing the brand by carrying a shopping bag around town, influencing others into the store. To ensure you stand out to shoppers, perfecting your retail design is key. Having a design that stands out amongst the crowd is a necessity, enticing people to explore what you have to offer in-store.

Let your Retail Design do the Talking

Brilliant designs tell stories. Let your retail design speak for itself by ensuring it incorporates the personality of your brand. When revamping your retail design, it is important to envisage what a brand-new shopper would experience…

  • Does the design tell your story?
  • Will it represent your goals and aspirations?
  • Does it appear engaging and interesting?

No matter how good your retail store is, poor representation through retail design can reduce footfall, sales and consequently, success.

To successfully convey your retail company, incorporate your personality. This can be implemented through colour, font, slogans and design. Often overlooked, these elements are extremely important, catching the attention of customers and delivering a lasting first impression. As mentioned previously, it is equally important to implement this across all promotional platforms, be it in-store, online or through advertising to ensure consistency.

Boost Reputation and Trust

Reputation and trust are undoubtedly two of the most important achievements for a business. These are attained through professional and strategized planning and implementation. It is understandable that shoppers prefer to spend their money in retail stores that have polished branding and design. Through an established retail design, shoppers will turn into customers as they engage with what your business through building trust and understanding of what you have to offer. 

Contact Kaizen to Revamp your Retail Design in 2022

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, our graphic design team is made up of some of Ireland’s most qualified professionals. Our first-hand experience within the retail industry is a reassuring bonus for customers. We guarantee a unique understanding of both the obstacles and opportunities presented to your business. With this knowledge, we strive to deliver a high-quality service that will boost your retail design massively.

Keeping up with Kaizen: Rebranding

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

2022. A year holding massive anticipation. 

A year we hope to once again prosper, flourish and succeed.

A year we hope to once again celebrate in style at events, launches and awards.

The much-anticipated return of normality within the industry has provoked an inspiring hunger within companies to excel, rebrand and surpass their previous reputation.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, our main focus is creating brilliant concepts to evolve your brand and achieve incredible company results. Kaizen work directly with clients to gain an accomplished understanding of their goals and ambitions. Kaizen take pride in their passion and dedication and through our knowledge and expertise, we guarantee admirable outcomes.

Have you been thinking about rebranding, improving your design, or changing your logo?

There has never been a better time to change things up. As we (hopefully) reintroduce ourselves back into normality, why not make some changes to your company that will make you stand out from the crowd.

Keeping up with the constantly evolving trends in society is a massive task but doing so will be rewarded. Kaizen believe it is important to evolve your company brand to boost engagement and productivity. When choosing how to brand your organisation, it is paramount that it clearly reflects exactly what your company stands for. If done correctly, a company rebrand can be a ground-breaking transformation, boosting your organisation’s brand exposure, recognition and awareness.

Why rebrand in 2022?

Has your company focus progressed?

We have all overcome massive obstacles, improved our workforce and boosted our productivity. Sometimes organisations change and outgrow their initial company focus. Many organisations have ventured into areas they never deemed possible before. This is all wonderful but if people cannot recognise this from your brand, you’re missing a trick.

Keep up with the evolving industry by rebranding

The last 2 years have resulted in unanticipated change that nobody could have prepared for. The way we function as professionals has evolved through vast adaptability… working from home, shopping online and communicating remotely are all phrases we have become accustomed to. Very few companies escaped the mass commotion that the pandemic presented, resulting in widespread changes.

Kaizen believe it is paramount that your company has a brand that is relatable and up-to-date, hence the decision to rebrand may be pertinent for you at the moment. The constantly transforming industry has resulted in out-of-touch company branding and what was once considered brilliant, may no longer hold relevancy in a post-pandemic world.

Curb your competitors

Standing out from the crowd is so important. Reaching the target audience ahead of competitors is key and holding a clear and diverse image will enable that. Authenticity is to be admired in the modern day and it is paramount to seek methods to be conspicuous above competitors.

When considering a rebrand, it is important to look at the evolution that has occurred in your industry.

  • Has there been an influx of competitors since your previous brand update?
  • Have your available products and services changed?
  • Do you have a revolutionary unique selling point you believe you could promote further?

It is anticipated that the majority of answers to the above questions are ‘yes’. To ensure your organisation holds a stand-out reputation, it is important to remain ahead of the curve, ensuring you uphold existing clients, target future customers and engage with competitors’ clients.

Kaizen recognise a reoccurring pattern; companies are afraid to change. ‘Why fix what isn’t broken?’. Unfortunately, sitting tight with the safe option frequently consequences a company getting lost in an intensifying crowd of competitors. In order to excel, you must implement calculated thought into being an innovative organisation and incidentally endorse this through unique branding.

An effective rebrand can open doors into new markets, target new customers and position your organisation with an updated demographic and appropriately showcase your company focus.

Motivate your company to do greater things by rebranding

In all aspects of life, remaining consistently motivated is tough. Sometimes all we need is change to reignite the fire within – be it new trainers for the gym, a new diary for work or brand-new rebranding.

Think of it this way… if you are passionate about something, it is important to invest heavily into ensuring it excels. A company rebrand could boost your organisation into the next level, motivating the introduction of even greater things.

Rebranding gains recognition and this is the perfect opportunity to reach out into the industry, taking the plunge and trying new things. Rebranding offers a clean slate for your organisation, utilise this opportunity to introduce brand-new products/services, boost your social media presence and explain your goals and aspirations.

Keep up with Kaizen

At Kaizen, we specialise in brand identity, graphic design, digital, packaging, websites and animation. Evolving brands, Kaizen create modern identities that you will love.  We aim to tell you the truth, designing work that resonates with clients and customers.

With widespread branding experience, we have worked across a vast industry base, including hospitality, finance, IT, print and science, effectively delivering company messages truthfully, communicating their stories and delivering evolution.

It is expected that organisations will evolve over time, expanding their brand identity and focus. In other cases, an organisation may fail to recognise the importance of their branding until they are struggling. Kaizen acknowledge your individual circumstances and will focus on rebranding to suit you.

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, the customer is at the heart of everything we do. We will work directly with you to create a brand that suits your vision and focus, showcasing your company to the highest of standards.

Have we convinced you that 2022 is the perfect time to rebrand your company?

Get in touch with Kaizen about rebranding today.

Tis’ the Season to Spruce up your Social Media

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Social media is undoubtedly one of, if not the most powerful tool for your company. Whether its Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok, it is paramount to get out in front, promoting what you do to the endless stream of scrollers.

Social media is an incredible platform for organisations to maintain real time communication with customers, clients and the public. Hence, continuously updating your platform is key.

Track your Insights

It is paramount that your organisation monitors social media usage, ensuring you reach the highest return on investment possible. Tracking insights is the first step in achieving this. Conveniently, the majority of social media platforms understand the importance of chasing insights and have made doing this accessible through a simplified in-platform tool. These tools enable social media users to familiarise themselves with their audience through informative measurements such as reach, shares, gender and age range.

Evolutionary organisations can utilise the data obtained through tracking to evolve their social media campaigns, advancing their audience through engaging and informative posts that appeal to them.

Minimal Cost

There has to be some perks in life… and social media definitely has its perks. Cost effective marketing is key for your organisation and this can certainly be achieved with a brilliant social campaign.

Although social media requires intense purpose and time, it holds massive cost-effective opportunities. It is recommended that every organisation invests into their social campaigns to gain the deserved exposure and reach. It is advised that significant research is invested into social platforms, identifying cost-effective strategies that do not break the bank. Additionally, in some cases, free, organic social posts can perform incredibly well which is a massive boost for your company.

Timing is Key

Posting on social media presents vast opportunities but if not carefully distributed, it can get lost in an endless crowd of competition. Timing is everything. You could have an impeccable social media campaign but the benefits are often overlooked if posted at an incorrect time.

Getting to know your audience has never been as simple as it is presently. Through tracking your audience’s activity, you can gain an accurate understanding into their social habits, with active time being one of them.

Posting content at optimal time, when the majority of your audience are active on social media is key. This will encourage their interaction, ensure their visibility and boost your engagement.

Interactive posts

Interactive posts are an ingenious tool that has been incorporated into social platforms in recent years. To maintain interest from your audience, we recommend the incorporation of interactive posts, encouraging them to engage through ‘question & answer’ sessions, polls and competitions.

Promoting these activities will not only boost interaction between your company and audience but will also encourage a more understood relationship. Obtaining insight through interactive content allows your organisation to become familiar with your audience on a deeper level, pulling out their interests, requirements and opinions. Holding an in-depth understanding of your audience is a huge benefit, guaranteeing you the power to produce social campaigns that are relatable, innovative and customer focused.

Hashtags the Limit

Do you recall when Instagram was in its infancy, hashtags in abundance?

#We #have #launched #a #brand #new #socialmedia #campaign

Thankfully, gone are the days where aggressive and incorrect hashtag usage was a trend. Presently, hashtags are an ingenious tool when used strategically throughout a social media campaign. Carefully choosing your hashtags are key, targeting your envisioned audience in a categorised way.

As previously mentioned, hashtags must be carefully considered, appropriate and specific. If correctly implemented, the use of hashtags holds the power to boost your campaign engagement, increase your audience, generate sales and enhance your organic social reach.

Additionally, using hashtags enable your organisation to get involved in conversations and other important issues on social media. Incidentally, when running a campaign, it is advisable to research topics that are trending in relation to your focus and placing the campaign amongst that conversation through hashtags.

For example, if you are running a social media campaign based on the importance of #sustainability, be sure to research the popular hashtags debating the topic and involve your campaign in the discussion.

Keep up with Competitors

Social media is a powerful too, enabling a 24/7 platform to ‘keep up’ with competitors. Although it is paramount for companies to be original and innovative, we all have our competitors. It is important to ensure your organisation is maintaining a competitive edge in the industry and one way to do this is hold a consistent presence on social media.

Customer Feedback

Finally, social media provides an open platform to communicate directly with customers. Use this opportunity to promote your company as a customer focused business and encourage engagement and feedback. Doing this will not only benefit customers, providing them with the best possible service but will also benefit your company, highlighting what your audience wants and incidentally giving you ideas for future projects or improvements.

How Kaizen can help YOU

Kaizen Brand Evolution recognise the importance of a brilliant social media campaign, we understand the detail required to successfully engage with an audience and identify the benefits of monitoring your social insights. Kaizen Brand Evolution differentiate between social platforms and categorise which platforms will work best for you.

Are you seeking to boost your company audience with social media? Kaizen have you covered. For organisations seeking to leverage applauded insights, social media campaigns can be extremely rewarding, targeting the ever-growing users of online communities. Kaizen Brand Evolution can evolve your social platform by creating stand-out designs that are sure to surge your insights.

The Benefits of Blogging for your Business

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

In the modern era of online social sharing, blogging holds a massive opportunity for your company. Commonly associated with casual topics of discussion, such as beauty, travel and entertainment, the purpose of a blog often fails to gain recognition as a beneficial promotion tool for organisations.

With an overwhelming 4.5 billion people using social media in 2021, it is undoubtedly difficult to gain exposure and become a recognised and established name. Incidentally, the power of blogging will give your company a competitive edge, boosting your products and services into the online community in an enlightening and engaging way.

Blogging brings a massive boost to an organisations place in the market, increasing custom and growing sales through educating consumers about what you do.

Boost your Website Traffic through Blogging

Consistency is key when it comes to online content for your company. Sharing blog posts on a regular basis will undoubtedly increase your website traffic, driving more customers to visit your page and increasing your position in the online rankings.

To achieve optimum website traffic, it is recommended that you research the data of your target market and current customers. Doing this will outline a pattern, showcasing the age, location and areas of interest of your site visitors. Once this information is attained, you have the power to engage with your audience in a way that meets their interests and blogging is the perfect way to start.

The goal for any organisation is to be recognised for their hard work, hence blog writing is a key feature in achieving this.

Content is King

In our instantaneous world, remaining relevant is a tremendous task. According to WordPress, over 70 million blog posts are shared every month. With these figures in mind, it is important to keep up to date with trends, changes and competition. Many organisations are familiar with updating their website and social media platforms to remain relevant. Whilst this is necessary, it does not allow the flexibility to share a detailed insight into the functioning of the company. Blogging provides your organisation with a platform to boost your reputation in the industry, promoting your adaptability with to the world. Sharing content through a blog allows your organisation to hold a direct line of communication with customers and ensure they are heavily involved in the progression.

Brand Awareness through Blogging

The power of blogging can promote your organisation in many platforms. It is a prime location for explaining to your audience what it is you do and how you stand out against the competition. Blogs allow you to go into comprehensive detail on the products and services you offer, which incidentally could encourage new customers.

Catch Questions and Queries

A tip for blogging would be to incorporate solutions to possible queries that readers may have. For example, if writing a blog about Billboard and Adshels, it is advisable to incorporate figures, measurements and lead times, which could potentially target those searching the web for answers. If your blog holds a solution to a query of a potential customer, it will likely appear on their search results and lead them directly to you. Providing engaging and informative blogs is imperative for your organisation as it will be a key deciding factor for potential customers.

Consistency is Key when Blogging

Like everything in life, we thrive on consistency and routine. This should be no different when blogging for your company. According to HubSpot, organisations that publish 16 or more blog posts per month generate 4.5% more leads than those that publish 4 or less. An advisable strategy for any organisation would be to create a plan for blog posting, ensuring a recognisable timeline for weekly sharing – for example: Monday 10am and Friday 3pm. This will not only develop an organised structure internally but will also create a posting timeframe that readers will begin to recognise.

Educate and Engage

Blogging provides an opportunity to educate your audience on matters that are important for your business. Whether you want to encourage the importance of sustainability or promote the benefits of incorporating employee wellbeing into your organisation, blogging allows you to share your opinion freely. There is a great opportunity to boost corporate social responsibility by sharing your internal values. Doing this may engage with a reader and create a potential customer for your company.

Additionally, using your platform to blog about your products and services will ensure there is a more well-rounded understanding of your organisation. When readers have a clear vision of what your company has to offer, they are more likely to follow through and become a valued customer.

Blogs Create Social Media Content

A massive benefit to creating consistent blog posts is that you will never run out of social media content. Spending lengthy periods of time carefully creating blog content must be followed up by an impressive promotion plan in order to reach your target customers and potential new audience members. Kaizen Brand Evolution recommend that you share your blog post on social media to boost brand visibility and expand reach. Remaining active on social media is paramount for organisations and ensuring content is continuously fresh and innovative will give you that competitive edge.

Blog about what you do!

There is no better way to showcase all of the brilliant things your organisation does than through blogging. A blog provides an unfiltered, unlimited and underrated platform to shout about what you do, sharing your achievements, your improvements and your advancements. If your organisation has gone that extra mile on a project, why not write a detailed case study to share this with the world?

Providing a detailed analysis about what your company does on a blog will invite readers, clients and potential customers to experience an insight into the ideas and functioning of your organisation. This transparent awareness projected onto the reader will build a level of trust that is invaluable for any organisation.

People are curious, feed that curiosity with engaging and exciting blog content and you are winning!

Boost your Brand Awareness with Billboards

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

Modern day marketing and advertising promote a driving force on digital exposure and online engagement. Often, the benefits of traditional advertising fail to receive deserved recognition, due to the old-fashioned associations it holds. It is paramount for organisations to remain open to a variety of advertising platforms, to ensure they reach a widespread target market. This can be done through opting into Out-of-Home advertising, incorporating Billboards and Adshels.

Key Areas of Advertising

The goal of an organisation is to constantly reach and engage with potential and existing customers.

Three key areas of marketing and advertising to target audience:

  • Digital Advertising

The benefits of promoting your organisation through digital platforms needs no introduction. Digital is undoubtedly the most prominent and relied on platform in the modern day. Social media, animation and web design, to name a few, are prominent features in an advertising plan, targeting an audience 24/7.

  • In-Print and Media Advertising

Secondly, advertising promoted through newspapers, television and radio remain key for engagement and outreach. Although it does not hold the same instantaneous speed, it continues to be a reliable promotion tool. Unlike social media or online promotion, where an advertisement quickly disappears once the page is refreshed, in-print advertisements are permanent, often residing in homes for numerous days. Additionally, advertisements via television and radio, if done correctly, have the power to resonate with the reader.

  • Out-of-Home Advertising

Finally, out-of-home advertising, including billboards and adshels embody a prominent and engaging investment, beneficial for both large-scale organisations and smaller companies. Reaching a vast audience, billboards and adshels ensure that your organisation is being advertised at all times, catching the customer at moments they are unable to scroll online or engage in media.

Catch the Commute

In most cases, traffic is not a welcomed experience. Yet, when your organisation is advertising via billboards and adshels, traffic is hailed a favourable occurrence. According to The Independent, travelling to work is currently taking longer than ever before, with the daily commute now taking up to an hour every day. Hence, the rise of travel time presents a rise of opportunities for investing in billboards and adshels.

Prime Location

Careful consideration is required when deciding the location of a billboard or adshel, choosing a position that will reach high volumes of traffic and footfall to catch the attention of as many individuals as possible.

Additionally, recognising your target audience is also key. Many fail to place billboards and adshels under the bracket of easily targetable advertising, yet it is possible and very important. Through internal monitoring of engagement, your organisation should hold a clear idea of their target audience, target location and target market. Incidentally, there may be key areas of importance: such as a particular city, town or highly populated area.

Less is More

When spending on advertising, many believe it is important to squeeze in as much information as possible, getting value for money. Yet, it is important to remember that when dealing with adshels and billboards, you have a short period of time to catch the attention of an individual. Be it driving on the motorway or walking in the city centre, an instantaneous message is key. You have approximately 6 seconds to make an impact with your billboard design. Kaizen believe a brief and explanatory design that showcases exactly what your organisation is trying to promote will be enough to encourage a call for action.  

No Company Too Small for Billboards

Billboard and adshel advertising hold numerous incorrect connotations, including the idea they are for large-scale, corporate companies only. Kaizen wish to promote that they prove beneficial for all organisations, no matter the size or reach. Additionally, it is widely believed that billboards and adshels are massively expensive, exceeding company budgets. Yet, they are arguably a very affordable piece of advertising material, with an audience reach wider than the majority.

Boost Brand Identity and Awareness

Kaizen believe that all company marketing and advertising should encompass a recognisable and uniform design, boosting brand awareness at all times. The goal of any company should be to engage with an audience that immediately recognises their branding and what they offer.

Kaizen promote that in order to boost brand identity and awareness, a billboard or adshel should incorporate:

  • Company logo
  • Recognisable company colour scheme
  • Call to action contact details – e.g. website
  • Company text font
  • Company slogan if applicable

Kaizen can create your Billboard and Adshels

At Kaizen Brand Evolution, graphic design is our speciality. Our team have worked on an impressive number of outdoor campaigns, encompassing adshels and billboards for organisations throughout Northern Ireland. Kaizen have first hand experience in recognising the benefits of investing in adshels and billboards for your company, providing top quality design to ensure success.

Did you Know?

Kaizen work alongside Northern Ireland’s most established outdoor advertiser, Clear Channel NI, allowing us to offer an extensive variety of services in both specific and widespread areas.

Get Started

Kaizen understand the importance of effective marketing and advertising for your organisation. We believe you should show off your company. Go big or go home with a 48-Sheet or 96-Sheet billboard. Kaizen have a graphic design team that recognise the importance of developing an eye-catching out-of-home advertising campaign.

Contact Kaizen to discuss the development of a Billboard or an Adshel today.

Evolve your Annual Report with Kaizen

Posted on by Ellen Turbett

An annual report is a vital puzzle piece for any company, showcasing pertinent information to clients, stakeholders, shareholders, employees, the public and media. A brilliant annual report will not only provide relevant company information for those who are currently involved with the organisation but it will also play a dynamic role in the company marketing plan, targeting new customers and clients.

An annual report is a detailed file that delivers a wide-ranging report on company activities and progress throughout the past year. Fundamentally, an annual report gives an external insight into the internal workings of an organisation, sharing the following information:

Profit

Loss

Expenses

Company Growth

Company Degrowth

Investments

Charity Involvement

Selling of Products

Buying of Products

Financial Status


Avoiding overwhelming your target audience

The fast-paced environment we now live in, leaves diminutive time and patience for the traditional, text heavy annual report design we were once accustomed to. Overdetailed and under visualised annual reports present not only a tedious task to read, but an overwhelming experience for stakeholders and potential investors. It is paramount for organisations to promote an engaging and user-friendly annual report, in order to remain competitive and efficient.

Opportunities to EVOLVE your Annual Report Design

The possibilities are endless. It is important to leverage the opportunities provided, engaging with both existing clients and potential new clients.

All companies are experienced in the process of setting goals and working towards achieving them. At Kaizen, we believe that this should be no different with your annual report design. Initially, you must ask yourself what it is you are trying to achieve in sharing your annual report as it is an important component in appealing to and engaging with potential clients.

It is paramount that your organisation holds a competitive edge and this can be achieved through breaking the traditional mould and involving a more modernised annual report. Kaizen Brand Evolution believe an effectively designed annual report can leverage trust, engagement and interest for your organisation, all of which are required when entering a new business year.

Use Infographics

Annual reports were once viewed primarily as a detailed and heavy document, dreaded to create and dreaded to read. However, through design evolution, annual reports are moving away from these heavy layouts to a cleaner and image friendly design. Kaizen Brand Evolution believe that visualising your data through infographics is key to achieve an engaging and balanced read, replacing text with interactive images and graphs that explain and promote the company on a more understanding and exciting level. 

Maintain a Recognisable Brand Identity

Like everything in an organisation, brand identity is paramount. The goal for any company is to withhold a recognisable and engaging image, that can be spotted continuously and immediately. This is no different for an annual report design, using the company colours and fonts to layout a familiar design for the reader. Kaizen promote a simplified colour usage for annual reports as we believe an influx of unnecessary colour can crowd the design, which once again would appear heavy and overwhelming. Additionally, it is important to maintain a consistent and identifiable typography. Often overlooked, text holds power in brand identity and using the correct text and font will steer the attention of the reader to key information.

Kaizen Brand Evolution follow a text hierarchy when creating an Annual Report Design incorporating:

Header Text

Sub-Header Text

Paragraph Text

Avoid Information Overload

The purpose of an annual report is to showcase information and it can be understandably difficult to put a limit on the detail included. Kaizen promote the utilisation of space, carefully curating an organised design, breaking up text with engaging and informative infographics. In addition, it is recommended that written information is separated into reduced, manageable sections, promoting a clear format and interesting read.

Add a Personal Touch to your Annual Report

Within any organisation, personal connection is key. Kaizen believe that annual reports pose an excellent opportunity to showcase your company as an employee focused organisation. Doing this not only provides your employees with deserved recognition but also introduces them to clients, shareholders, the public and the media. Kaizen recommend that annual reports incorporate a brief synopsis of employee portfolios, explaining what they do, their expertise and company accomplishments.

Enthuse your Audience

Although a primarily informative project, annual reports provide an opportunity to engage with and motivate the reader. Take this opportunity to show off to your current clients and potential investors. Share information that you are enthusiastic about that will in turn encourage the reader to be excited. Additionally, Kaizen believe that company vision should appear front and centre in an annual report, showcasing the purpose of the organisation, promoting that format follows function.

How Kaizen Brand Evolution can transform your Annual Report Design

Kaizen work with a wide variety of companies, encompassing public, private and third sector organisations. We pride ourselves in our prompt understanding of your organisation, recognising the opportunities to showcase your information in an engaging and informative design.

Kaizen Brand Evolution strive to change your annual report design for the better.

Boundary CrossFit – brand identity

Posted on by YBmMqGwLx0

Understanding the Brand

The newest player in the CrossFit arena, ‘Boundary CrossFit’ came to us to create create a unique brand identity and system to showcase their brand new high-end facility, to help them prepare it for launch and growth within the industry. Their ambition was to achieve a modern, bold narrative that would pay homage to the raw industrial nature of the sport but also the physical interiors within the gym itself.

    The Logo Build

    The vast majority of us have heard of or have some kind of idea about what CrossFit is. For those who don’t CrossFit in recent years has become much more than just a choice of exercise. The growing CrossFit brand has become a culture amongst likeminded passionate individuals. We felt that this was a primary message we needed to get across through the Boundary Brand Identity Narrative. We needed to pay homage to the people who commit and support these gyms. We wanted to capture the spirit of these individuals and their culture and lifestyle.

    The brandmark was created with the brand name at the soul of its direction. The term ‘ Boundary’ illustrates a conflicting ideology it can reflect a division, a defense mechanism, but also a sense of place, a sense of strength.

    The word itself has such a powerful narrative that it was an organic development that the brand mark would be a strong typographic word mark.

    The logo is set in a modern Flat-Sided san serif typeface, a style also known as ‘gaspipe’. The modular letters evoke modernity and industrialism. The type led brandmark visualises the feeling of the word ‘Boundary’ and encapsulates the narrative of the brand. To further project the narrative of the brand an organic underline was incorporated to bring a softer contrast to the modular typemark. To amalgamate the strength of the word with the raw passion and commitment to the people who belong within it. 

    This notion of a warrior, war paint, the raw grit and dedication associated with the physically experience of the brand. The underline creates a device that can be used throughout the brand roll out as a visual sense of the word ‘bound’ to create metaphors and links through visual assets. The line device also enables ‘Crossfit’ to be neatly combined within the logo but also easily removed when needed and to ensure brand longevity. This strong typographic approach creates a unique typographic identity, which will become a natural association to the ‘Boundary’ brand.

    The strength evoked within the logo helps to resonate with the desired audience of the brand. There is an immediate connection to the name ‘Boundary’ and the visual depiction of the meaning of the word throughout the type. This typographic language that will be used throughout the brand roll out creates a direct and powerful connection to audience the brand is trying to attract. A loyal client base who share like-minded goals, who are passionate about being a part of the ‘Boundary’ culture. 

    Photography

    A creative direction for the photography was developed to further enhance the narrative of the brand. It is people focused to give the audience a true reflection of the ‘Boundary’ culture and to ensure the right people invest in that culture. The imagery depicts loyalty to the brand a common visual trend associated with the sports industry and the nature of the CrossFit community. Promoting through imagery of branded sportswear and to evoke this sense of belonging and passion. To showcase the hard work, dedication and passion valued by the ‘Boundary’ brand. 

    An image treatment has also been developed for the brand to create gritty, high contrast visuals that portray movement and energy. Contrast plays a primary role within the narrative of the ‘Boundary’ brand, with the confident stand alone brandmark the physical experience of the brand needed to be further introduced throughout the brand imagery as a storytelling device to stand out within a crowed industry.

    Brand Colour

    The brand colours will primarily be black and white to reflect a modern and minimal tone of voice. However, to achieve the contrast and successfully reflect the brand values associated with this industry and its audience a warm red palette was introduced as a secondary colour device for the brand to utilise. 

    Red is a strong colour that has a direct cultural connotation to passion and love, but also has conflicting meanings of jeopardy or boundaries, and in this case over coming these physical boundaries the blood, the sweat and the tears reflective of the industry and resonates with the target audience.

    Brand Language

    To further enhance the brand narrative of unity and strength we developed a tagline to define Boundary as its own culture, the unity of the people who experience it ‘Bound by Passion’.

    Typography is one of the main devices used within this brand. The modular san serif typeface that not only gives life to the brandmark, will also encapsulate the entire brand story. The large type family allows us to utilize the typeface throughout. 

    Kaizen Brand Evolution

    At Kaizen Brand Evolution we understand the difficulties that brands face in evolving their brand and in keeping it fresh. If you’d like to find out more about what we can offer you can visit our brand identity page. Alternatively, you can get in touch via our contact form or by calling 028 9507 2007.

    Town – brand development, website design & social media

    Posted on by YBmMqGwLx0

    When branding a new venue, whether restaurant, hotel, nightclub or bar, thee are considerations we must make as your branding partner. Our initial discussion will focus on customer demographics, market opportunities and the heritage of the business in the case of a bran audit or brand refresh. After meeting with the owners of Town, Leixlip we were blown away by their passion and drive within the hospitality trade in Co.Kildare. They had a vision for the bar / restaurant and we were engaged to bring that vision to life through: Brand Strategy, Brand Identity Design, Logo Design, Menu Design, Website Design and a social media launch campaign.

    About Town, Leixlip

    Town is a bar based in Leixlip, Co. Kildare, Ireland. They loved the idea of being the ‘Talk of the Town’ bar as this would be great for a ‘Town’ campaign they can work with and evolve over time. We explored diffident uses for brand language, which could easily evolve over time. Their target audience would be locals who would head into Dublin for a night out. They were inspired by well known neighbourhood bars in the likes of Dublin and Manchester and aimed to bring it back to Leixlip so punters could get the same experience and not having to travel as far, back in their home town. A place you can go for your coffee meetings, family dinners to having a night out partying on the dance floor with your friends. 

    Town is “More than just a bar”.

    Town approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to create a brand for their bar because they wanted to create a bar for everyone in the local community. Town’s approach was creating a friendly bar for all generations of the Leixlip community. They needed a branding system, which worked for everyone. It had to feel homely after it all it was a Town in their hometown. Town is a bar that would rely heavily on their social media to advertise their events each night and mid week offers. The Brand would have to work particularly well on social media platforms as most of their audience would be on these, to create a social media friendly brand we looked at how other bars across the globe used social media to promote their business. 

    We created the branding system in way, so it’s simple for Town to use. It had to also stand out from their competitors but mainly be consistent. To get the brand identity for Town, we gathered our research of places the owners of Town liked. We took elements from our research then we crafted 3 concepts, which were all unique created to tell the story of Town. 

    We Partner Your Interiors Team

    We worked closely with the interior designer to make sure the brand worked with the interiors and to complement the building. We introduced a contemporary colour palette for the brand, using a rich blue, teal and gold with contrasting pinks from the floral elements used to add more depth to the brand.

    Crafting the TOWN mark had to represent a place for everyone with some character. The Mark had to feel established, friendly and Town had to you make you feel like you belong, a place where you can go for a morning coffee, or grab a bite to eat or have a really good time with your mates, it had to feel like a place you never have to leave as it’s all under one roof. This is where it ties back to he underpin for Town, “More than just a bar”. 

    Brand Language is Critical

    The brand language had to be simple, but unique to Town. “Fancy a G&T”, “It’s T-time” and “Down to a-T” using the T mark, which can easily evolve for future adverting promotions. The language is playful, and it’s simple. 

    Brand Development Is Just The Start

    As well as the branding system we produced a range of visuals to show them how the brand could be used across different mediums; including work uniform, menus, hand stamps, glassware, and online presence. When you see how all the brand elements are brought together it’s clear to see how well the brand works as a whole. With this brand structure, Town will stand out from the rest of competition.

    Website Development

    With any branding project we must further consider its reach beyond the conceptualisations presented. We look at all manner of print and digital mediums the brand is to shown on and develop these further in line with the brand strategy. For most in the hospitality sector, the main focus of attention moves from brand to website development. As you can see from the graphic above, we have captured the essence of the brand and brought to life a new website for the thriving business.

    We enjoyed working with Town on this branding project and we look forward to seeing the branding used across social media, the branding paired with the interiors of the bar and we are excited to be part of the Town evolution.

    Start a Branding Project

    Want to start a bar, restaurant or nightclub branding project of your own? We’d be delighted to have a chat. You can get in touch with us on +44 289507 2007 or you can get in touch with us via the contact form below

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    Why is typography important

    Posted on by YBmMqGwLx0

    Here in the Kaizen Brand Evolution studio, we use typography every single day in our work. In every brand that we generate, on every website that we design and in every logo that we create, it’s always there and always important to us.

    Typography is described as being “the study of the design of typefaces and the way in which type is laid out on a page to best achieve the desired visual effect and to best convey the meaning of the reading matter”. It may seem like something very simple, and like it may not make much of a difference when it comes to design, however, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Typography can often be the element that either makes or breaks the main design, whether it is a logo or just a piece of packaging.

    But why is it that important you might be asking? Surely the way in which an image looks is going to be more important than what is written there? Well within this article we are going to look at just why Typography is so important, and hopefully, after reading this you will understand it a little better.

    Catches The Attention Of The Reader

    The type that you put on your marketing material is your message. This is going to be the part that tells the customers exactly what it is that you are offering. As such it is important that it catches the eye of the reader. It needs to draw them in so that they begin looking at your marketing material, and then they can begin noticing everything else, such as the design. It is important in this sense then to have what is called a ‘type hierarchy’ on your marketing material. This means that when there is more than one piece of type, one takes dominance over the others, becoming the main body. This is the piece that will catch the eye of the reader and draw them in. Once they are in, they will begin to notice the smaller bits of type, where the rest of the details about your message are being conveyed.

    Conveys The Feeling and Mood Of Your Message

    Typography is just as great for helping to set the feeling and tone of your message as your design is, and it all depends on which font you choose and also the typeface that you choose. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of fonts and typefaces out there for you to choose from. However, it is important that you make sure and choose one which suits the message your brand is trying to convey. It is often evident a mile off when the type on a brands marketing material doesn’t fit, and even if it is only small, it puts the whole thing off.

    Shows Professionalism

    Good typography not only helps your immediate design and marketing material look good, but it is also helping to look your and your business look good, by showing the professionalism you carry. It shows that you take care when designing your marketing material and that you want people to notice what you are trying to say.

    Build up recognition

    Consistency is key to recognition, and recognition is exactly what you want from your branding and marketing. If you start using one type of font and make it distinct to you, customers will begin to immediately associate this with you and your brand. All the biggest brands in the world are consistent throughout all of their marketing when it comes to type because their typography and font have become a staple of their overall brand.

    Hopefully, by reading this article you can start to see just how and why Typography is important to your brand, often becoming just as big a part of the brand as the logo.

    Watch out for these pitfalls when designing brochures

    Posted on by YBmMqGwLx0

    When it comes to Brochures, they can often be one of the best pieces of marketing material that you can own. For something being quite small, it can be so important, as they can carry a lot of important information, that perhaps you couldn’t quite get across in a meeting, for example, due to a lack of time or a need for further information, brochures expand on what you have already said in greater detail, or give you the choice to let it do the talking for you.

    However, it isn’t just a matter of including all of this information and expecting it work from there, as well as getting across vital information your brochures also need to look good. If they don’t no one is going to want to pick one up and read it, as more than likely they won’t even notice it. Here’s what exactly to avoid when it comes to designing your brochures, and how you can get the most out of them.

    Visually Pleasing

    Brochures need to be visually pleasuring, there isn’t any denying that. It’s the first thing that is going to attract someone into lifting up your brochure, whether you happen to have left them behind after a meeting, or else you’ve sent some along to a trade show, as mentioned before if it doesn’t look good, no one is going to be enticed to pick it up. In that sense, it’s a good idea to make your brochure look exciting. While it may be a temptation to produce them quickly, and you might think it will look professional, this will not be the case. It will end up just being walked by and not noticed, as there is nothing there to make it stand out from the rest of the brochures that happen to be sitting on a table, for example in a waiting room, or at a show. There is a fine line between being too boring and also being too over the top when it comes to designing of brochures, and it is the middle ground that you want to be on. “don’t judge a book by its cover” is a phrase thrown about but the reality is people usually do.

    Easy to Read

    With all of the information that you are going to be putting in your brochures, it wouldn’t do them or you any good if your target audience can’t read them. There are a few factors that you have to be on the lookout for here, to make sure that they are legible and do what they are supposed to do. Firstly, make sure that you choose a font you can read, for example staying away from scripted fonts unless absolutely necessary or used large enough to be easily read. As well as this, make sure that the font you have chosen isn’t too small on the finished article. A good way to ensure that this doesn’t happen is to print a few tests runs with different fonts and sizes, so that you can see exactly what they look like, instead of printing a large batch, only for them all to be unreadable. Another thing to keep in mind is the colours which you choose, both for the overall design and also the font itself. Using a font colour that contrasts with your background colour is the best way to go, for example using a darker font colour with a lighter background and vice versa.

    Good Quality

    The job of a brochure is for it to be lifted, held and read in someone’s hands. This means that it is going to be moved around a good bit. Therefore, they need to be good quality. Don’t think that by going for a cheaper paper stock you will get the same brochure but you are saving money. It won’t turn out like this, as the cheaper quality will eventually show through. The more the brochure is read and handled, the more it will start to fall apart and therefore be discarded, meaning you don’t get anywhere near the same marketing coverage that you were hoping for. They need to be durable and feel good in the hand, meaning even if the better quality paper stock is slightly more expensive, it’s a good idea to choose it, as you will reap the benefits in the long run.

    Hopefully, by reading this article today, you have a better idea of what to watch out for when you are designing your brochures or getting them designed for you.

    In that regard, if you are need of some help designing your brochures, we can help you here at Kaizen Brand Evolution. Our team of professional designers have been designing them for years, so know exactly what they are talking about. Give us a call on 028 9507 2007 or get us by email via our contact form.

    Sports Medicine NI – Branding

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    Sports Medicine NI approached Kaizen Brand Evolution wishing to create a new brand to go with their new premises in Windsor Park. In their own words “Sports Medicine NI offers a comprehensive management service for athlete injury and health. Using our in-house sports science and medicine experts, we are able to provide a holistic team approach to guide the athlete on their journey to health and performance. Whether you are an international athlete, a coach, sports club/association or simply someone who enjoys being active, we are able to provide tailored support to recover from injury, regain health and remain healthy to achieve your sporting goals. Our specialists have experience in working with athletes and teams at the highest level and can bring that expertise to address your specific problem in one venue, simplifying the process, increasing the communication and reducing the cost.”

    Sports Medicine NI target market is anyone who has been injured through physical activity or someone who takes part in physical activity or competitive sport. Their ideal customer would be a regular gym player or an amateur sports player, coach or schools player. Sports Medicine NI provides expert advice on all athlete injury, illness and performance. The aim of Sports Medicine NI is to get the player back into the game and for them to stay in the game. They specialise in physiotherapy, exercise physiology, sports psychology, sports nutrition, strength and conditioning and sports medicine, with touch points also in radiology, surgery and other specialities.

    From this excellent brief from the client we were able to use this terminology for the language and strapline, this came as the key brand pillars of “Injury, Health, Performance”. For the key narrative, “Getting you back in the game” ‘helping you stay in the game’ and ‘succeed in the game’ was thought of as it covers all of the key touch points for the clients ideal market. The positive messaging shows what Sports Medicine NI can do for you throughout your sporting career. This is paired up with an inline font to highlight the words, back and stay and also in keeping with the logo design.

    The Sports Medicine NI logo is made up of lines symbolising the many lines on a track or pitch, and an arrow is crafted in the M to show positivity and moving forward. The logo used a friendly soft san serif font – Effra – which is approachable and corporate at the same time. A key element in the rebrand was to have a smaller version of the logo using the SM only which can be used with and without Sports Medicine NI to the right-hand side. The colour scheme used is a cobalt blue, bright yellow and turquoise as the brand colours. The colours are bright, they stand out and are also current, as well as being representative of a sports brand such as Nike and Adidas. Additional colours of navy, pink and red are used to highlight six key sections within the brand. Throughout the brand rollout, the arrow is used in the M in the SM NI logo to denote the forward thinking and moving forward, which is very important in a athletes life, especially if they have suffered from injury.

    The photography used within the brand is bright and full of colour, showcasing athletes taking part in their chosen sports, as Sports Medicine NI has clients from all manner of different sports. We have used a diverse range from swimming to karate, as well as the most popular sports such as football, boxing and rugby.

    The brand rollout has been visualised on a number of different deliverables including billboards, website and social media, business stationery, flyers, signage and uniform. We enjoyed greatly working on this project and we look forward to continuing working with Sports Medicine NI as their brand rolls out.

    McQuillan Companies – Brand Identity

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    McQuillan companies approached the branding team at Kaizen Brand Evolution to re-position and revitalise their brand identity. The family-owned business is well established across Northern Ireland and is specialists in civil engineering, quarrying, waste management and outdoor cleaning services to name a few.

    McQuillan Companies have a large presence on the road, their vehicles being instantly recognisable, a lot of which is down to their unique colour palette, something that the branding team had to keep in mind throughout the brand audit. Auditing a brand is our way of truthfully expressing the business offering today, whilst retaining loyal clients brand understanding and improving brand touchpoints (such as vehicle livery and presentation design) we aim to create a brand purpose that keeps the business relevant and exciting for new and potential future clients.

    About McQuillan Companies

    McQuillan Companies are a Northern Ireland based family run business which incorporates a diverse range of activities including civil engineering, demolition, quarrying, hazardous and non-hazardous waste management, outdoor cleaning services and analytical chemistry. A fourth generation business operating for over 100 years through the parent company John McQuillan Contracts, the McQuillan Companies name is synonymous with quality and excellence throughout our various divisions.

    Getting started we focused our research and investigation to forward-thinking, modern brands in the engineering, construction and land service industry – looking to London, New York and further afield. With brand learning’s from across the globe we built a solid understanding of what branding was working and not working in this industrial landscape. Following initial research and mood boarding, we filtered the findings down into 3 solid directions and began brand planning.

    We initially developed the narrative before jumping into the design for McQuillan Companies. The brand language on this occasion launched with ‘Here for tomorrow’ – a modern, forward-thinking strapline for a modern, forward thinking business who are, in effect working on making tomorrow a better, safer place to live. We purposely avoided building or construction clichés so that the narrative was widespread across the entire company intern breeding a positive brand culture – essentially this narrative has legs to be flexible across different business facets.

    Brand Design – McQuillan Companies Lisburn

    We now needed a logo mark that reflected what we were talking about in the narrative. The McQuillan monogram stems from the idea of engineering and overall solid work that the company undertake. The new logo is a strong, trustworthy mark that brings together the initials of the family name and visualises the industry – simply. Our goal for any brand undertaking is to simplify, make brands that people get, without the use of selfish design techniques or trends.

    The logo proves successful when used across brand materials and especially in the brand livery and uniforms. Alongside the new mark, we introduced a structured contemporary typeface that suits the tone of voice and industry of McQuillan Companies. The flexibility of the new identity becomes apparent across the different business sectors where the company sector is simply introduced to the stacked lettering in each instance.

    Throughout the new branding, we have directed the new photography style, using modern dramatic images of the work in progress as well as team members in situ.

    The crescendo of the brand audit was the re-design and use of the new branding across the vehicles. The vehicles that define a McQuillan job have been reinvented for future use and business growth, utilising the flexibility of the new logo mark and brand narrative they suitably stand out on the roads and truthfully represent the businesses heritage and future.

    It was a pleasure working on the brand audit for McQuillan Companies and we look forward to rolling out the brand collateral in the not too distant future.

    Poppogoblin

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    Poppogoblin are a healthy focussed café/juice bar situated on Alfred St, Belfast. They have garnered a reputation for fantastic, delicious healthy alternatives for lunch and for having warm friendly staff that make the entire experience with Poppogoblin one to remember. The owners approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to re-position the branding for plans to refresh the business alongside an interior fit out and a unique Poppogoblin juice range. The businesses reputation an integral part of their offering, which became apparent in our own research into customer, reviews on trip advisor and the broad social media landscape. One thing that was reoccurring was the focus on how the customers where blown away by how friendly and lovely the staff were in Poppogoblin, which immediately set them apart from competitors and highlights their brand purpose. With the brand purpose in mind we made sure to include hints to the unique offering in their brand identity, narrative and tone of voice.

    The brand mark itself reveals a smile in the typography, which is paired alongside a re-draw of their infamous lotus flower. The ‘smile’ in the typography immediately triggers a sense of positivity and the experience that Poppogoblin offers as a destination – you’re going to leave smiling. To balance the re-enforce the logo mark we introduced the strapline ‘eat smart, smile more’ – a strapline that sets the tone for the entire re-brand. You can now see as the brand launches in their signage, on their menus and even on their newly launched food truck – ‘eat smart, smile more’ is as dominant in the design as the logo itself, highlighting the power language can play on your brand.

    Colour choice was a delight for Poppogoblin, healthy modern pastels we’ll call them help extend the brand reach to the modern diner without isolated a particular gender or mind-set. You can dine in Poppogoblin if you are vegan, veggie, and carnivore – any palette really so we kept the colour scheme open and friendly as to represent the brand purpose fully. Photography plays a role in telling the brand story of Poppogoblin to which we called upon one of our favourite Architectural, interior and food photographers Donal McCann. Donal’s shots extend the brand direction fantastically, capturing the warmth and friendly atmosphere as well as the beautiful food and drinks on offer.

    Brand launch began some months ago in the background of the shop façade. Behind the scenes our team were building the full responsive website for Poppogoblin as well as preparing the social media channels for launch. The website utilises Donal McCann’s photo-shoot alongside beautiful typography, layout and brand placement. The full screen imagery on the site play a hug roll in telling the brand story and giving you a taste of the Poppogoblin experience on your desktop, on your mobile, anywhere really. We ensured that the brand roll out kept on track with the vision from the branding exercise. This extended into quality control with signage companies, interior fit out teams, vehicle wrap companies and juice bottle label manufacturers. We always like to keep a close eye on things as roll out happens, acting as full brand guardians as a brand starts to launch. This process and relationship with a brand extends our reach and expertise in the branding process and ensures that your investment in the brand is realised and achieved correctly as agreed.

    Poppogoblin is a fantastic case study for us a brand designers, the brand itself highlights how every aspect of your brand can be considered for maximum purpose. The Poppogoblin brand identity, language and brand guidelines are all set in place for a bright future.

    Belfast Central Business District

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    We successfully won the Belfast City Centre Management pitch to create a brand identity for the new Belfast Central Business District. Following the success of Belfast City Centre Management establishing Belfast One as Belfast’s first Business Improvement District (BID) on 1st of April 2016, Belfast Central Business District (BID) is now in development for the BT2 area of Central Belfast. This area of the city centre functions as Belfast’s ‘square mile’ with many large offices in the finance, technology, professional services and government sectors.  The area is also home to many reputable restaurants, historic bars, quality hotels and a range of independent retailers.

    After a year of preparation Belfast Central Business District (Belfast CBD) has now reached the ballot phase. The publication of the final Business Plan for the business improvement district on the 14th of September formally launches the six week long campaign to secure a ‘yes’ result on 27th of October. The ballot involves over 420 votes from 350 businesses across 10 sectors. Businesses have an opportunity to secure an investment of over £2.4 million in a wide range of money-saving and promotional projects over a five-year period in the BT2 postcode area south of City Hall.

    The identity and brand system that we created for the project brings to life the area involved in the Belfast Central Business District, visualising the footprint that it will have in the city in a contemporary, almost architectural way. The brand encompasses the area as well as the nature of the businesses and residence in the zone allocated to the BID. As you can see in the brand visuals the device is flexible when addressing different streets in the area, becoming the talking point for the likes of Adelaide Street or Linen hall Street. The colour palette is reflective of a forward thinking, corporate area in Belfast.

    We needed to address and connect with the businesses and tenants that currently occupy the Belfast Central Business District, as they would be the ones ultimately sealing the fate of the Bid. We provided a trustworthy, corporate identity that the businesses could get on board with. The ownership comes from the craft of the ‘MAP’ logo to which the businesses can almost point out where they are located. The identity and type family used solidifies the positioning of the BID with a forward thinking approach and timeless brand direction. We used Omnes as the brand typeface, a soft, corporate face that has a big personality when used throughout brand collateral and business materials. As you will see on social media we created a series of props and point of sale items for Belfast Central business District, which really stood out from the crowd at the BID events.

    The versatility of the device really comes in to play when housing the likes of ‘VOTE YES’ messages or “I’M IN” statements in their marketing collateral. The strong primary blue palate also helps marry the brand language with the visuals and mark helping the BID take ownership of the area in a contemporary fashion.

    We are delighted to say that following the branding project and campaign the BID for the Belfast Central Business District was voted for and passed successfully. We can’t take full credit of course but the brand identity and vision from the offset was always on point with the ambition of the BID providing a solid path to success. We thoroughly enjoyed working on the branding for the Belfast Central Business District and look forward to working with them in the future as the BID formulates and is realised. Another successful corporate identity made for purpose in the KBE studios.

    Punchestown Racecourse

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    Punchestown approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to perform a re-brand for their established and celebrated racecourse and entertainment venue. We re-positioned the Punchestown brand by creating an engaging narrative and strategy for the business. With focus on the new ‘Town’ campaign we developed a suite of versatile straplines to use across the new brand roll out and marketing campaigns.

    The Punchestown Festival is considered amongst the Racing community as the equivalent to the Wimbledon of Tennis and the Augusta of Golf. The best of the best from far and wide and the entire annual racing season compete at Punchestown. The sheer audience and exposure of the Punchestown brand provided the need to keep their identity and advertising fresh and representative of their unique offering.

    There is a deep history at Punchestown Racecourse, which helped immensely in the craft of the brand narrative, from the famous horses, trainers and events that have taken place there is much more than meets the eye at Punchestown. The racecourse is not only synonymous with racing, there is so much more to the venue, from music festivals, corporate catering, family days, hospitality and new years celebrations to name a few.

    We felt that the best way for us to communicate the wider offering was to generate a campaign that’s going to be immediately representative of the brand and evoke the emotions and sense that you feel when attending events at the racecourse. This is where the “TOWN” campaign was born. Developing the campaign narrative from the courses namesake, presented potential mileage for the brand and its campaigns immediately and it seemed like an organic development for the branding. With the TOWN campaign decided upon we generated a suite of potential Irish colloquialisms, sayings and relative straplines that would become the driving force behind the new brand identity. ‘Get out of town’ was a saying that marries a few points at once, which we explored on launch.

    The idea of getting out of Dublin Town to visit Punchestown is the initial response to this phrase, however we’ve blended a traditional Irish colloquialism in the messaging “get out of town’ also gets used when you’re surprised to hear or see something. i.e. ‘I got a new Ferrari handed to me by my boss’ – the response would be “get out of town’. So the narrative bar was set, to communicate on two levels and engage vocally through the brand materials.

    With the narrative and strategy in place we could work the craft of the logo and brand materials. The logo, which features the Punchestown Fox (identifiable through the years across each variation their brand history) has been brought into the 21st century with the use of a fresh new type family and custom fox mascot, who sits neatly above the TOWN letters, harking back to the narrative and campaign messaging.

    We introduced a contemporary colour palette for the brand, keeping yet improving on the notorious Punchestown red we added a seasonal suite of colours to be used across the festival graphics, easily identifiable with the likes of Spring, Summer, Autumn Winter festival days. The colour flexibility has really strengthened the brand materials and creates an immediate association with a time of year at Punchestown. Primary colours explore pairings that compliment the Punchestown red, gold and a deep navy.

    Once the brand elements are married together it is clear to see the visual results of the successful re-brand, which now addresses the ambition of Punchestown as a business. The new brand identity and campaigns stand out from their local and national competitors. Everything from the strategy, narrative, identity, implementation and management of the brand has been considered and carefully treated to ensure absolute success as the brand evolves. We absolutely loved working on this brand as a studio and we continue to work with Punchestown as brand guardians and as the racing seasons come around.

    A Year in the life of KBE

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    One year on from my graduation and finishing final year of BA Hons Graphic Design and Illustration in Ulster University Belfast, I find myself working in Kaizen Brand Evolution for one full year. The time has truly flew in! I have learnt so much I begin to wonder how I little I actually knew this time last year. When leaving university I knew that I wanted to work in branding straight away. I particularly like packaging design, as in Northern Ireland the food and hospitality industry is thriving and I knew this is where I wanted to progress my career in graphic design, therefore getting a job in Kaizen was the perfect fit.

    Starting in Kaizen Brand Evolution I asked myself the question what is brand? Branding is everything associated with your service that you provide, it is what people say about you when you’re not there. I have been lucky to take part in producing creative branding concepts for start-up businesses and also evolution of top established brands and providing creative concepts. When I first started I took part in small projects to get started, but now I am able to manage my own clients and solve creative solutions for a brief and I have the confidence to do so. I find it very rewarding working one on one with clients and coming up with a outcome that their business can be proud of also when you see the work you have done out in the public domain.

    I have been able to take part in brand presentations where we as a studio would get together and do research on the industry and then we would pick out three strong directions to pursue that meet the brand strategy. I have been able to design brands from scratch with a logo, language, art direction, social media consideration and website concepts. It was my brand submission that was chosen by the client is Couture Effects, a costume designer for clients such as ‘Game of Thrones’ who wanted a brand to reflect the work that they do as well as sit with the top global brands. For the brand presentation I designed a modern classic logo an adaption from their previous logo incorporating the C and E with an aspect of stitching and cutting. I also produced language and art direction in advertising concepts, stationery, uniform and garment tags. I particularly enjoyed working on this project and I believe it has helped me develop as a designer.

    Working in Kaizen Brand Evolution has allowed me to learn about print and production as their sister company Kaizen Print is close by to help. I have learnt about printing techniques and setting up jobs for print, including cut contours and the importance of bleed, and when and when not to use CMYK printing. This has helped me grow as a designer and be able to assist a client on their project to ensure the best possible outcome is delivered.

    I have had the opportunity take part in many events with Kaizen, including Culture Night Belfast last year and I look forward to participating in it again this year. In February I was able to travel to Dublin to go to OFFSET 2017 the design festival and found it very influential as a young designer.

    One of the things I have enjoyed working in KBE is being a member of the team and working with others. Being able to learn from others and their experiences is fulfilling. I have also been able to pass my own knowledge on to others in the studio and we all can help each other to be the best! Last week I went to go see the final year show with the studio it brought back memories of what it felt like to be in their shoes. I found it interesting to visit some of my old classmates and view their work only this time I was coming from a design company a year on.

    I look forward to continue to develop my knowledge and learning in Kaizen Brand Evolution for the next years to come and I hope to progress as a graphic designer to work on many other projects. Watch this space!

     

    Branding The Future

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    We were approached by Adam / Founder and Director of the Future 17 Conference to develop a new brand identity and strategy for the up and coming tech conference for teens. Future was born out of frustration at the lack of tech events aimed at teenagers and was therefore created with the sole aim of inspiring the next generation of tech leaders.

    After their first event, which hosted speakers from TIME’s list of most influential teens, they are now hosting Future17, a one-day tech conference and hackathon that aims to inspire Northern Ireland’s teenagers to get more involved in the tech industry. By using a unique model and organising a tech conference around a hackathon, they ensure that attendees get the most from this experience: not only will they be able to develop their skills first-hand by ‘hacking’ together a product, but they will also receive talks from some of the leading people in the technology industry today. The ultimate aim of the event is not only to inspire the next generation of tech leaders but also to make teens see code as more than lines and squiggles on a screen and appreciate it for the magic that it is. This founder has his sights set on a number of high-profile digital superstars to lead the conference to be held in the Titanic Building, Belfast.

    We set the new Future 17 tone of voice around the primary mission of ‘developing greatness’ which symbolises the over arching theme of the event, inspiring the future of tech and digital/online developers. In keeping with the younger, teen target audience we aimed to create a brand identity that communicated effectively with this age group as well as potential sponsors. Adam, the founder has already secured solid investment from the likes of Twitter, Kainos and the MCS Group, all championing this growing industry in Northern Ireland. With this in mind, we created a clever brand mark utilising the ascender in the ‘F’ device with it’s own speech bubble mark. This subtle device speaks volumes across all marketing material on and offline. It immediately visualises the essence of the talks at the conference and is easily adapted across the brand.

    As well as the primary ‘F’ mark we introduced an additional, more fluid ‘F’ device built from a data map concept. This secondary ‘F’ is used across the brand in more abstract, high impact fashion. The founder of Future 17 thought that this additional device spoke volumes across marketing material and liked how versatile it became when rolled out across the conference graphics on stage and delegate material. All in all, there are two key components to this brand, the contemporary primary brand mark using the speech bubble in the F Ascender and the ‘Data Map’ F which adapts the playful, secondary colour palette.

    In keeping with the contemporary brand identity, we introduced Calibre as the brand typeface. The surge of circular typefaces in 2016 has been incredible and this one in particular fitted perfectly with the Future 17 ident, clean, concise, on trend. The supporting imagery with the Future 17 brand was chosen to inspire and intrigue, high impact scenic photography of skylines and the night sky symbolising the potential of the delegates and their future impact in tech.

    We are extremely pleased with the final branding of the Future 17 conference and look forward to the roll out as the build up begins for 2017. Here’s to the future of tech in Northern Ireland. If you are interested in attending the Future 17 conference please follow the link below for tickets and any further information. http://www.future17.co/

    Staying Healthy by Working Together

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    Slim’s Healthy Kitchen is one of the longest standing clients on the Kaizen Brand Evolution roster. Since their fruition, we have developed the brand, from the brand identity, tone of voice and brand personality to their website, social media design, menus and interiors. Our working relationship has strengthened as the business has continued to grow significantly, with the opening of 4 new restaurants in the Belfast area and now a new venture into all of the DW Fitness Clubs. Slim’s Healthy Kitchen continues to develop and evolve their brand with us and the understanding of the brand values is what makes our business, and theirs, truly successful. When we received news that Slim’s garnered a contract with DW Fitness Clubs to open the Express model across all stores in Ireland, United Kingdom and Scotland we were absolutely thrilled for their business.

    The past two weeks has seen the launch of the Slim’s Healthy Kitchen brand in DW Fitness Clubs across Northern Ireland and with our help, we have delivered the Slim’s brand experience in this new venue. Brand consistency across the DW roll out was imperative and with the design of Digital menus for screens behind the counter, interior graphics for the restaurant, promotional material such as flyers, pop-up banners and social media posts we have set the standard for future Slim’s Health Kitchen Express roll-outs.

    We worked closely with the marketing and management team at Slim’s Healthy Kitchen in the design of the new menu for DW Fitness Clubs. The brief was to attract and engage gym users, parents of children using gym facilities and appeal to personal trainers alike. We designed and developed a series of high impact graphic devices and colour schemes, bringing the screen menus to life. The brand personality is highlighted in the Slim’s Express model, use of contemporary graphic design utilising standout illustrations, high impact photography and personable brand language.

    Along with the new menu design, we had to adapt the Slim’s Healthy Kitchen brand to suit the interiors of each DW Fitness Club. We created a series of branded vinyl signage, which can be seen throughout each location on counter fronts, window displays and feature walls. Vinyl signage is a great way of displaying brand identities, language and offers across the store especially on this project we were able to brand the already existing unit rather quickly. In addition to the vinyl signage we created and designed a series of internal posters for the restaurant. For the poster designs, we called upon local photographer Fergus Jordan (Whitecloud Photographic) who produced a beautiful series of stylised food photography showcasing the offering at DW Fitness Clubs. The imagery reflected the brand values for the Express Store fantastically using bright, eye-catching backdrops as well as some extremely creative food styling shots. The mix of high-end photography, graphic design, typographic design and illustration really sets Slim’s Healthy Kitchen apart from their competitors. The introduction of the branding into the DW Fitness Clubs has completely transformed the way healthy food and drink is now offered in this fast paced environment.

    With the success of the first four Slim’s Express restaurants opening across DW Fitness Clubs Northern Ireland in Boucher Road Belfast, Bangor, Newtownabbey and Londonderry we are excited to evolve the brand even further as Gary McIldowney prepares to take over the DW Fitness Clubs restaurant offering across the United Kingdom and Scotland. Slim’s Healthy Kitchen is the perfect example of brand evolution, highlighting our own business model that together we are creative change makers, achieving big results from small changes over time well spent with clients. The Slim’s Healthy Kitchen brand has never been as strong as the business continues to grows, so do we.

    The power of Snapchat

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    Snapchat is one of the most powerful ways of communicating today, short and sweet bursts of messages between you and a friend on your phone that disappear before you have a chance to react, it’s the fast-paced engagement and the exchange of information keeping us hooked. From Snapchat’s origin in quick fire picture exchange, its has significantly evolved offering text exchange between users, highly interactive and engaging video filters, story telling video diaries, worldwide event coverage and most prominent – Brand advertising. Just as the evolution of social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Snapchat has quickly overruled as the leader in brand awareness. The user interaction analytics secure Snapchat as the most used social media platform and with this information comes a responsibility as a business to jump on board and get your brand out there.

    There are many tiers of Snapchat advertising that can be easily achieved at any business level and what makes it better is Snapchat advertising is surprisingly affordable. For instance, our first use of Snapchat advertising at Kaizen brand Evolution was a simple Geofilter (interactive branding watermark over the top of the live feed camera) at Culture Night Belfast 2016. For this, we simply created a mobile sized, branded template, which could be used on the night of the event. The brilliant thing about Snapchat is that you set your location; timings and radius reach to pinpoint exactly where you want the Snapchat Geofilter to appear. What an unbelievably personal, in the moment and engaging form of advertising. It was so exciting seeing people interact and use our own Kaizen Brand Evolution filter on the night, and it appeared on your selections just after the main Snapchat filters. Following the interactions and success of the evening at Belfast Culture Night 2016, we reviewed the analytics of our simple Geofilter design and the stats were staggering. Let me put this into perspective, we set the location radius to an area of Belfast about the size of a football stadium, we had it running on Snapchat for 6hours and we told maybe 100 people who came to our stall at Belfast Culture Night 2016 about its existence and how we were testing the new medium. Our analytics report on user engagement was staggering: We had 17.3k views of our filter and 346 uses.

    This only sets to prove my point on how powerful Snapchat is as a brand awareness tool. Following our first use of Snapchat we have been providing the branding service for our clients. Most notably for Boojum and their Halloween campaign. The premise of the campaign was to draw customers to each of the 3 locations of Boojum restaurants in Belfast City Centre. We created and designed 3 separate Snapchat filter designs for Boojum to use across their Great Victoria Street, Chichester Street and Botanic Avenue sites. Each design is different and alongside a Facebook and Twitter post we encourage customers to attend each Boojum location to essentially ‘catch ‘em all’ (not to paraphrase the Pokemon Go craze, but you get my point). There are two key points to this campaign, brand awareness, and brand engagement. Alongside the fantastic Halloween themed design the plans to involve their customers and locations will certainly prove successful. This forward thinking brand medium provides a new platform for brands to showcase their business in a new way, and the results speak for themselves. If we can achieve 17.3k views with hardly any marketing or build up, imagine the possibilities for your brand.

    We now specialise in the design, creation, and customisation of Snapchat Geofilters and advertising. If you believe in your business and would like some design intervention online, engaging and interacting with more potential customers that ever, get in touch and we’ll be happy to set up a meeting.

    Top of the Pops this week

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    Design and Music go hand in hand and we are certainly inspired by the creativity of the music we listen to in and out of the studio. This week we’ve asked the graphic design studio to show us what music has inspired their designs and the brand we have created this week.

    Two Door Cinema Club – Game Show EP released 14th October
    The shiny and alluring but ultimately empty boxes shown on this cover do a great job at reflecting the themes for this album. The black plastic material hints to things being a little fake while being the perfect backdrop to create patterns with the lighting. The result is a fragmented pattern, that further reflects the themes of a fragmented society The band described the track as “rebelling against [consumerism]”. Guitarist Sam Halliday said: “The lyrics play on that and hating how the world is going in terms of commercialism and how people are addicted to social media and living on their phones.”

    Bell X1 – Arms released 14th October
    The simplistic doodle represents the simple life, overshadowed by the secondary images, giving the impression of a space age war, leading one to believe there is more dubious things going on behind the scenes. The colours still remain comforting and soothing, while the juxtaposition of the imagery sets it all on edge. “As the world feels like it’s becoming a harsher place (maybe there’s just more damn noise?), we seek out the comfort of the familiar and familial…arms” – Paul.

    The chain smokers – Closer – Single released 14th October
    This cover has a simplistic and modern look, using the intimate pose the models are in combined with an illustrated story in tattoos of two lovers exploring a relationship together. The reds and pinks representing lust and love, with the imagery also reflecting themes in this vain.

    Babble Brand Identity

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    Babble required a forward thinking brand identity that showcased them as the one stop shop for a career in the call centre industry. As well as the launch of their Babble Jobs brand (online jobs board) they required an accompanying brand that would speak to the user across social media, for ‘Babble Social.’

    We developed a contemporary, playful brand identity for Babble Jobs and Babble Social. Introducing ‘Barry’ – The Babbling Parrot, Babble’s Brand Mascot. Barry encompasses the user of the jobs board and social, he’s a well-travelled, chatty high flyer. Barry is seen across all collateral and acts as the voice of the company. A pleasure to work on and as the brand evolves Barry really starts to come to life.

    Talking Brand

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    Senior designer Ryan Stanfield popped into BBC Radio Ulster ‘Good Morning Ulster’ this morning to talk brand.

    How it’s come about

    It has been built on a solid foundation of 6 years of creativity, the studio was producing work across the island of Ireland and beyond, but was an unsung hero. We wanted to give the creative team and our clients a voice, a brand that could tell the story of who we are and what we do.

    Why is what you do important

    I believe it is important to effect change for the better. That is what design does. It intervenes to create a preferred state. It’s the ethos of Kaizen Brand Evolution and how we help our clients in business.

    What will Kaizen Brand Evolution offer?

    “In two words creative change. The ability to evolve in an ever changing and competitive marketplace. To continually engage with both internal and external audiences both visually and through brand language. We offer ideas and thinking on brand that can find output both in print and digital formats to reach the most fitting solution to the design problem. We offer a way forward.”

    “We have recently converted our first floor into a studio space, allowing collaborative thinking from the designers, a break out meeting area, and reception to ask how you’d like your cuppa.”

    “We are currently fortunate to work with a wide spectrum of clients, from charities to media moguls and everything in between. Our designers find themselves getting under the skin of many industries, believing that the value of design comes in knowing how businesses work in order to help find the right solutions to make creative change.”

    “In terms of recruitment, we have just welcomed a new account manager, as well as someone to look after the numbers, and are in the process of sourcing a highly talented designer to join our gang.”

    Why are brands important

    Brand are incredibly important. Ultimately they are visual story tellers, they build consumer confidence and speak on behalf of your company. The visual language and tone of voice crafted for your brand will engage with your audience, build that audience and sell to that audience.

    International Society of Typographic Designers 2016

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    I travelled to DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology) Grangegorman last weekend, 5 March 2016 for the Annual ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) Student Assessment. Every year design students from across Ireland take part in what Erik Spiekermenn described ‘The Most rigorous and honest assessment in the world. No personal likes/dislikes can affect the outcomes.’ The students answer one of 5 ISTD briefs to which they may use a number of mediums and outcomes. When assessing we look for strong concept with comprehensive typographic exploration.

    On arrival we have a chance to grab some breakfast and catch up before beginning the assessments. This year I was paired with Jamie Murphy from Salvage Press, a typographer and letterpress printer and all round great guy. The briefs are outlined below.

    Project 1: A life’s work

    Celebrate the life’s work of Adrian Frutiger. Create a prestigious ‘publication’ (digital/physical or both) that celebrates the life and work of Adrian Frutiger.

    Project 2: The Undiscovered Country…

    ‘Stare death in the face’ and find out everything there is to know about it. Consider international, societal, scientific, religious, historical, statistical, cultural, literary and poetic touch-points within your research, before determining your approach.

    Project 3: Visualising Music

    Using Philip Glass’ opera Einstein on the Beach as your source material, you are asked to investigate different ways of making visual typographic notations in order to create a music score for this work.

    Project 4: Eye Witness

    Your task is to translate a written, first person account of a significant event, into a typographic experience that is designed as a site-specific installation in the gallery of your choice.

    Project 5: And the winner is…

    Celebrate the Nobel Prize. You may wish to propose the design for a suite of publications that highlight the various categories of awards; perhaps a prestigious publication that investigates the life and work of a selection of Nobel Laureates; or a very focused approach looking at a specific category e.g. the prize for literature.

    Yet again the standard of work for Ireland is exceptional with a number of students passing the bar and one merit awarded from myself and Jamie. I thoroughly enjoy the assessments and believe that this institution greatly benefits the design community, raising standards in typographic practice across the globe.

    BBC Digital

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    Connecting Homes Roadshow

    Here’s one you don’t get everyday! Lizi Daley from our Digital team has been working with BBC Digital and Farset Labs to create an interactive roadshow showing the evolution of digital technology in the home. The walk in mini home has everything from doorbells that operate lights to DIY Raspberry Pi solutions. Our job was to make what would arrive as a mobile on home on wheels to a cosy home that could display the technology and make the unit a domestic environment for the three day roadshow. Lizi had the task of mixing kitsch, shabby chic 70s style interiors with the corporate BBC Digital branding. Liaising with Farset Labs Lizi made sure online styling matched the environment she was creating that would take to the road. After a lot of wallpaper swatches, lighting research and door hunting, the vision came to life. The roadshow will be outside Belfast City Hall as well as Northern Ireland Science Park, designed, print managed and fitted by our team.

    Harry Pearce Pentagram

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    On Dec 10 2015 the design team at Kaizen Brand Evolution took a trip to the Connor Lecture theatre at Ulster University for a talk by Pentagram’s Harry Pearce. The University of Ulster Design department really pulled it out of the bag with this booking. Pearce gave an awe-inspiring talk through his life’s work with a look through the window to how it is to be a partner in Pentagram. Pearce’s work with the Royal Academy of Arts stood out for me, his dedication to Ai Weiwei’s up and coming show really highlighted the importance of getting involved with a client and learning from them on a personal level improves the end result. A fantastic night that left the KBE team hungry for more.

    Slim’s Healthy Kitchen Cookbook

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    Kaizen Brand Evolution created the branding and designed every touch point you will see from Slims Healthy Kitchen, Slims being one of our longest standing clients, a client that is constantly growing, succeeding and as Slim grows in business as do we. When Slim came to us with the idea of designing a cookbook for the Christmas shelves in November, we were extremely excited and a little scared at the deadline! Our relationship with Slim and his team is incredibly tight and we knew, no matter what, we were going to produce the most exciting cookbook working together. Shout out to Chris Love (love PR) and Kate Magill who worked on the content and Khara Pringle for her outstanding photography. The Kaizen Brand Evolution team worked tirelessly with the Slims team in creating this wonderful healthy cookbook. The design approach was contemporary, straight forward and high impact. The imagery and text had to sit well together, be functional as people needed to follow the recipes and be visually stimulating. We succeeded in the delivery of Slims first Cookbook with plans for a follow up in 2016 which we cannot wait to get stuck into. The success of the book has increased the brand reach and interest in the healthy eating movement happening in Northern Ireland, with Slim being the captain of the ship. If you would like a copy of the book you can find it in Waterstones and most book retailers across the land but be quick they’re selling fast.

    Visit slimskitchen.com for more info. Here’s to the next instalment. #choosebalance

    Brand creation For Friends Daycare & Nursery

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    Watching our customers move into different markets and business ventures is amazing and we’re always happy to assist with their own business development. The owners of Friends Daycare & Nursery, Belfast approached us to develop the brand for their new daycare based on the Saintfield Road, Belfast. Understanding their approach to childcare it was clear we were to develop an identity of the highest level, that would appeal to the parents and of course the children of south/east Belfast.

    Presenting a selection of concepts that embodied the business and retained the core ethos, we created this unique brand that will position Friends Daycare and Nursery among the highest regarded businesses in their sector. We are now in turn building the supplementary marketing and business materials required for the launch, alongside a bespoke website for the brand.

    Slim’s Healthy Kitchen, Belmont Road – Design Belfast

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    Gary came to us for the launch of his new Belmont Road Store in Belfast, the third Slims Healthy Kitchen in Belfast. Gary was approaching on new territory and we prepared a number of brand progression scenarios for him. The brand is continuously growing, with the growth our involvement in the brand direction has stepped up a notch. The Belmont Road store was a complete refurbishment, including interiors, exteriors, menus, window graphics and a full wall mural. We created the new design direction for the Belmont Road Menus, a more minimal design which lets the food speak for itself, with this we dressed the windows with Festival style graphics. All of the design collateral in the build up to the launch we produced in Kaizen Brand Evolution. We also worked with local artists in the creation of wall mural you will see as you walk into Slims Belmont Road.

    Changing markets!

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    ‘St George’s Market Bar & Grill’ becomes ‘George’s of the Market’
    Our creative team relish creating brands as much as turning around inherited brands. George’s of the Market logo was presented to us as a blank canvas to create the brand story to deliver a signage and way finding system as well as a range of menu offerings. Our initial presentation included heritage market images sympathetic to the character of the market and its traders, as well as simple graphic interpretations to build assets from the new logo. With input and feedback from the client we developed the visuals mixing the Victorian iron work illustrations with neutral contemporary colour palettes. Fonts that were reflective of the era and simple black and white styling was mixed with brown paper and craft cards synonymous of the packaging found on the market floor below. Stamps are created to brand the paper that would pack the fresh bread into on special nights such as the Twilight Market. Transforming the almost invisible upper level restaurant, to a modern airy eater that gives a nod to the historic market below.

    Relax… you’re almost there

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    The next time you are travelling from Belfast international airport we hope you are well Fed & Watered! Our brief was to inject some soul into the outlet whilst protecting the balance of the customers perception of a high end offering at BIA. Expressing personality and character was key. The name, logo and colour palette was to remain, but our role was to evolve the brand to next level.

    The project was progressed in line with the interior designers vision and also liaising with the signage supplier on materials to meet the clients timelines and budget for the project.

    Firstly, we researched other restaurants to help benchmark the project visually. We created mood boards of materials and layout styles to make sure both designer and client were in agreement on the overall look and feel. Once we were exposed to the architects plans we adapted the mood boards to align the brand.

    This resulted in chosen fonts, colour palettes and textures that informed the menus, signage and printed communication in the outlet. The brand now talks to the customer with humour at each touch point, maintaining a quality standard yet opening dialogue to build a longer lasting relationship with the customer. From a commercial point of view, it was important to visualise the food deals to reduce customer decision time and make the menu more simplistic to increase sales and upsell products.

    The brand assets are solid, and can now be rolled out across other Fed & Watered outlets nationally, strengthening brand confidence and consistency across the portfolio.

    Client Quote from press link

    “Since its conception the brand has gone from strength to strength, with further outlets opening in Exeter Airport and the landmark Obel Building in Belfast. While the brand and the offering have evolved over the past four years, we took the decision earlier this year to execute a more significant brand refresh. The first part of the project was to work with our designers to reconsider the logo and associated corporate livery.” The updated brand assets have future-proofed this part of our business, and will now be rolled out across our other Fed & Watered outlets, thus strengthening brand confidence and consistency across the portfolio,” she added.

    Press Links – http://www.nibusinessnow.co.uk/enhanced-offering-at-fed-watered-takes-off-at-belfast-international/

    http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/ni-business-news/mount-charles-wins-major-international-airport-contract-1-7080977

    http://www.belfastairport.com/blog-news/2015/november/mount-charles-wins-major-contract-at-international-airport

    Content is King!

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    Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Annual Ireland Board Chair’s Lunch

    Exploring the phenomenon that context is replacing content as King of the Digital Marketplace, Lynsay Spence and Connor McAuley attended the event hosted at Malmaison Hotel Belfast. Guest speaker, Chris Fielding-Martin, Head of E-Commerce at Malmaison and Hotel du Vin gave us an insight to his own company’s marketing and content strategy. Touching on copy lines, sales and marketing the Q&A also offered advise on dealing with customer service online. In 2014 nearly 22 million questions were posted on Facebook and Twitter making this a platform that companies in the new age of marketing need to be equipped to manage effectively. It was inspiring to hear how a corporate company communicated at a customer level and how they reacted when they didn’t always get it right first time. We also heard from Gavin Walker, Managing Editor of Business First, who has eight years experience in editing for the online magazine. It was encouraging to know how much we are already doing right and how we can make adjustments to do things better. This reflection was made sweeter over afternoon tea at Malmaison following the discussion as part of a networking opportunity.

    Simon Brien, Belfast – Website Launch Design

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    Simon Brien Estate Agents approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to design the advertising campaign for the Launch of their brand new website. Simon Brien are a forward thinking company with an extensive history in the Northern Ireland real estate industry and they required a fresh approach to their brand direction. Welcome Home’ was the campaign – which successfully communicates the web launch with the real estate industry, we featured the new video based ‘Home’ page on the ad with the copy top left in the design. The launch campaign featured in the Belfast telegraph as well as social media and proved very successful across all media. Each campaign we create for Simon Brien now has a play on words, the brand direction has really came to life over the past year.

    University of Ulster Degree Shows 2015

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    The team at Kaizen Brand Evolution had the opportunity have a sneak preview of the 2015 student submissions for the graphic design and illustration courses final year exhibitions at the University of Ulster Belfast in the afternoon before the big event. Walking around the array of skill sets ranging from illustration, branding, typography and design it is clear to see that this years awards shows are destined for success. Illustration was a large part of the shows, which is a slight change from my days at Ulster University, it’s refreshing to see a discipline with more focus in the course. We were treated to some olives and bread as we perused the students final year projects which paired well with the level of maturity in some of the stalls, notably Emma Kenny and Tiernan Delargy. Being huge type fans we were drawn to these two students areas. Emma’s level of understanding a project from fruition to completion was a breath of fresh air while Tiernan’s attention to detail and obvious non-stop work ethic was inspiring. A great success for the 2015 degree shows. Roll on 2016.

    Ministry of Sound Pitch – CD Cover Design

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    Kaizen Brand Evolution were asked to develop design concepts for the release of two of Ministry of Sounds new CD releases – Throwback and the Ibiza Sessions 2015. We designed the concepts from brief and were successfully awarded positioning of the design roster for Ministry of Sound, a global client with extensive reach. CD cover design has always been a sort of Holy Grail in the design industry and working with such a big player in the music industry is a pleasure. Featured are the design concepts supplied by the team at Kaizen Brand Evolution, contemporary, detailed scenes echoing the themes of each CD. The artwork had considerations for small size outlets such as iTunes and other mobile retail outlets, so big type was a must The designs were rolled out across TV advertisements and featured in all of the top music retailers including the big supermarkets. Ministry of Sound are an absolute pleasure to work with, keep an eye out for the Kaizen Brand Evolution stamp of excellence in any of their future releases.

    Boost – St Patrick’s Day

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    Boost St Patricks Day Graphic Design

    With Boost Energy Drinks being a market leader in independent retailers across Ireland they approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to develop an advertising campaign to link St Patrick’s Day with Boost. We set out to develop a campaign based around luck. From this idea ‘Boost your luck’ was born. This campaign message has the positive connotations that derive from essence of Boosts Brand, the idea of luck is already set in stone with the Irish Holiday and how do you make the day better? With a Boost of course. The typography and imagery was then designed in the bright green / a change of pace from the blues that are usually associated with Boost, and rolled out across in store printed materials and online campaigns. The success of the campaign has secured Boost Energy Drinks as one of Kaizen Brand Evolution’s top clients.

    Slim’s Healthy Mini Kitchen – Victoria Square

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    Slim took on the pod in Victoria Square Belfast as a brand new venture. His plan was to turn the old Victoria square kiosk and transform it into a one-stop juice bar for shoppers. The idea was great and we created the new ‘Slims Healthy Mini Kitchen branding for the POD. Mini Slims needed a new logo with a full vinyl wrap of the entire area below the Victoria Square dome. Our approach was to create a summer festival experience for shoppers in the heart of the city. The graphics featured a field, wooden directional signage, festival lights which sit with picnic tables, teardrop flags and parasols, the full works. The till area was transformed into a wooden hut with the bright, bold colours of Slims brand surrounding the POD. Slims Healthy Mini Kitchen reinforced the brand values in the centre of Belfast’s retail sector and in tern drove more customers to the larger store beside Top shop. A great project for the Kaizen Brand Evolution team.

     

    Bakehouse Belfast – Branding

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    Bakehouse Belfast approached Kaizen Brand Evolution for a branding project to set them apart as the top B2B supplier of baked goods across Ireland. Already established in some of the countries top hotels they required a fresh brand that would be rolled out across packaging, marketing materials, menus and eventually plans to open a café/patisserie. We pitched 3 contemporary brand directions for the company to which they chose the wheat’ mark with accompanying distressed text logo, echoing the hand made aspect of the business. We designed the packaging for their initial stand alone protein bar using a mix of bold raspberry and mint green colour palette. The brand personality cam in the naming of some of their best selling products, for instance their apple pie was re-named ‘Granny’s hand made apple tart.’ We wanted to use ‘Belfast-ism’s’ for each product and reflect the companies Belfast heritage. All copy going forward would use this approach and set them apart from their competitors.

    NI Design Alliance – Making Things Better

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    with NI Design Alliance

    We are proud to be part of Northern Ireland Design Alliance, a group of practising professionals who believe that great design makes things better for people. That’s what we do at Kaizen Brand Evolution, we pride ourselves in being creative changemakers. Both with our clients as well as cultivating talent in our internship and links with design courses to make a real difference in our commercial and social landscape. A forum for change, as well as a voice through key partnership with the UK Design Alliance, facilitated by the Design Council they provide an opportunity to engage with all kinds of organisations and representatives from society. You’ll find us on their directory and as avid attenders of the Anatomy of Design’ series, you’ll see us amongst the great and the good at the next event.