We have a full on week this week – no less than three days of exhibitions back to back! On Wednesday we’ll be exhibiting locally at Guildford Means Business before packing up our kit and heading up to London’s Excel Arena for two days at the Great British Business Show and Business Startup Show.

The show is packed with great speakers: from James Caan to Brad Burton and Bill Morrow, oh, and yours truly! I’ll be speaking on How to Make your Brand Irresistible on Friday afternoon at 2.45pm and Ian, Dani and Chloe will be on our stand (535) both days ready to meet you and answer your branding queries. I’m also running a series of expert clinics both days (I don’t have any details on that yet…) where I’ll be able to provide one to one advice on your brand. And best of all, it’s all absolutely free!

Do join us if you can, it promises to be a great show and it would be lovely to see some of you. Will you let me know if you’re planning on going and I’ll make sure I look out for you.

Whilst the Masterclass is beautifully designed and bursting with motivation I can guarantee you there is nothing whimsical about it and you will most definitely come out at the end of the journey with sheer drive and determination to better your brand.

We hope to film more videos in the near future so watch this space.

I am so excited I think I may actually burst. We have finally cracked the update to the Flourish brand identity and I cannot tell you what a thrill it is to be so close to launching our gorgeous new website.

It’s not fair to call this a “rebrand” because I think that implies you’re making fundamental changes to the essence of the brand focus and brand identity. And that’s not what this project has been about. It’s more about taking the Flourish identity to the next level whilst retaining all the things that make us who we are.

So the energy, colour and quirkiness stays, but elements of the design have moved on, and our focus is now on styling brands and all the communication that goes with that – from the websites and blogs to the printed brochures, postcards and other pieces of direct mail. We create irresistible brand identities and help our clients communicate with flair and passion, simple as that!

So the design emphasis is less on growth and all the associated images that come with that – from the leaves and flowers to our lovely packets of seeds (sob!). That’s definitely still a lovely side effect of what we do for our clients but we hope that the emphasis on brand stylists gives us a very unique space in the market and one that truly plays to our strengths.

I can’t pretend that the journey to get here hasn’t been tough. I think I speak for us all when I say it’s been incredibly tough to gain the clarity, objectivity and inspiration we rely on for all of our design work. It’s always difficult doing your own stuff, and I thought this time might be easier than when we first launched Flourish in 2010, but I can honestly say it hasn’t been. It’s been really hard work.

We’ve definitely broken the back of things now. We have our slightly modified colour palette, we have a lovely new range of fonts and we have some utterly gorgeous icons. We’ve developed some new patterns and we’re working on a few more. We’ve printed up some beautiful gift packs for our current and prospective clients as well as a whole lot of printed literature.

The last few pieces of the puzzle are the website and eventually the blog too.

Caroline’s putting the finishing touches to the website design and that’s going to be built over the next couple of weeks. Once it’s live I’ll be giving you an insight into a journey that’s been littered with false starts, wrong turns and dead ends, but that I’m now confident is very Flourish.

I don’t want to show you too much until everything is in place, but I did think you might like a little sneak preview of some of our bespoke Flourish notebooks, illustrated by our fabulous James… Would love to know what you think!

For the latest video we wanted to ensure the scenes reflected the spirit of the class, for example we decided to film in Fiona’s house as most members of the class will be working from home.

We created a Vision Board on the wall which is a technique Fiona learnt in New York, only to be achieved with Washi tape. We have always created and refer to Vision Boards throughout the design process because it enables our customers to focus on their brand communication and gives us clarity on the brand message and how we show that through design. It is also a method our Masterclass students will be using shortly.

The video appears effortless however as with all projects of this nature, there were last minute tweaks and changes to the script and the set up of the scenes.

We had a complete nightmare of a day with the light, as soon as one shot was set up and ready to go the sun would dip behind a cloud. As you can imagine this was incredibly frustrating, we decided to cover the window to ensure it wouldn’t ruin takes. (We decided to step away and allow Matt to overcome his fear of heights and run up the ladder!)

As we were filming in a house we did incur a few minor issues, I successfully managed to ruin one of the best takes of the day due to Fiona’s lovely cat  (Harley) bringing in a mouse! There were several moments when he wanted to be on camera, so if you do hear a distant meowing you now, know why!

Fiona is a confident speaker, however within our first few videos she was missing the x factor that she possesses in person. After working with Adrian Kirk, Fiona made some small but incredibly powerful changes to things like her speech deliverance and connection with the audience through her body language.

This time around Fiona’s outfit allowed her to feel much more relaxed and with the colour gold connoting compassion and success, it positions her nicely as a Brand Stylist.

Ta da! The brand, spanking new website for the Branding Masterclass is now live, and with the next class less than four weeks away, I wanted to share the design with you.

I’m not one to hang about (as my team will testify) and so when I made the decision to launch our first masterclass back in late November 2011 I knew we had our work cut out preparing the “classroom” (aka the blog), the brand, a promo video, writing the content and the sales copy as well as all the back end admin it takes to run a course. We did a LOT in that two-ish months and fitting in a stand alone website was always going to be impossible. But I did want to pull one together for the next class.

Both James and Stuart have worked incredibly hard to pull this together before Easter, and I want to say a very big and public thank you to both of them (and Caroline) for making sure the site was ready. I know it wasn’t easy, especially with your current workload, but it is very much appreciated.

The Designs

The designs are very much rooted in the brand identity James created back in January for my masterclass classroom. I wanted everything to feel clean, easy to read and welcoming but also with some substance. This isn’t airy fairy stuff, despite the prolific use of flowery pictures! There’s real, commercial meat behind what I’m writing about, even if much of it is delivered in a light and easy to understand way. And so I love James’ use of type, colour and white space.

There’s a bit of work to be done after the Easter hols on the about page – I wanted to put a quick showreel together of our work for anyone that hadn’t come via our website or blog, so we’ll add that in over time. We also plan to integrate our event booking system into the website and be done with the horrible shopping cart once and for all! But I think that realistically that’s going to need to wait until after May…

We wanted to bring the testimonials to life and as they’re such a photogenic bunch, the social media avatars work quite well don’t you think?

You can see the website in action over at brandingmasterclass.com

I’m really excited to share the new Branding Masterclass video with you. We recorded it last Friday and I spent much of Wednesday editing it all together, with James working frantically behind the scenes to put together the fab stills with all the lovely student testimonials.

I never thought I’d say this, but I really enjoyed creating this video, and I think that was mostly down to the team that worked on the project. James, one of our Graphic Designers, worked on the visuals, and I just love how they look. Remember the video from before Christmas? We hadn’t formalised the brand identity back then, and I just love the fresh, clean look James has given the testimonials. Dani, our Account Exec was a real trooper. She did the recording as well as charging round styling the “set” (aka a corner of my kitchen!) with me and cheering me on! And Adrian Kirk, who you’ll meet next week properly, who helped me get a bit more of my sparkle onto the camera.

I wouldn’t say that I struggle to speak in public (what am I saying? Those of you that know me well know that I love it!) but I’ve never been one for am-dram. I was never in any plays at school and I have zero to none experience of performing on camera. So even though I felt pretty happy with the original masterclass video, I hope you can see a difference in this one?

Adrian was amazing at getting me relaxed, helping me focus on my message and get more of “me” across on camera. I know I have some way to go, and I’m not quite ready to be a TV presenter yet (ha ha!) but I think he achieved great things in just a few short hours. I’ll definitely be working with him when we produce our next video for Flourish.

Behind the scenes…

The “Set” and Adrian and I discussing the next take

We spent the morning practicing in the studio which was great for practice, but the light is pretty dreadful, the dark, tudor beams make it a difficult set to work with and most of the rooms have phones in, so we were convinced that we’d end up with a great take that was ruined by a phone ringing halfway through. Our studio is so lovely and charming when you’re actually there, but it’s really not great for the camera. So we decided to up sticks and relocate to my house, which has lovely light and a few more props on tap to make things a bit more beautiful!

I was a little concerned that a home setting would look a little unprofessional, but ultimately this is a class that most people work through from home, so we felt it made sense. Hey, if I had a funky loft studio that might have done, but I did feel very relaxed in my own home.

We had to do a little shifting around and remove all of my personal photos but I think it worked out quite nicely. And it was a real shame we couldn’t have got my pretty tissue paper pom poms in on the shoot, but they were a little out of context! I’d made them for my daughter’s birthday and they did look lovely, but maybe a little irrelevant for the video?

I loved the excuse to rush out and buy a new dress (well obviously?!) and get my hair done (not sure that you’d know it especially but it felt nice to be pampered ). Is it just me, or do you do that before a photoshoot as well?

And the music…

Oh, and one last thing. The music. When I bought the music before Christmas I fell in love with the emotional feel it had to it, it seemed just perfect for the masterclass. Uplifting and a bit spine tingling at the same time. But it really bugged me because I knew that it reminded me of a pop song, and I couldn’t work out which one. Nor could anyone else I spoke to. And then I realised, it’s Mika! And it all makes sense…

Ok so the sentiment of the song isn’t quite what I’d have chosen but I think the melody is perfect. What do you think?

And the thank you’s

Thank you so much to some of the lovely Branding Masterclass students who supplied such fabulous words. I really appreciate it And so in order of appearance…

Lisa Whitty

Emma McLaughlin

Vicky Tipton

Tracy Stonard

Isabel Nieto

Gabriella Buckingham

Chrissie Slade

And if you’re tempted to join us, do! You will love it. And I would love to have you. Registration closes on 6th May and you’ll save £30 when you book before 23rd April so just do it now before you forget Booking and full details here… 

Whilst the Masterclass is beautifully designed and bursting with motivation I can guarantee you there is nothing whimsical about it and you will most definitely come out at the end of the journey with sheer drive and determination to better your brand.

We hope to film more videos in the near future so watch this space.

As you’re probably aware we are currently going through some design changes and I have been given the exciting task of illustrating our new icons. We have been working really hard to develop our own style that capture’s the essence of our brand. Over the coming weeks I would like to share with you our new illustrations, whilst at the same time giving you an insight into our design journey!

After working really hard developing our design style we are are really happy to show you a sneak preview of our Flourish duck. And below you can see how the design has developed from start to finish.

You can really see the shape of the illustration develop with each iteration. Right through from a stylised static version to the final flourishing duck.

We felt the initial designs didn’t have the exuberance and energy  that we wanted to express through our illustrations. This was mainly down to the quite boring and very static positions of a duck just sitting by a river bank. We needed to give our duck some much needed movement and energy. After re-drawing it flapping its wings ready to fly, we immediately realised that it was this movement that made the pose intriguing  and much more interesting to the eye. It also communicates the all important quirky edge to Flourish that we’re keen to express.

So I’d like everyone to please give a warm welcome our Flourish duck!

We were getting so stuck, going round and round in circles trying to create something that looks better than the website we have, but with the spirit of the original brand identity. I think we were all really struggling to move forwards whilst building on what’s working. It feels a little like baring my soul showing you one of our early ideas, especially since it’s not finished, but we’ve moved on fairly far from what’s below and I think you need to see the context of why we’re struggling so much!

An idea that isn’t working…

This website mockup (unfinished by the way… just look at those icons at the bottom of the page and the signpost all over the place) had the gravitas and wow factor we wanted, but as Bronwyn, our Brand Strategist pointed out, if you cover up the logo it doesn’t look like Flourish. And it doesn’t feel like Flourish either. I guess that’s part of the journey. Working through what’s working and what isn’t is twice as hard when you’re the designer, creative director and client isn’t it?

Moving forwards

I’ve found the last couple of weeks really frustrating. Knowing what I wanted to achieve but not really being able to give any specific direction on how we get there. And I think the team have found it equally annoying because they want to get this as right as I do. It felt like we were continually taking two steps forward and one back.

And then just like I have all my brainwaves in the car, I had a lightbulb moment this afternoon when I realised that if we break down the current brand identity, and remind ourselves of why we did what we did in the first place, that we might just be able to move forward. Simple when you put it like that isn’t it? Why we didn’t do this two months ago I’ll never know

The starting point

Here’s our brand identity as we launched it in 2010.

Rosewood (the circus font) in particular captures the quirky exhuberance of the brand. It’s distinctive, engaging, warm and energetic. But it’s been overused lately and we need to move on. Personally I never loved Mepp but it was very “of the moment” and as I suspected back in 2009, that moment has passed. And that’s ok…

Perec was all about us being taken seriously. It’s beautiful, legible and a great body copy font. But we have since cheated on Perec with our new font and it’s wonderful.

Purple: quality, vision, purpose was also about us being taken seriously. I love the colour and I think it still has a place, but I don’t think it should feature as highly in our palette as it did two years ago. I think we’ve ticked the “take us seriously” box now.

Green: fresh, energetic, approachable and reassuring. This is still a core part of our brand colour palette.

Orange: creative, abundant and sociable it’s there for all the right reasons. I wonder whether (thank you Tracy!) it’s too masculine for us?

Pattern adds texture, approachability and warmth. We are going to be using pattern moving forwards, but we need those wobbly lines that work so well for us now.

Illustrations add a quirky personality and still get me in the heart. I love them. But I worry they look a bit scruffy. And I think we can do better than that too… So we need illustrations that communicate the warmth, energy and engagement of those old line illustrations whilst continuing to inspire us. I still love that magic wand though…

It’s interesting because breaking down what we did before and why makes it much easier to evaluate why what we’re doing to move things forwards doesn’t feel right.

I mean, I can see the website at the top would look fabulous if we tidied up the design, but it doesn’t feel right, and with what we do, our brand needs to feel as good as it looks. It’s too Winter as well isn’t it? And it’s missing all the great bits that worked so well about the original Flourish identity. And in trying to move forwards from an identity that we feel isn’t doing us justice any longer, we lost sight of what worked so well about it.

We finished our meeting feeling very optimistic and (I hope) clear on what we need to do. We’ve agreed on the colours (in comes a more optimistic and friendly yellow, out goes purple); in comes a much more fabulous font which I hope will add the much needed exuberance and energy of Rosewood and in come icons with energy and movement. I’m excited! Really excited!

Do you want to see the new brand elements as they stand? I’m not sure I’m ready to share them with you. It makes me feel a little bit sick…

I’m delighted to introduce our new Graphic Designer, James Nixon to you all. Will you join me in giving him a huge welcome?

James joined team Flourish in January and since then has been working incredibly hard to create some of the beautiful illustrations for our own brand and our clients work as well as creating some gorgeous website designs. He’ll be sharing some of his work with you later this week (I’ve challenged the entire Flourish team to start sharing some insights into what they’re up to) but I thought it might be nice for you to get to know the person behind the work.

We were immediately inspired by James’ passion for design, his keenness to learn and his attention to detail. James is one of those rare, rewarding types who actually wants a critique on his work because he knows it will make him a better designer. Those are the kinds of designers we love to have in our team and we’re lucky that each and every one has that same attitude.

A grounding in photography

James’ first passion was photography and he studied a foundation degree in moving image and photography at UCA Farnham before graduating from Falmouth University in Fine Art Photography, the best university for photography in the country. What James loved about photography was the creativity in the darkroom and he tells us he spent many a happy hour in that darkroom creating images. Falmouth are known for their creativity and this has certainly rubbed off on James!

You can see his final piece here http://jamesnixonphotography.co.uk/gamers.html a time lapse photography piece about the intensity of the gamer. I’ve challenged James and Dani to create a time lapse video for Flourish so watch this space! Hopefully it’ll be a little more flattering than this one?

Passionate about design

It wasn’t until after university that James started designing, and as he says, he’s barely put his laptop down or picked up a camera since! James has been designing for the last three years and joined us in January, so brings with him a wealth of experience as well as sheer enthusiasm and fresh ideas.

James is inspired by creativity, the process of design and the challenges that brings. He particularly enjoys designing websites and the way they bring everything together; beautiful photography, illustation, icon, colour and how the challenge is to make it work in an interesting way and work in the space you have.

He’s open minded about his design style but takes inspiration from designers such as Mike Kus who works with interesting texture and really thinks through every small detail. His websites are completely different to what you normally see and that inspires James, in particular his amazing time lapse video of him working for Innocent, and the attention to detail that goes into that project.

James also loves the Form Fifty Five blog: the Falmouth influence in action! Isn’t it a nice foil to my girly design inspirations?!

Claims to fame: James once photographed London Fashion Week! He was assistant to a fashion photographer which has given him a huge visual awareness which he can bring through to everything he designs. That level of attention to detail – placing of every element, lighting, deconstructing the scenario is a great grounding. Now James enjoys experimenting and is excited about design.

And on a personal level

Outside of work, James’ life is mostly about football – he describes himself as pretty obsessive about football. Like any typical Surrey lad, James supports Man United. He plays 11 aside football at the weekend plus in the week for fun. That doesn’t leave much time for much else as James says that football takes over my weekend! He also goes snowboarding every year with a group of mates to the French alps. Oh to be in my twenties again…

Do you have any questions you’d like to ask James?