Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Wales marketing ouput

We (Hoffi) have been working on this for quite a while now, and I am really glad we can finally announce that we have managed to get the contract for all of the National Museum Wales' marketing collateral for 2008 and 2009. Hoffi will be responsible for all output apart from the National Waterfront Museum and the overall What's on guide. We are delighted to have been awarded the work, and hope that over the next few months everyone will be able to see what we have been up to. The pitch was very complex and difficult with us being up against 5 other very strong design agencies. It has been a really good start to the year for Hoffi in general with new work being launched all the time. Currently we have one more piece to produce for Academi's Book of the Year awards and we are also already in the planning stages for the Cardiff Design Festival 2008. 

Design Futures - Design Wales Event 19th March 2008

We all went to Design Wales' Design Futures evening last night, at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport. This was the second year it has taken place, with last year Wally Olins (Safron) and Martin Raymond (The Future Laboratory) being guest speakers. Last years event was a great event with the guest speakers really giving me a new view and look into certain aspects of design. As well as the speakers there is also the student Ffres awards.

So I was really looking forward to last night, it is the first time we have all been out together for ages, as we have been really busy but it is good to stretch the legs  and get of the office sometimes. The years guest speakers came from very different aspects of the design scene. The first guest speaker was Pete Fowler (of Super Furry Animals CD sleeve fame), I remember years ago going with my father to one of his exhibitions in Cardiff. I think it was near Jacobs antiques in the Centre of town, probably been knocked down now. He basically gave us a whistle stop tour of what he has been getting up to over the last 8-10 years. I find his work really interesting and I love the magical world he has created over the years. The only thing that did put me off was a gentleman behind me who obviously was not as impressed as me due to the large amount of snoring that was coming from him!!

To break up the speakers there were mini videos that had been produced for three companies to highlight the effect design has had on their business, and how design has made them more competitive in their market place. The videos were about Mustang Marine, Melin Tregwynt and DMM. I was really looking forward to the DMM video as I have trusted these guys with my life on many occasions. For those of you who do not know DMM is a manufacturer of Rock and ice climbing hardware. They produce karabiners, 'friends' and rocks to aid you climbing up the rock face. From the age of about 12 I have climbed (although with the business of the company very little at recently) and DMM was the equipment I always wanted to own. It was always so beautiful even back then, DMM and PETZL always had that bit extra about their products something that you coveted. 

The video itself was ok if a bit dated with regards to its editing but I was slightly disappointed in the fact that the feeling of the DMM brand and of what it allows people to do for me personally did not really come across. While I realise it and indeed all of the videos were about the companies and how they have used design to help them become even more competitive, for me the customer/client is the real person who is important in this equation. And in that respect what more brand loyalty could you get than a video about a climber (customer) risking his/her life with their product?

As well as these videos and the guest speakers were this years Ffres awards. The awards have been set up by Design Wales and is about the second or third year they have taken place I think. The competition are for Welsh students or students studying in Wales. The categories being in graphics, textiles, fashion and product, with each brief being set by an industrial leader in the sector. There were some really interesting pieces that were shown in the shortlisted students and I single handedly managed to get the winners wrong every time. For me although competitions are about realisation and practicality if these items are never to be produced then they are also about pushing and exploring? 

The final speaker of the evening was who I had really been waiting for all night. Jonathan Sands, Chairman of elmwood Design Ltd and member of the Design Council. Elmwood are a really different company, a different world. Through their business based approach they have worked with amazing clients and have offices all over the world. The most interesting thing though is that he is from Yorkshire. So I instantly like him even more so when his first offices were in Pudsey. The reason being my mum and dad are both from Farsley and Pudsey respectively. his talk was really interesting and very enlightening. It also made a lot of sense with a number of bits really reaffirming what we have been implementing in our business over the last year or so.

DME Award launch - Senedd

DME Award launch - Senedd, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

This week saw the DME award launch at the Senedd. It will be held in October in conjunction with the Cardiff Design Festival, which we (Hoffi) will be once again producing the brand communications for. We are also going to be tweaking the website so watch this space.

The DME Award is a fantastic opportunity for Cardiff to use as a way to shout about the quality that comes out of the design Houses all over the country.

Latest origami

Latest origami, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

I have now been working through some basic origami for the last few months or so. As with everyone I started with the Crane then being from Wales I moved onto a Dragon, the hardest was a rat which took me two attempts but about a whole day. Recently though I was reading an article in Wonderland magazine about Robert Lang an origami master. Then a few days later Andrew put me onto his web site and I have been trying to interpret his crease patterns ever since. This is my first effort, which took me about three hours but I enjoyed every minute.

Carwyn has got the bug now and is trying out a Car. Think I will be trying some other items as soon as I get some more spare time. 

memory testing

This week has been very busy for us at Hoffi, we have been working on some work for Academi and also Care Council for Wales. As well as this I managed to pop out to a seminar run by Precedent, I was hoping to catch up with them after the seminar but they were swamped with people wanting there attention, I think I will drop them an email.

The seminar was about a number of items broadly around the idea of web design. It was very interesting to hear people give their particular point of view on a subject, but one of the things that really stood out for me was a small piece with the presentation about memory, it has been widely publicised how it maybe possible to increase your memory through visualizing a journey which helps attach a fact to an image or movement, one of the more common examples is memorizing a deck of cards. I think the record is held by a British man called Dominic O'Brien with something like 2,800 cards memorized. He memorises cards by going on a journey and along that journey he ties the cards into the journey, then when asked to recall the cards he retraces his steps and so finds the cards. 

During the seminar there was an example of medieval book design and the theory was that the illustration of the page and the interaction of the illuminated letters and the general 'content text' allows you to recall the story through the visual association, it was concluded that through this technique people had been able to recall a vast number of books, many more than any of us can today. While there is an obvious need to be able to do this back then, due to books being expensive and unlikely to be easily accessible, it is interesting how this technique works. From here it made me think about some of the most memorable memories I have had in my life, I was trying to see is it just visual recall that sets us off?

I came to think about  a few weeks ago, I have recently moved into a new area of Cardiff and am still finding my way around, but as I was walking down one of the streets near my house, I walked past a small corner shop (although it really wasn't on the corner), as I walked past I was instantly struck by the smell coming from the store and it instantly transported me back to memories I had of going into the corner shop I used to pass when I was walking back from school. The smell had instantly allowed me to access this memory. 

difference is good

A new month and a new look into things. Over the last few months we have been working with alot of new clients, we have been really busy and have hardly stopped. We have also started working in a slightly different way. We feel that we are producing work that is far more sophisticated in it's understanding on current marketing and trend techniques. Over the last month we have been trying to help our clients be ever more bold with their design choices. 

A lot of our work is based along the lines of difference being good and indeed commercial. A recent tour round the leading thinkers in marketing and brand strategy seem to back up these theories. As people the idea of difference has been around for a long time. Ever since the Industrial Revolution made mass production possible companies have made more and more products. If we take a company such as Nike for example, and in particular there trainer ranges. If we look at a trainer fundamentally they all do the same thing so why the hundreds of different models? this though is in complete contrast to say a food product. Where a food company launches a product they are constantly revising their recipe and improving the taste, however what these companies should have been looking at is why don't we produce five or six different variations of the same food item so people can get exactly what they prefer?

This type of mass personalisation works for companies with very strong brand values. As long as the brand is clearly not been subverted or taken away from it's original feel/belief then why can't this be used on other less consumable items? Recently we have been working on a number of projects where we are actively encouraging our clients to choose a number of items (marketing collateral) to sell the same product/event. Just like the Nike scenario, people like different trainers and so in the same way people can also like different marketing collateral. This type of thinking has two advantages over traditional thinking. Firstly people will feel personally understood by the company trying to sell the product/event, secondly the difference will allow for far more dramatic/striking design and so difference will get you noticed above the rest of the crowd.

Western Mail Article - 23 Wednesday January 2008

Western Mail Article - 23 Wednesday January 2008, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

This Wednesday, we were asked to comment on design and it's importance, for Western Mail. 2008 is going to be a critical year for our clients/ potential clients and as such the markets are going to be even more competitive. As such good design can really help make a company stand out from the crowd.

At Hoffi we are ambitious and aspire our clients to be bold with their choices. We try and work together to produce work that works creatively, socially and financially.