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Gloucestershire Registration Services
Printed Information

Gloucestershire Registration Services (GRS) are the local government agency for all births, marriages, divorces, civil partnerships and deaths in the county. They need to promote their services, inform the public and collate feedback. The design of a homogeneous set of literature covering such contradictory life stages as births and deaths, marriages and divorces etc. was the key design challenge. Creative Thing adapted literature based on floral themes. Having researched the origins of connections between certain flowers and certain ceremonies, it allowed us to create a modular system of literature which provided and collected information. The individual parts were designed to fit together in a unique way so that each recipient would receive only the specific and focused information required. The literature is currently produced and distributed throughout the county.

ACID Anti Copying In Design
Online Newsroom
www.acidnews.info

ACID are the country’s leading commercial rights organisation for designers. consistently voted in the top 50 most influential design organisations in the UK, ACID and a not-for-profit membership organisation. Typically they protect their members Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) through legal action, naming and shaming and lobbying both nationally and throughout the EEC. Their communications are therefore essential. Since 2004 ACID have used Creative Thing to design and distribute HTML emails newsletters to their members, the press and other stakeholders. In March 2007, Creative Thing conducted a review of the service establishing that the success rate of the email communications was suffering, mainly through technical filters. They developed a news strategy for ACID embodied in a two-part solution. The first is a permanent self-managed on-line newsroom. This also acts as a permanent repository of news and links. The second part took the form of a lighter weight, monthly, HTML newsletter. This new format and revised distribution channel avoid filters. The newsroom also automatically updates search engines which in turn keep ACID’s search engine place at the top of the rankings.

Word 4 Word Publishers
Book Cover Design

Word 4 Word Publishing Ltd independently publish books for a range of clients. Typically they help people market their expertise through a published book, complete with ISBN numbers, bar codes and distribution through channels such as Amazon. One of their authors, Alan Clark, is a national expert in business process mapping. He is a sought after speaker and academic. His book, Picture Your Business focused on using process mapping and other diagrammatic approaches to management. It was imperative to create a book cover design which both illustrated the subject matter as well as gave the book some visual appeal to potential purchasers. Following a series of meetings with the author and the publisher, it was possible to develop a futuristic approach and a specialist process logo showing the two-way flow and feedback of information.

Startershop
Ecommerce / Web shops for SMEs
www.startershop.com

An Ecommerce web store costs on average £2500. The use of these stores often involves having a greater than average level of technical ability. Spotting this gap in the market for an entry-level option, Creative Thing set up a joint venture called Startershop Ltd. We designed the system and interface for Startershop. And also jointly funded it and continue to market it as a separate company. What has been delivered is an easy to run, on-line shop. It costs £199 (ex VAT). Any adult with a bank account can have one. It takes less than an hour to set it up and under 24 hours for it to be activated. Startershops require no computer expertise to operate. Owners can add products and pictures, set prices, add descriptions, change products, put them into categories, hold a sale and take payments. All of which can be repeatedly edited. Over one hundred budding entrepreneurs, existing businesses and shops are now trading on-line with a Startershop. It has won much support form customers, journalists and the former Head of The Institute of Directors in the West Midlands.

The Textile Directory
HTML Email design

The Textile Directory (TTD) is the definitive reference publication for designers in the textile industry. Recently, TTD has determined that they should promote their business through regular HTML email newsletters. As a design discipline, it is important that the visual representation is both strong and stylish. Creative Thing have been able to design a stylish magazine-like publication for delivery on-line. As a deliverable, Creative Thing have constructed and deliver a self-managing HTML email template. The format has been constructed to allow TTD to change the content without damaging the template. It also allows the text and images to be replaced and new newsletters to be created and dispatched to TTD’s database of members as frequently as required.

Maximus
Wildwood Triangle Office Development Brochure

Maximus are a commercial property developer and builder. In 2006 they secured the rights to develop a prestigious set of offices on a triangular plot of land next to Worcestershire County Council’s offices on Wildwood Way Worcester. The design challenge was to market the development to potential purchasers, prior to any building taking place. Creative Thing created a name for the development (Wildwood Triangle) and designed a range of communications tools. These included: a brochure; advertising; a web site; large site boards and agency level display boards. Since the development had not been built, Creative Thing were able to use computer generated images based on the architects drawings. Creative Thing made a series of communication tools which displayed photo-realistic images of the development as it will look when completed. They produced a theme for the development “Worcester’s most sought after office address“and marketed this through a highly individual style of communications tools.