“If, in the 15 Minute Cities, we are allowed to see Screens that are not State Approved –
there had better be a damn good Cinema within a 5 minute walk.”
Dave
IN YOUR MIND'S EYE.
You may be getting a feel for how we work from our Approach and Process pages—but there is more to it.
What comes into your mind when you hear any of the following?…
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• Graphic Designer
• Brand Designer
• Website Designer
• Interior Designer
• Animator • Photographer • Videographer
• Design for Print
• Advertising
• Creative Marketing
• Content Creation?
Do you imagine trendy young people sat staring at screens, uploading selfies?
We really do have a lot of plants – it’s like Kew Gardens in here – or an explosion in Monty Don’s greenhouse – must be the studio skylight (that roasts us every summer), that they love.
WHEN WE SAY TOOLS...
Or are you beautifully old-school, imagining drawing boards and colour swatches?
As Tools go – were you expecting a technical kit list of Mac Studios, Networks uploading to the Cloud from AI visuals on extra-widescreen monitor banks?
Yes, we have all the gear.
But more importantly, we have the ideas…
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How is your OQ? *
• Not in the same league as your competitors?
• About the same?
• Think you’re better than they are?
• Blowing them away?
*Originality Quotient
Mac Studios arrive at HQ, Bring themselves up the stairs, unwrap themselves, de-box, jump on the nearest desk and start working with no human input whatsoever.
FROM IDEAS TO PRODUCTION
The tools of the trade are as practical as any other trade,
Our digital and analogue skills sit side by side. We have the capability to blend hands-on crafting, sculpture, model making, and stop-motion animation with old-school drawing board illustrations and technical layouts.
This practical heritage merges seamlessly with the latest digital graphics; the digital design we have been producing for over 30 Years plus animation, video and photography; all guided by rigorous storyboarding, copywriting, script production, and actual on-site, in-studio art and photographic direction…
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(Just as with copywriting, however long moving pictures take to light and shoot — the editing always takes longer – it’s all part of the process.)
The ideas themselves don’t come from a software package or AI.
They come from a much wider range of real-world influences, deep human experiences, and bloody hard work in development.
No that isn’t Sam holding up our genuine Stack, built by Charlotte while not observing the need for a hard hat, unbelievably replacing the tower of Pisa. Although the legs are similar. Please note, no Italian Towers were destroyed in the making of this “photograph”.
LOGISTICS & DELIVERY.
From the initial Discovery phase to the creative freedom we are afforded by supplementing ideas with intellectual tools and hardwired creative skills, we still require concrete foundations in scheduling, monitoring, and reporting.
We always say to aspiring creatives (see our Careers page): no artist ever lost a job for knowing their way around a spreadsheet…
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THE SPREADSHEET REALITY
A Senior Facilities Manager working for one of our long-term clients became a good friend over the years.
The ideas we threw at each other bounced straight back, and greater concepts were developed with every single project.
At one location, she showed us the massive master project management spreadsheet she was using to track the development. It ran to over 30 columns and a thousand plus rows of vendor inputs and trade schedules.
It tracked every single structural and consumable supply aspect—from the installation of HVAC and AV to joinery, carpet tiles and light bulbs.
Our entire creative contribution through to on the day installation management ran to just one single row:
“Blue Strawberry Elephant on site.”
I asked her why there was so little detail assigned to us.
Her answer was simple:
“Because we know you have it covered.”
Behind that single line, our own internal spreadsheet ran to 15 columns and 200 rows, sitting alongside detailed schematics, floor plans, and elevations with precise installation instructions for every single item.
We apply those exact same rigorous administrative and planning tools to every project we undertake, across our entire range of design services
It’s a spreadsheet made to look like a typical facilities and logistics install list – but it’s not a real one because those things are extremely confidential.
THE STOPWATCH & THE MICROMETRE.
Which brings us back to the stopwatch and the micrometre sitting next to that spreadsheet in our home page Knolling layout.
They aren’t just there as metaphors.
We use them because our Ideas and design work have to exist in the real world, where time and space are absolute…
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The Stopwatch represents our respect for your deadlines and production windows.
Whether we are managing a complex video edit where a single second holds twelve distinct animation frames, or orchestrating a tight, overnight installation at a location that has to be ready for your students, customers and employees by a date they all have in their calendars, time is a tool we measure meticulously.
We deliver on time, because your marketing schedules depend on it.
The Micrometre represents our obsession with physical tolerances.
When you are rolling out large-scale signage, vehicle liveries, or architectural interior graphics, “near enough” is never good enough.
Most materials can stretch or shift by a millimetre or two just during application—which means if your baseline measurements are off by even a fraction, a structural installation can be ruined, thousands of pounds in materials wasted, and beautiful brand continuity broken.
We measure precisely, so your brand fits perfectly.
We bridge the gap between abstract creative imagination and pinpoint mechanical execution to express those original ideas that make you stand out.
The spreadsheets keep your project on track, and precision developed from artistry provides the outcomes you need.
Real Stopwatch used at Cycle Races by Marc – one of many as he is extremely stopwatch wealthy – the real micrometer is Eddie’s who has never measured a strawberry with it – but then what else could we do as a visual metaphor for deadlines and precision?