Brod is a little taste of Denmark in the heart of Cardiff. Selling a range of Danish breads, pastries and cakes, all freshly made on the premises.

New branding and identity work.

The Hypatia Forum was inspired by the story of Hypatia, an Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher whose attainments in literature and science were described as surpassing ‘all the philosophers of her own time.’ Yet, her contribution was often overlooked in history.

The Hypatia Forum creates a strong international network of female leaders from all spheres of decision-making to make history. Bringing together a selected group of high-level and highly influential participants from across each continent, each event’s in-depth programme enables emerging female trailblazers to overcome personal and professional barriers on their path to leadership.

Via a series of workshops, seminars and lectures, the Hypatia Forum is an environment for women to learn skills and share insights that will empower them to break the glass ceiling. The forum harnesses and enhances the power of women as change makers, whilst creating a supportive network for women to take ownership of gender equality and accelerate female leadership within their countries.

In the Wood created a brand strategy, visual identity and guidelines.

The power of the brand; once the exclusive terrain of big business, it is now a major issue for countries across the globe. A strong brand has value and creates value. Every nation has its brand – the way it is perceived by its own people and by the rest of the world (often very differently).
A country’s brand is defined by its people and their temperament, its history, its economy, its culture, its landscape and its ambitions. There is far more to nation branding than logos and imagery. It is tone of voice, stories, tastes and scents, imagined landscapes and the evocation of emotion.

The red dragon is the most recognised of Welsh symbols and it seemed churlish to abandon this icon of Welshness for the sake of being different. However we also knew that it would take a very special sort of dragon to create the strong visual identity we were searching for while also reflecting Wales’ nation brand values. Real, magical and challenging.

The creative process saw us getting ‘back to basics’- pulling out paper and paints to capture the essence of the Welsh dragon with just a couple of brushstrokes. Like Wales itself the finished mark is down-to-earth and unfussy, but dig a little deeper and you find originality, warmth, pride and just the hint of something magical.

UK Roses Design Award 2007: Corporate Identity

The Torch Theatre is a not-for-profit theatre in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Established in 1977, it is one of only three building-based producing theatres in the whole of Wales and is Pembrokeshire’s only professional theatre venue and arts complex. The Torch Theatre offers over 900 shows, films, art exhibitions and live broadcasts annually to audiences in excess of 70,000.

In the Wood was commissioned to produce promotional campaigns and associated materials for two productions in 2015. Brief Encounter is vividly brought to life in a stunning multi-media stage pro­duction, inspired by Kneehigh Theatre’s hit Broadway version, in what will be the biggest production ever staged by the Company. Jack and the Beanstalk is a bold, bright, critically acclaimed panto, packed with music, magic and laughter. 

When UNESCO inscribed the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape as a World Heritage Site they stated it was for the following reason: that the area around Blaenavon bore eloquent and exceptional testimony to the pre-eminence of South Wales as the world’s major producer of iron and coal in the 19th century. 

The idea for the branding was designed to evoke the toil and effort put in by the working people who drove the industrial revolution - a testimony to human endeavour. Using a strongly illustrative style, the branding solution provided a unique treatment, while maintaining a strong cultural and heritage feel. The design is eye catching and evocative, and is used as a device to bring together a number of different attractions in the area under one clearly identifiable brand.

Winner of the 2005 Welsh Language Board
Bilingual awards: Best Brand Category

Winner of a 2004 Adobe Design Award

Cwtch Camp is a secluded space to enjoy the simplicity and pleasures of outdoor and off grid living in a beautiful natural environment. With three acres of woodland in the Pembrokeshire countryside next to the Daugleddau Estuary and a short distance from the historic town of Pembroke with its landmark Castle.

New brand development and supporting graphics.

Birthplace of Henry VII and idyllically set on the banks of the river estuary, this mighty fortress is steeped in British history. A true wonder of Wales. Pembroke Castle is owned and managed by a Private Charitable Trust and over the past 10 years much effort has been made to bring the history of the castle to life. The branding, which includes identity, various print collateral, signage and event campaigns focuses on making the link between Pembroke Castle and the birthplace of Henry VII who inaugurated the Tudor line of monarchs.

Slow Pig is a new business start-up specialising in Slow Food produce served from a customised 1978 Citroen ‘pig nosed’ H Van that travels the country. They rear their own animals and follow heritage farming practices so that the Mangalitza (hairy) pigs live a happy natural life roaming beautiful woodland on the banks of the river Cleddau in South Pembrokeshire, which makes for a better tasting and more sustainable end product.

John Hargraves is the owner of Green Apple in Cosheston, Pembrokeshire he is developing his home into an exemplar of sustainable living by creating a carbon-neutral, self-sufficient, organic smallholding. Green Apple has been planned on the principles of sustainability and includes woodland coppicing, an orchard, fruit tree nursery, vegetable garden and wildlife area. By demonstration and direct involvement the project promotes a wider understanding of sustainability through the growing of fruit, land management, water conservation and the careful use of resources. Schools have their own plots of land to work and as well as growing fruit and vegetables people are given the opportunity to grow plants that will increase the site’s biodiversity.

In the Wood has developed the brand and a website with additional materials in the pipeline. 

Lower Nash Farm is a working cattle farm located just outside Pembroke and everything produced at the farm is of the highest quality. With a range of unused old stone buildings on their land, opening a farm shop seemed a logical way to diversify and sell what they grow and rear. 

Inspiration for naming and creating the brand came from the disused water mill and millpond that sits at the heart of their farm. The mill had been untouched from the day it had stopped operating, probably in the 1930s. From a coat on the back of the door and corn still on the millstone and tools still hanging on the walls - somebody left in a hurry, closed the door and never returned. Tools hanging on the wall exposed clean marks where light and dust had failed to permeate since they’re last outing over 80 years ago. The pattern of silhouettes soon grew to tell a unique story of Nash farm’s past, present and future.

The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama is the National Conservatoire of Wales and a leading UK provider of specialist practical and performance-based training in music and drama.  I was appointed in 2010 to devise a new visual identity programme as a key platform for implementing their new brand strategy and a key component of which was a signage system for a contemporary new building. The College’s dream of having its own world-class performance and rehearsal spaces became a reality as it recently opened its doors to new £22.5 million facilities. From this year, students will be learning in a performance arts centre that will be a hub of cultural life in the city.

Commissioned by Amnesty International Wales we were given the task of highlighting sex trafficking in Wales - not just in our cities, but in small communities across Wales. Hijacking the visual language and branding from a Visit Wales tourism campaign we brought some of the chilling facts to light in the form of picture postcards.

The Wales Tourist Board (Visit Wales) had been one of my clients from 2002 until 2007. In that time we produced a wide range of creative work for them, including brochures, direct mail, inserts, and press ads, for projects including a wider Activity Wales campaign. A big part of the challenge for WTB was to change perceptions of Wales. A brand approach was developed with an honest and humorous tone of voice - now part of Visit Wales’ overall brand guidelines. The new brand was applied to design work and campaigns across several media including: advertising; magazines mailed to consumer databases and inserted in national adventure sports titles; and stands at trade shows and exhibitions. Figures published in summer 2006 show that two thirds more people were coming to Wales for activity breaks than ever before.

In 2005 The Fishing Wales’ marketing programme was run by the Wales Tourist Board and it complemented the Environment Agency Wales’s (EAW) conservation work. The overall aim of Fishing Wales was to increase the value of angling tourism to Wales. The work targeted different angling audiences and the kind of fishing that Wales has to offer them. The campaign was launched with full-page ads in specialist fishing publications, and with inserts and DM which directed people to requesting a detailed guide. We also helped to design and develop the Fishing Wales website which has grown into a valuable resource for both visiting and resident anglers. The campaigns were single-minded in their objectives – to sell the products, generate requests for the magazines and drive hits to the website. The overall campaign had arguably been one of the most successful ever undertaken by WTB (Visit Wales), with all kinds of angling trips increasing when the campaigns went live. In fact 2005 was a record year for the number of anglers visiting Wales.

Research by WTB into the effectiveness of the campaign indicated that people who requested information (58,687 of them) took fishing trips to Wales, with a total value of £69m. This includes 400,000 overnight stays that would otherwise not have been taken. In total, the Fishing Wales campaign generated an extra £23.7m for the Welsh economy, equivalent to creating or sustaining 1000 jobs.

Switch My LPG are an independent company providing a comparison and switching service for bulk LPG users. Due to the volume of business they provide national LPG suppliers, they always achieve the highest available discounts - which they then pass on to customers. With their in-depth knowledge and experience within the LPG industry they negotiate on your behalf for the most competitive deals available.

With a new brand and website they have undergone dramatic change and this regional start-up is now competing on a national level.

With offices across Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, Red kite has built an excellent reputation for providing a wide range of legal services for both individuals and businesses. They had previously commissioned a visual identity but wanted to reposition their brand and improve how they communicated with new and existing customers. Commissioned by Red Kite in 2011 a three stage campaign was produced; that informed people of their recent merger, produced ads that contained emotion and humour and used real staff to talk about products and finally to help the transition to become part of the nationwide QualitySolicitors group.

TELL A STORY.

Firstly a name that makes the Italian connection and a description that positions it. Secondly, a shop that lets you watch your pizza being made. Thirdly, outdoor blackboards advertise the day’s fresh ingredients echoing the quality of handmade pizza, especially when they are made with love and attention.

Leighton Denny is nail technician to the stars – clients like Kate Moss, Davina McCall and Jade Jagger all love a bit of his buff and polish. So it was only a matter of time before Leighton (four times winner of ‘Nail Technician of the Year’) decided to launch his own brand, product range and in-store nail bars.

As part of its commitment to supporting projects that measure and reflect on their performance, the Big Lottery Fund in Wales (BIG) commissioned Old Bell 3 to provide its grant holders with a self-evaluation support service. We were subsequently awarded the task of naming, branding and designing the Big Support website  and producing specific print materials. The aim of BIG Support Wales is to help you self-evaluate your community project 
by providing helpful information, advice and guidance.

Architecture and graphic design are inextricably linked - both embracing a variety of disciplines. Any single project could be drawing from, among other things, the arts, humanities, sciences and history. However no matter how complex the story behind each project, it has to be told in a simple, and compelling way. And herein lay the challenge –they asked us to revolutionize the design of their School’s prospectus. We looked to create a piece of design that was bold, made a statement and attracted prospective students from all over the world to the School. Key words that formed our ideas in the initial concept stage included: space, scale, harmony, reputation, education and quality. Examples of the students’ work were incorporated within the brochure: close-ups of textures, sketches, drawings, images of students at work and the exceptional facilities available give a true flavour of the teaching and learning at wsa. Result: We established wsa as an identity in its own right and the brochure design has stood the test of time.

Investing in Anguilla  

Boasting some of the best beaches in the world, Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, offers a wide range of potential opportunities for investors. Aequitas a unique political consultancy headquartered in London asked us to develop print materials and a website for the investment department. What a great project to work on in the depths of winter. 

Commissioned in 2009 to produce an in-depth research and guidelines document which contained detailed styleguides. We set tone-of-voice and application devices, which created a fun, graphic icon-based language. The Winding House is the museum for Caerphilly County Borough. The colliery closed in 1967 and its buildings were demolished and machinery sold or scrapped. Fortunately the East Winding House and its Thornewill and Warham steam engine survived and the stunning new building the Winding House was born. It aims to offer a diverse programme of learning opportunities with on site research rooms, local artefacts, exhibitions, functions and the opportunity to explore the past, learn new skills and meet new people.

Commissioned by the National Public Health Service Wales in 2007-08. The new identity and large print campaign highlighted the benefits of giving up smoking as part of a carefully controlled plan with the help of your local GP.

 A book that doubles as a toolbox 
We wanted to create a useful, practical book that didn’t patronise – a toolbox rife with information and advice, which also really inspired people. Tough challenge. But we paired hard facts and information with a sprinkling of wit and entertainment. Entrepreneurs, the book’s target audience, are original thinkers and doers, and the book’s design had to reflect that. So we made each double-page spread different – a fresh new look at every turn to wow the reader. But even the sharpest business brains can get lost in a big book – so we clearly marked each section so readers could dip in and out of it. And we gave it a simple title: Grow Your Business. Commissioned by the former Welsh Development Agency the innovative and inspirational guide, affectionately known as the ‘Yellow Book’, was a phenomenal success. 

UK Roses Design Award 2007: Brochure Design

WJEC is an examination board that provides examinations, assessment, professional development, educational resources, support for adults who wish to learn Welsh and access to youth arts activities. It provides examinations throughout Wales, England and Northern Ireland.

Following discussions, workshops and design surveys a detailed programme of brand development was implemented across all aspects of WJEC’s work, including the website, signage, exhibition material, promotional leaflets and examination specifications.

In 2004 Welsh National Opera required a re-design of Opera Live - a magazine used to promote the Company’s up-and-coming season. Opera Live was everything but ‘live’. Our goal was to link realism to the undisputed passion of Opera. By commissioning journalistic photographer Kiran Ridley we were able to give fans and novices a tiny glimpse of the preparation and backstage mayhem minutes before curtains rise. A flexible dynamic page layout was used to add variety and was complemented by large cap letters cropping pictures creating unusual shapes. The design was loved and evolved over a five year period. The WNO have also gained an extensive photographic legacy.

The Freethinkers Union campaign was a naming and branding project targeting university students and introducing them to entrepreneurship. The strategy was to raise awareness and encourage them to consider starting their own business as an option after their education. Aware of the difficulties of targeting the student audience we gained students confidence by concentrating on the ‘sexy’ end of starting a business, creativity. The ‘union’ characters handed out leaflets and imparted information at Welsh campuses.

Up until 2006 the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) was tasked with helping the Welsh economy by encouraging business development and investment in Wales. The Implementation Plan for the Entrepreneurship Action Plan (EAP) defined six key actions on how to address the challenges of increasing entrepreneurship in Wales. One of these was to ‘embed entrepreneurship education throughout the whole educational process’. The message was to talk to children and get them thinking big. Give them the self-confidence to realise that entrepreneurship isn’t just for privileged people or high fliers like Richard Branson – in fact, all entrepreneurs have to start somewhere. It’s all about energy – we named it Dynamo. 

Blood, gore and betrayal, power and love - Seven of the greatest Welsh princes are profiled in Tywysogion an S4C television series that aired in 2007. 
A branding project that included graphic identities, books, posters, on-screen idents and opening titles.

Creating a new brand is always a huge challenge, and when you’re talking about Wales’ national radio station, the challenge is that much greater.

BBC Radio Wales’ identity was a familiar image across Wales, on television screens, on poster sites, and on bus sides, it gave the station a unique look and a brand personality all of its own for the first time.

BBC Radio Wales is a communicator – providing information for the whole of Wales, whilst also reflecting all that goes on in Wales – a two-way communication process. In Wales, we are great consumers of information in its many forms – news, sport, entertainment and gossip. Whatever the subject we love to talk, whether over a pint, over the garden fence or in the corridors of power. And to talk, we need to be informed.

Building on these central themes of communication, the brand evolved from the shapes of quotation marks and speech bubbles. We were looking for a way to capture the dynamism of communication in a simple, friendly way. It was from this process that the birds were hatched.

Looking back the most significant feature of this BBC Radio Wales branding, is the lack of stereotypical Welsh icons - not a dragon, or leek, or celtic knot in site.

That’s got to be a good thing yeah?

Building on past festivals, but conscious of the need to broaden the Festival’s appeal, our aim was to develop a new brand, to raise awareness of the Festival amongst a wider audience and boost its profile by delivering an exciting fusion of films, attending talent and individually designed industry events.

The work included developing the brand identity, film posters, leaflets, press ads, festival programme and film trailer.

Nofit State is no custard pie-throwing, big-trousered old circus cliché. It’s a performance collective that puts on mind-blowing shows of aerial acrobatics. They get hearts beating faster. Nofit State Circus needed to substantially redesign its brand identity and publicity materials they believed its identity didn’t represent what the company stood for any more. Over the previous 20 years the act had evolved way beyond what the word ‘circus’ typically conjured up.

"You will never have seen anything like this before – less of a show, more of an experience that will stay with you forever. It would be a crime to miss it."
Bath Chronicle

We touched on the darker side of Nofit State circus. The shows are incredibly dynamic and physical, and pretty visceral too. So the palette of colours played on the corporeal – dark bloody purple, hot fleshy pink. The show that debuted the new materials in 2006, ImMortal2, was the longest and most successful tour that they had up to that date.

The media industry in Wales is an established part of the nation’s economy and the film industry in Wales is a growing part of that sector. In 2006, to serve this growing sector, the brand new Film Agency for Wales was launched.

The task was to create an identity for the Agency and to help establish it as a force in building a stronger, sustainable film industry for Wales.

The result is a mark which works equally well in its bilingual form or as a single language mark. A simple typographic solution with two supporting and overlapping rounded boxes, to balance the two languages and to hint at the historic medium of the film strip.

The Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) began in 2000 with a pilot programme in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. At that time 8 schools performed half hour versions of Shakespeare at the Torch Theatre in Milford Haven. It was the beginning of a remarkable journey for the Shakespeare Schools Festival.
 


In 2001, we were invited to develop a brand identity and marketing materials to help promote the first all-Wales festival. Over the next five years, we worked closely with the festival, as it evolved from its base in Wales to become an all-UK event, with up to 25,000 young people taking part. Our work involved a wide range of materials from gala programmes to invitations, as each year, we helped the SSF team grow and expand the event.
 
With backing from such notable luminaries as Cherie Booth QC, Dame Judi Dench, Nicholas Hytner, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Kevin Spacey, and Sir Tom Stoppard, the Shakespeare Schools Festival has become a truly innovative addition to the teaching and enjoyment of Shakespeare for a whole new generation of students. 

The city of Cardiff announced in 2001 that it would be bidding for the European Capital of Culture 2008. In February 2003 we began work on the bid document and brand identity and with a brief to create a document that really emphasised Cardiff’s position as a leading candidate for the coveted title. The bid document was based on a broadsheet newspaper format, and was structured according to the 11 questions set down by the DCMS.

Logos, symbols, logotypes, identities, graphic identifiers, icons, trademarks, service marks – what does it all mean?

The logo is not the end-all-and-be-all of anything. For a powerful brand that will gain our respect and even affection, it is not enough to come up with a snazzy logo and a catchy slogan.

A brand needs to stand for something, have a heart and tell a story. It needs to be grounded by beliefs and values that feel real, and those values need to be felt and experienced at every point where the consumer interacts with the brand.

Set in the ancient woodland of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Bluestone is an inspired short break eco-friendly holiday resort. Luxury log cabins nestle in over 500 acres, blending into the tranquility of the National Park.

• Brand Strategy
• Brand Identity
• Advertising
• Copywriting