Creative Design Case Studies.

Sandwell Council

www.4teen9teen.com

Sandwell 14-19 Learning are a government based organisation who offer young people in Sandwell a dynamic and innovative education and training environment that will enable them to experience high quality provision that significantly improves achievement, choice, inclusion, equality of opportunity and progression.

Central to these goals was the requirement to develop a brand, printed material and a website that would act as a hub for students, parents and 14-19 staff. The functionality and look of the site was designed with a representative group of students to ensure that it was relevant to the young people of Sandwell. The site was created with a clean look and simple interface that masked the complexity of the dynamic system and rules engine at its core.

It allows students to find available courses and providers via a number of routes, be they geographic, career, qualification or provider based. The site delivers relevant and up-to-date information on courses offered to suit all of these criteria and gives a clear indication of the students potential progression map in future, if certain choices are made.

The website also allows students to sign up for a number of extended services including the ability to apply for courses online and to shop for benefits in a scheme called ‘rewardz’. This involved an online shopping screen where students identify the rewards they would like to receive during each term of their course. To avoid potential misuse of these services, an email based activation component has also been implemented to validate student sign ups.

This is all supported by a sophisticated admin area that enables Sandwell 14-19 Learning to keep their content both current and relevant.

Shakespeare Fishing UK

Pioneering the concept of an interactive catalogue on CD within the UK fishing tackle market

Having produced the printed catalogue for both consumer and Trade, we approached Shakespeare to produce an CD version of the catalogue, something that in the fishing trade had not been done before.

It was decided that the CD would open with a movie showcasing Shakespeare fishing tackle.

After we had story boarded the movie with Shakespeare we set about 3D modelling various components that would be used: a fishing rod, a reel, fishing line, floats and by far the most difficult 3D element which was a body of water with full water physics.

These were combined in a faux 3D environment taken from a number of still images. The components were animated to match the storyboard and the movie was rendered. To add depth, a soundtrack was added which was written exclusively for Shakespeare. This soundtrack was carefully timed to coincide with visual events in the movie.

The final frame from the movie was a side on shot of the reel which turned into the menu for the interactive CD ROM. This then allowed the user to explore PDF pages from the product catalogue.

The completed CD was duplicated thousands of times alongside the catalogue and distributed to Shakespeare’s stockists and customers.

This was a pioneering move for the UK fishing market which has been duplicated by many competitors over the years.

Ideal Standard

bluebook - the complete specifiers handbook

Ideal Standard and Armitage Shanks are the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of sanitary ware, with which their brand is synonymous. To promote this brand and communicate products to customers, a variety of printed materials are created.

Gambit Graphics have long been a key, valued supplier of such materials. Having built a strong and successful relationship with Armitage Shanks through the annual production of their “Catalogue 6000” product catalogue, Gambit were again chosen as the catalogue supplier following the merger of Armitage Shanks and Ideal Standard.

The merged catalogue, known as “The Bluebook”, has been a vital source of information for building industry professionals since 2001, as well as an essential sales tool for Ideal Standard. Used by major architects and small developers alike, The Bluebook has enabled Ideal Standard to successfully complete numerous major projects from hospitals to the new Wembley Stadium.

The Bluebook routinely contains extensive information on over 5000 products, with items added and discontinued continually. Gambit Graphics therefore employed their broad range of design skills and experience to produce a catalogue that is both easy to use and flexible enough to cope with continual change. The result has been highly successful, with The Bluebook becoming a well known brand in itself.

EHS International

www.prem-i-air.co.uk

EHS International Ltd have one of the fastest growing brands of air treatment products in their Prem-i-air range. Their innovative and reliable products are sold in major retail outlets such as John Lewis, B&Q and Next.

Throughout this growth, EHS have used Gambit to create product packaging, branding specification sheets and product literature. This has enabled Prem-I-Air products to become a recognised brand on store shelves. Gambit have also been involved in mocking up boxes to help stores such as B&Q to visualise what new products will look like in their store.

More recently EHS realised that their web presence was dated and was not in keeping with the quality and innovation of their products. The information presented was dated, incomplete and very difficult to update. EHS approached Gambit to design a website that would meet their needs and uphold the brand in a competitive and online marketplace.

We interviewed key memebers of staff at EHS and gathered their requirements. It was evident that not only did EHS need a place where all product information was kept up-to-date and easily available, but also a hub where product related literature could be accessed. This area was called the product library.

The product library also allows for different types of access. This allows administrative level users to access sensitive documents that are stored alongside other files, but protected from standard users.

The database was designed so that product categories, products and product features could easily be added by a non technical resource at EHS. This means that as new product types and features entered the market, these could be reflected quickly on the website. We also developed a sophisticated update utility where extensive edits to product information could be done via spreadsheets to expedite the administrative function.

The site itself benefitted from search and product comparison features, it was designed to be clean and professional and we used some flash elements to give the site a dynamic quality. The front page contained a flash component that presented the product categories and Prem-I-Air to the user. We also developed an innovative flash component that could be used to deliver direct marketing based upon the page that was being viewed. When no specific content is available, this component cycles through a random set of movies, but on chosen pages the system will show movies that relate to the page content.

Since the website was made live EHS have also approched us to propose a way of adding online sales to the website.

Edge Services

Print Management

As one of the countries leading purveyors of Health & Safety training in the UK, Edge Services are dedicated to providing exceptional health and safety training courses that develop key skills and confidence within the caring professions. From people handling to management of violence and aggression, they provide quality-driven courses delivered by experienced healthcare professionals accross the UK.

With a focus on training individuals to deliver training to other employees, they provide organisations with the in-house resources, techniques and skills which can enable them to manage their health and safety obligations securely and effectively, in addition to making a real difference to the comfort and quality of life of both staff and clients.

Edge Services required a print management company to help them achieve proactive planning, preparation who are key to developing effective and well organised courses.

With a close one on one basis we are able to help push their company forward, achieving deadlines even when they are tight.

The key advantage for them is that the hassell of dealing with many complex specifictaions is taken away. Allowing them to concentrate on what they do best!

St. Andrews Town Hotel

The Whole Package...

St Andrew’s House was built in the 1820’s as the home of the Town Clerk of Droitwich Spa.

Located in Droitwich Spa at the heart of Rural Worcestershire, the newly refurbished (September 2008) St Andrews House is a privately owned, thirty-two bedroom hotel and restaurant. Its location, nested within minutes walk of the town centre is quite unique and has the best of both worlds, town and country.

The hotel boasts full Conference and Function facilities, a civil wedding licence, a seperate bar and its restaurant has an enviable reputation with a focus on high quality home style cooking.

In need of updating from its tired look, Azolo sort reassurance from commisioning Gambit. With an almost starting from scratch brief we were commisioned to create a whole new look for the hotel, ranging from branding, stationery, menus, photography, signs, leaflets, brochures and website. We were even there when the hotel re-launched itself on the 30th October 2008 attending an open night.

The Wedding Organizer

Design & Artwork

The Wedding Organizer is a magazine of approximately 160 pages, produced up to 5 times a year. It contains help and advise in planning your wedding as well as advertisements of venues, photographers, cars to hire etc. The publication makes its money from the sale of these adverts. Prospective advertisers can place a full page, half page or quarter page advert.

They currently produce 2 sorts of magazines “The Wedding Organizer” and “The Gay Wedding Organizer” Also in production for the first time is a magazine called ‘Prom Organiser” aimed at schools this magazine is hoping to fill a gap in the market place.

In a competitive market, the Wedding Organizer asked Gambit to help them improve the look and feel of their magazines. Bringing a fresh look that would appeal to younger generations. The service includes design and artwork of the magazine, advert creation and email. To date the re-brand has been successful helped by an HTML based email campaign profits are up and interest in the publications is growing.