‘Arcman, making metal work’

The loft has worked with Arcman over a number of years and have helped them with many different parts of their brand development. To showcase the human element of their service and the specialised expertise of their team – we were asked to create a suite of art-directed photographs of their workshop and the people who work there daily. A beautiful suite of evocative black and white images showing their team in action was created. The images have been used for a range of different communications – website, social media, brochures, they even adorn the company’s office walls.

What The Client Said…

“We’ve been working with the loft for over three years and in that time they have helped us to develop our values, brand our company and assisted with a series of different communications. It’s always a pleasure to work with them and see what magic they will create next. The team are inspiring with their creative talents and how they put it all together to make sense. The photography works, in particular, have been a great help as they look fantastic and we have used them for a wide variety of activities. Highly recommended.”

Jamie Doak, Managing Director of Arcman Limited

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‘Bridge2Business, celebrating the traits of an entrepreneur’

Shortly after developing the brand identity for Bridge2Business, we were asked to create a campaign which would help them to encourage young people into entrepreneurship whilst building on the original ‘celestial navigation’ theme of the brand. A campaign was created to celebrate each of the main traits of the entrepreneur – positivity, resilience, optimism, etc. We developed 7 in total. We brought each of these words to life in the night sky with a series of star constellations created from a completely custom-typeface. The campaign images were used throughout colleges, enterprise zones and also online.

What The Client Said…

“When we developed our ‘seven traits of entrepreneurs series’ we needed something that would help us tell our story, be easily recognisable as part of the Bridge2Business brand and in keeping with the overall feel of everything we had developed to date. The loft team were creative, communicative and passionate about our work – outcome a very happy client!”

Geoff Leask, CEO of Young Enterprise Scotland

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‘Glasgow Chambers of Commerce, city on the rise’

The Glasgow Chambers of Commerce asked us to create an infographic that would provide an ‘at-a-glance summary’ of how the Chamber had been serving the people of the city over the year of 2014 and to shout about its successes. The new infographic would form the centre-piece of the significant August edition for the ‘Glasgow Business’ magazine. An edition published during the heights of The Glasgow Commonwealth Games and The Scottish Referendum. We decided to create a visually striking piece of work that truly caught the eye of the reader, enticing people to read about the vast accomplishments of The Glasgow Chambers of Commerce and the city itself.
We created a graphic made up of skyscraper buildings, alongside a heading of ‘Glasgow on the Rise’ to portray the growth of Glasgow as a city and the Glasgow Chambers of Commerce itself. Key statistics such as 4,250 people attending Chambers events, a 30% increase in mid-size company memberships and a 15% increase in ‘Premium Partners’ were highlighted in the design of the infographic.

What The Client Said…

“It was a real pleasure to work with the team at the loft. They understood the brief instantly and we are able to execute the infographic perfectly. It’s resulted in a really impactful piece of creative which forms a centre fold to our bi-monthly magazine and has been very well received by our readership.”

Richard Muir, Deputy Chief Executive of The Glasgow Chambers of Commerce

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Find out more about the Glasgow Chambers of Commerce Infographics >>>

‘Scottish Leather Group, marking outstanding sustainability outcomes’

Scottish Leather Group Ltd is a UK based manufacturer of leather. They have made significant investments over many years to improve the sustainability of their plants. These measures allow them to have one of the lowest carbon footprints in the EU for the production of leather. The loft was asked to create the 2016 version of the Annual Sustainability Report with the organisation wanting to highlight some of the exceptional outcomes that they had achieved in recent years. As part of the brochure project, the team created a range of infographics that each told a great mini-story about the company and what they were doing- the next step was to animate each of these infographics for individual campaigns using social media. The infographics and the animated versions, in particular, have been a great success.

What The Client Said…
(This testimonial comes from the initial brochure part of the project)

“Production of our Annual Sustainability Report used to be one of the most stressful jobs in the marketing calendar due to its complexity and tight deadline. This year it was stress-free, thanks to everybody involved including the loft. It is a marked improvement on earlier versions and the introduction of infographics has transformed this publication.”

James Lang, Group Marketing Director – Scottish Leather Group Limited

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‘BenRiach 10Yr Single Malt Whisky, trailblazing a new direction’

Speyside whisky distiller BenRiach re-launched as an independent distiller in 2004 and were looking to establish a new creative direction for their ’10 Year Old Single Malt.’ A very important project and one they trusted the loft with. The design was to be bold, premium and should signal a change of direction in-line with the company’s 10th anniversary. The loft team explored a number of different design themes, directions and concepts looking to bring the distillery to life on the packaging. Concepts created included experimentations with the barrels, the floor malting, and views from both inside and outside the distillery. Development focussed on the distillery itself where we played with a range of compositions, angles, and illustration styles. The team explored a number of paper and print finishes, eventually settling on a textured gunmetal grey with gold foil finish for real ‘on-the-shelf’ impact. The new BenRiach 10-Year-Old, Single Malt Whisky is the first of a series of BenRiach whiskies featuring the revised design direction. The project also represented a unique moment in the loft’s history as the company’s first labelling project. We were delighted with the final results as were BenRiach.

What The Client Said…

“The BenRiach 10-Years-Old is a key launch for us, as it marks a significant milestone; it is the first core range expression to be created predominantly from whiskies distilled at BenRiach since we took over in 2004. For this reason, we were looking for a striking new packaging design to reflect this important moment in the distillery’s history. We are delighted with the final result.”

Nicol Van Rijbroek, Marketing Manager of BenRiach

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Find out more about the BenRiach 10 Yr Old Single Malt >>>

‘Consilium, getting to know the people behind the numbers’

In the Autumn of 2013, 6 Chartered Accountants decided to take the plunge and open the doors of a new accountancy firm – Consilium Chartered Accountants. The company was set up to provide a ‘people-focussed’ service for Scottish businesses, and we were delighted to be given the opportunity to work with Consilium to help them create a new digital presence. We wanted to get under the skin of the ‘Consilium’ team and learn more about their staff to find out what they were really about. We found, almost in every case, an emphasis on building proper relationships with clients and a desire to know the real stories about their businesses. “Getting to know the people behind the numbers” became the theme behind the entire project. This was captured with art-directed photography of the Consilium Partners, alongside some of their clients in their own work environments. The photography was an important part of the new site, each staff member was given pride of place on the website, with their own biography so that current and future clients could really get to know ‘the people behind Consilium.’ A clean, direct and engaging website was created. The authentic, personal and open feel around the company is portrayed in their tagline, as well as the focus being on image over words; which sets them apart from their competitors.

What The Client Said…

“The loft designed and built a tremendous website for Consilium which very nicely summarises who we are and what we are about. It was a fun process, the site works exceptionally well and we have received many compliments on its look and feel. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the loft to others.”

John Blair, Corporate Finance Partner of Consilium Chartered Accountants

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Find out more about the Consilium website >>>

‘ABM Intelligence, a new brand representing a fresh start’

Scottish Investigation software provider Altia Solutions merged with Covert Intelligence Systems provider ABM in 2016. As part of an effort to assist ABM – we were asked to create a new brand for the Nottingham-based company. After having completed the strategic work of the brand – the loft were asked to create a new identity that would bring ABM more in-line with the brand and visual identity of Altia. The Altia brand identity, which had been established over five years makes clear use of a series of data strands which merge with solid objects representing the company’s commitment to managing and providing tools with data. The loft team explored a range of shapes – complex, simple, symbolic to best communicate what the company does. A simple circle was chosen for its universal appeal, a blue shade was selected in-line with the company’s requests for an element of continuity over the previous brand. Finally a new typeface was introduced which would bring it more in-line with the Altia brand. Something that is being introduced right throughout the group. The new brand nicely gives ABM its own identity whilst being part of a larger family of companies

What The Client Said…

“The loft helped us to create a new brand after our merger in 2016. They went to great lengths to talk to everybody in the company, they were always responsive with changes and both the identity and cultural aspects of the new brand have been a great help to us in re-positioning the organisation and getting our message across. We very much enjoyed working with them, highly recommended.”

Paul Hardman, Business Relationship Manager of ABM Intelligence

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‘SOCEX 2017, a brochure that lives on, long after the main event’

We were given the opportunity to work with the organisers of the Serious and Organised Crime Exchange (SOCEX) for the third year in a row for the design of their 2017 brochure. The organisers asked us to be extremely bold in bringing the main themes of the conference to life, ‘Harm and Impact On Communities,’ whilst continuing to build on the secondary themes of the conference. The loft team made widespread use of a hooded figure throughout the brochure to reflect the effect crime has on communities. This menacing figure makes an appearance in various guises throughout the brochure and was particularly helpful to the event organisers as it avoided the risk of stereotyping race or gender in the communications of the conference. The front cover received careful attention with the hooded figure looking over a council estate in a scene reminiscent of Dali’s painting ‘The crucifixion.’ The background of the front cover included images which reflected many of the conference’s secondary themes including ‘slavery’ and ‘governance and coercion in communities, etc.’ We carried through the ‘network’ visual identity from previous conferences into the 2017 brochure. This was complemented with vivid page backdrops – each of which brings the different sub-themes of the conference to life. The brochure was incredibly well – received by both the client and also the delegates of the conference.

What The Client Said…

“SOCEX, Serious and Organised Crime Exchange. As a concept, the Conference title can spring up many images – whether coming from the dark world of blockbuster thrillers or gritty police dramas on TV. The loft managed to capture the seriousness of the subject matter being discussed across the two day conference while providing a document which will have a life long after the conference itself, capturing the core elements of the event in such a way that attendees and their colleagues will return to it as a vivid reminder of what took place.”

Martin Jack, Managing Director of Think Different Events

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Find out more about the SOCEX 2017 Brochure >>>