Living in Glasgow and working at The Loft, in the city centre, have its advantages when it comes to lunch time.
Especially, if I am on my way to have a nice coffee and I come across the incredible graffiti work of Smug, a photo-realistic local street artist. I cant help to look again and again to this beautiful, full of detail, refreshing and surprising artwork in the middle of the city. Definitely, a lunch with a view.
Awesome countryside on Ingram Street
Alejandro
Anybody that has followed our journey in the last couple of months will know that it’s been pretty hectic. We have delivered so many new projects in such a short space of time that we’ve barely had time to breathe. However, one of the things that I am most happy about, looking back, is the quality of work and incredible productivity shown by Alejandro, Ruth and most recently Eamon. Exceptionally creative and beautifully detailed solutions delivered time after time after time.
I was asked recently how we’ve been able to do so much so quickly?
I’m proud to say that it all comes down to the power of ideas. We quickly define what we are looking for, how it should make somebody feel and then look for that beauty in just about anything we can find… Energy particles, star formations, stories, data configurations, classic movie themes, playground games, absolutely anything…
When you’re inspired, half the battle is won!
We believe that the power of ideas can conquer all. Which reminds me we have another deadline to meet.
Benedetto
Benedetto is an enthusiastic Creative and Business person.
‘Design with soul’ may be the company tag-line, but to Benedetto, it is also a way of life. He believes that creative and commercial enterprise is about purity of thought, honesty of construction and boldness of execution.
He believes in bringing out the true essence of human endeavour and considers his job of articulating the great work of people and companies an absolute privilege.
His journey has taken him from a career in car design through to his current role as the Founder and Creative Director of the loft, a branding consultancy in Glasgow.
He is honoured to manage a great team, work with great clients and have a lot of fun mixing with so many great people in business.
Bravo Glasgow!
Anybody that’s ever been to see their favourite band play will know all about the crowd singalong – be it Oasis and ‘Don’t look back in anger,’ Snow Patrol and ‘Run’ or Paul McCartney with ‘Hey Jude;’ the big ballad unites people in a wonderful way and it doesn’t just happens at gigs – social media channels provide live and interactive commentary to people watching their favourite programmes or sporting events too. Everybody can be involved.
Brands must perform a similar role. They are there to empower and inspire, but more than that, they must be representative of the people that live them. People must be bought into a brand and want to shout about it. Even more true when so much of a brands noise is now made on social media.
With that in mind. We must say ‘Bravo’ to Glasgow.
Recent winner of ‘the Transform Awards.’
‘People Make Glasgow’ is more than a slogan; it is an accurate and compelling description of what the city is about. It is simple. People get it, people like it and people buy into it.
It can be easily shared on social media as a #tag to a tweet, it can be adapted for photography and can be expressed in an infinite number of different ways by the people of the city itself.
It is no surprise that it has been so successful and won so many awards recently.
We can’t wait to get the stickers for our windows so once again.
‘People Make Glasgow’
Bravo!
Benedetto
Benedetto is an enthusiastic Creative and Business person.
‘Design with soul’ may be the company tag-line, but to Benedetto, it is also a way of life. He believes that creative and commercial enterprise is about purity of thought, honesty of construction and boldness of execution.
He believes in bringing out the true essence of human endeavour and considers his job of articulating the great work of people and companies an absolute privilege.
His journey has taken him from a career in car design through to his current role as the Founder and Creative Director of the loft, a branding consultancy in Glasgow.
He is honoured to manage a great team, work with great clients and have a lot of fun mixing with so many great people in business.
We recently rolled out an exciting brand identity for the new and innovative Fridge Angels, a Glasgow-based company who offer fully comprehensive sales and servicing packages for refrigeration and air-conditioning needs.
Working closely with the director, John, we developed an identity for the business that has positioned it at the forefront of the industry in Glasgow and the surrounding area.
Taking inspiration from the inner workings and cooling cycle of the refrigeration and air-conditioning units — coupled with John’s huge emphasis on customer care — we developed a logo which communicates the message of the company ‘wrapping around’ the customer’s every need.
We used sophisticated, curved lines to hint at angel wings that wrap around the halo—representing the customer—in the centre. We furthered this concept with the use of warm, friendly, and inviting colours — which also worked well to position the company away from others in the industry. Along with sophistication, there’s a huge element of fun thrown in for good measure. This comes across really well on the new website where we’ve used a mix of bold colours, original icons and even cartoon versions of the Fridge Angels team.
This was my first project at the loft and I must say, it was a really fun and rewarding project to complete. The whole team here at the loft worked really hard to complete the project for John, who was the perfect client and knew exactly what he was looking for—and also brought Prosecco to toast the completion, which is always appreciated! I hope to work with John and the Fridge Angels team in the future.
Eamon.
The arrival of our eagerly awaited business cards caused reactions from us like a bunch of kids on Christmas morning – and it’s easy to see why!…
These quadruplex, letter-pressed, foil printed beauties provide us with ooh’s and ahh’s of admiration from the lucky selected folk who get handed one (it’s hard to part with them)
Glasgow Press done a brilliant job and just look at that gorgeous packaging of their’s too.
All in all – a huge thumbs up from us! We hope you agree..
Ruth
Ruth brings a truly distinctive style to the loft as a designer. A real scholar of minimalist design, Ruth is never happier when applying those principles to her own workspace. Favourite pastimes include dusting her iMac and tidying her desktop. She’s also been known to never turn down a cup of tea.
One of the most interesting parts of being in business is the ‘dreaded’ elevator pitch. For those unfamiliar with the ritual… If you were to walk into an elevator and somebody were to ask about your business. Could you tell them about it in the time it takes for the elevator to go from the bottom floor to the top?
About 30 seconds to be precise.
I’ve spent years creating, chopping, changing and honing my elevator pitch to meet prospective clients when out and about…
But now…
Well I simply give people one of our very special business cards (you’ll hear more about them later…) and ask them to check out our portfolio online.
I generally don’t need to say anymore, our work speaks for itself…
You’ll find most of what we do on our website and Facebook pages but not everything. So here is a quick run-through of some of the other lovely things we’ve been working on recently…
Fridge Angels, branding & website
Women’s Enterprise Scotland, infographic
Jim Henderson, Blog & Art direction
Murphy Insurance, Website Design
Altia Solutions, Product Logos
Altia Solutions, Updated Brand Identity
Every project, toasted with a glass of bubbly…
Benedetto
Benedetto is an enthusiastic Creative and Business person.
‘Design with soul’ may be the company tag-line, but to Benedetto, it is also a way of life. He believes that creative and commercial enterprise is about purity of thought, honesty of construction and boldness of execution.
He believes in bringing out the true essence of human endeavour and considers his job of articulating the great work of people and companies an absolute privilege.
His journey has taken him from a career in car design through to his current role as the Founder and Creative Director of the loft, a branding consultancy in Glasgow.
He is honoured to manage a great team, work with great clients and have a lot of fun mixing with so many great people in business.
We are over the moon to welcome outrageously talented new designer Mr Eamon Cameron who’s going to be interning with us for the next couple of weeks…
We thought we’d make him feel right at home by putting him directly under the spotlight and firing a load of questions at him…
Name? Eamon Cameron
Date of Birth? 20/05/1990
College? UWS, Remote Campus at Cardonald College
Favourite Piece of Loft Work? (Only kidding, don’t answer that…)
Favourite Designer and why? Aaron Draplin – I like his philosophy… ‘If it doesn’t need to be there, don’t put it in…’
Favourite Design Tool? 2H Pencil, Eamon reliably informs us that it is the perfect tool of precision and great for building in shapes on the paper…
Favourite Font? Din Pro, medium with +5 kerning…
Tea or Coffee? (Yes please says Alejandro in the background…) Coffee
Favourite Studio Music? Kings of Leon, Comeback Story being a particular favourite…
What do you want to be when you grow up? Fireman 🙂 No, only kidding, graphic designer.
Eamon has already hit the ground running, he dramatically increases the average height of the team, and we can’t wait to see what amazing things he creates with his 2H pencil over the next couple of weeks…
They say ‘a picture speaks a thousand words.’
Pictures have never been more important to help convey thoughts, ideas and notions. The more complex the information, the more useful a picture becomes.
A very brief glance at history will show that information and ideas have been communicated using a whole range of mediums – paintings, poems, photography, film, etc… Having the internet means we now have access to even more dizzying amounts of informations, anybody sitting on a bus or waiting in a supermarket queue will see people glued to their smart phones, we have never been more logged in!
How do you get your point across when there is such a jam going on?
With problems come solutions and the info-graphic of today is one of the more elegant solutions to this daily data back-log. Infographics allow people to get their points across, they tell a story and communicate relevant points of information – from hard data to softer more anecdotal information.
Creating infographics is one of our most popular services at the moment – from the idea of a fully ‘digitally enabled Scotland’ for Seric Systems to the ‘animal kingdom’ of the Princes Trust Growth Fund.
Digital Inclusion Infographic for Seric Systems
Infographics help great organisations make great points. Peter Dickson, Investment Analyst at ‘Clyde Blowers Capital’ states that “We have to absorb huge amounts of information when making, and communicating, complex investment decisions. Infographics and storyboards are a great way to quickly and simply disseminate information.”
The word ‘Communication’ is from Latin and means ‘to share.’ It is ‘the meaningful exchange of information between two or more living creatures.’ For people and companies wishing to make a point; it requires poise, it requires flair but above all it requires a willingness on the part of the communicator to make it easy for the recipient.
With the internet, social media and smart phones; infographics are a fantastic way to get your message across…
Benedetto
Benedetto is an enthusiastic Creative and Business person.
‘Design with soul’ may be the company tag-line, but to Benedetto, it is also a way of life. He believes that creative and commercial enterprise is about purity of thought, honesty of construction and boldness of execution.
He believes in bringing out the true essence of human endeavour and considers his job of articulating the great work of people and companies an absolute privilege.
His journey has taken him from a career in car design through to his current role as the Founder and Creative Director of the loft, a branding consultancy in Glasgow.
He is honoured to manage a great team, work with great clients and have a lot of fun mixing with so many great people in business.
Last September, I was honoured to present ‘Branding for the 21st century’ to the Entrepreneurial Exchange and the main thrust of my argument was that, in this the digital era, design/digital/marketing is important but it was the people themselves that made brands.
Day in, day out as our little studio continues to grow and develop, this theory becomes more true. As I look through my phone at the pictures of an incredible journey we’ve been on as a company in recent months – Our brand would be nothing without the people in it from the clients, to our partners, to our supporters, to the staff and myself.
The loft has been wonderfully enriched with the arrivals of Ruth and Alejandro; they bring so much to the table in terms of design, creativity but more importantly – personality. We have daily visitors, and we love visitors – people who come to our little messy studio in Merchant City to share a coffee and a chat, these are times I really enjoy.
But the thing I really love are the client visits.
Nothing makes us happier than working through the creative process with other people. Creating inspirational work with our clients is one of the most pleasurable bits of our job. Funnily enough, as we try to make lives easier for clients (fewer amends, less meetings, more efficient costings etc;) the more our clients want to get involved, and the process is all the richer for having them there too.
Geoff Leask, Kelly Mason, Erika Morrow and Colin Abercrombie all contributed to the design of a great brand for ‘bridge2business’ alongside Ruth, Alejandro and myself. Their ideas and their feedback made for a better brand identity.
Indeed, I was looking at the picture taken with Geoff Leask of ‘bridge2business’ on Friday, and although I look absolutely shattered and I was. He kindly gave us 2 bottles of champagne and some chocolates for our hard work; that moment there for me sums up business – great work, designers feeling inspired and a very happy client.
Brands are nothing without people and we look forward to making many more people happy in 2014.
Benedetto
Benedetto is an enthusiastic Creative and Business person.
‘Design with soul’ may be the company tag-line, but to Benedetto, it is also a way of life. He believes that creative and commercial enterprise is about purity of thought, honesty of construction and boldness of execution.
He believes in bringing out the true essence of human endeavour and considers his job of articulating the great work of people and companies an absolute privilege.
His journey has taken him from a career in car design through to his current role as the Founder and Creative Director of the loft, a branding consultancy in Glasgow.
He is honoured to manage a great team, work with great clients and have a lot of fun mixing with so many great people in business.
This week we have been working hard on the new brand for ‘bridge2business’ and Young Enterprise Scotland. Like most brands- we always start with the words. Brands should make people feel and think in a certain way, the big idea at the heart of a brand is what draws people in and gives it life.
A crucial part of any brand are the stories that accompany it. I had a meeting last week with the CEO of a worldwide company who has over 50,000 employees. This company had just re-branded and I was told that the preferred brand identity, chosen from a set of 12, was the one that would give the best opportunity for telling stories. As the CEO of a global company, he wanted above all else, a logo and graphical system that had a story behind it to make it memorable for staff and customers to understand what the company is really about.
Stories are always at the heart of the branding process for us at the loft. With ‘bridge2business’ we were briefed that young people in colleges should be inspired by enterprise but just as importantly to understand the importance of human connections in building a business. ‘Inspiration’ and ‘Connections’ were two of the key words alongside ‘Support.’
Regarding connections, we discussed with the client that most of the time we overlook the treasures we have on our own doorsteps to grow our businesses. For a young entrepreneur in college – there are vast riches all within the building itself- graphic and digital design students who can create your first brand and website, IT students who can help you set up your computer and systems, drama students who can show you how to present and perform with aplomb. Every part of what’s necessary to run a business is actually on your doorstep and can be accessed with a little initiative.
During the week, I asked Alejandro and Ruth to start looking at stories that would support the key words, themes and bring the ‘bridge2business’ brand to life. As usual they out did themselves, picking three exceptional and timeless stories from the last two centuries that supported our themes. I wanted to briefly talk about one that I really enjoyed regarding the importance of using untapped connections to grow a business.
One of the greatest achievements of mankind in the last 150 years is the motorcar. Many people know that Karl Benz was responsible for the first motor car but what many people (including myself) didn’t know was that it only came to be, because of the indomitable spirit of his wife – Bertha Benz.
Karl Benz had created the first properly functioning motor car, it was a triumph in engineering as well as a shining example of human expression at its fullest. Despite his success, he was having a terrible time trying to commercialise it and demonstrating how it could be useful to others. It wasn’t until the height of their frustration that on the 5th of August 1888, without telling her husband or the relevant authorities, his wife Bertha drove her two sons Richard and Eugen from Manheim to Pforzheim to visit her mum.
She was the first person to drive an automobile over a long distance (66miles.) This was the very first proper ‘road-trip’ and she used it to show her husband and others how useful this machine could be to daily life. It was a wonderful piece of marketing, she received much publicity for her trip and she diligently noted every problem she incurred on the journey to make the automobile even more user-friendly. These innovations included additional gears for climbing hills and brake linings to improve brake-power.
During her journey, she had to stop at a pharmacy to buy ligroin for fuel, the brakes had to be repaired so she visited a blacksmith. These small enterprises became our first ever fuel stations and car garages. It was the initiative of Bertha Benz that helped turn the motorcar into a commercially acceptable business.
Thanks to this initiative, we have roads, petrol stations, mechanics, factories, supply chains, hundreds of millions of people being employed thanks to one invention – the motorcar. How many years longer would we have had to wait without this interruption into her husbands affairs? How much further behind would we be today if it hadn’t been for Bertha Benz?
The bit I like most about the story is that they may have been business partners but Karl had overlooked Bertha, until that point for advice and assistance. This was his wife and life partner, some may say the strongest connection you can have as an entrepreneur.
How different his life would have been if she hadn’t did what she did.
How different a world we would be living in if she hadn’t do what she did.
So for the 16-24 year olds engaging in ‘bridge2business’ there is a telling lesson about the brand.
It’s about the importance of using your connections, particularly the ones at the college, the ones you don’t even realise you have. Your journey will be much richer, more fun and more proseperous than you can ever imagine.
And for us, we now have to build that and some of the other wonderful stories we have, into a great identity for ‘bridge2business.’ Watch this space!
Benedetto
Benedetto is an enthusiastic Creative and Business person.
‘Design with soul’ may be the company tag-line, but to Benedetto, it is also a way of life. He believes that creative and commercial enterprise is about purity of thought, honesty of construction and boldness of execution.
He believes in bringing out the true essence of human endeavour and considers his job of articulating the great work of people and companies an absolute privilege.
His journey has taken him from a career in car design through to his current role as the Founder and Creative Director of the loft, a branding consultancy in Glasgow.
He is honoured to manage a great team, work with great clients and have a lot of fun mixing with so many great people in business.
