A while back at The Media Collective we started to develop an online application that could handle all of our sales and invoicing. At the time we were using Excel to create everything and it was fast becoming a laborious way of working. We needed something that would cut down our admin and let us get more time working on design projects.
What we developed was a simple yet powerful project-based sales and invoicing app that immediately proved invaluable. Read the rest of this entry »
Since we started The Media Collective, over five years ago, we have tried to approach our work in the same way, no matter how large or small the job. Each project we take on is important to our customer and we recognise that. When there was just one or two people doing all the work this ideal was easy to maintain; party because we love all aspects of graphic design and the creative process but also because we were our own bosses, with no clumsy hierarchy or layers of policy to tire us out or get in the way. Read the rest of this entry »
There are only really a couple of things at the core of what we do; we have ideas and we think about ways to communicate them. Pretty simple stuff really. And that’s why we don’t think design companies like ours need to be complicated, or pretentious. Our aim is to give you great design without making you feel like we have some special powers that you don’t have. Read the rest of this entry »
Our customers often find that writing the copy for their brochure, website or other such marketing materials is often harder that it first seems. We thought it might be helpful to share some of our thoughts on how to approach writing your own content.
Know who you are writing to. This may seem obvious but if you can’t identify a group or groups of people who you want to be reading your words then there is a good chance that you will not write in a way that they understand. Read the rest of this entry »
A chair made from CDs? It’s a possibility!
We want your old CDs and DVDs. There are loads of them around and they don’t recycle that well. But we think we can make something from them. If you have any cluttering up your desk then we will take them off your hands and once we have enough we’ll get creative with them. Can you guess what it is yet…
Check out our brand new offices equipped with all the mod-cons. We now have windows!
The move to our new offices finally completed over Christmas. This was long overdue and much welcome. The extra space has meant we can look at expanding the design team and handle the extra work that keeps coming our way within the digital print department. The building used to be a former piggery so it should be used to the sort of mess we will end up making. If you want to see some nice offices before they revert back to a ‘piggery’ then feel free to visit us. Please remember to update your records with our new address and telephone number.
New Apprentice Started
With our print guy, Josh, now living in South Africa we had to finally concede that the commute was never going to work. And apparently it’s way more fun over there; something to do with the sea and sun. We still have him odds on to have an accident with a lion before the year is out.
So to celebrate we have found ourselves a new someone, Luke, who is working (under Ben’s careful eye) in our Digital Print Department on an apprentice scheme and we are really pleased with the appointment. He is already showing better tea making skills than Ben and is able match Ben’s ability to make a mess in the kitchen. We can only hope and pray that some print skill rubs off too at some point! Having Luke on a full time basis will really help us as our work load has been increasing steadily over the course of the year.
Investing in the future
We are now just weeks away from completing our new office development in Coleshill, Warks. The new combined office and print workshop, which in a previous life has been both a prisoner of war building and a piggery, will give us the opportunity to expand our capacity, work more efficiently and have better access to almost all of our existing clients. Fortunately for us Jez’s dad (of GO Currin Construction) has managed to transform the redundant building into a fantastic space that smells nothing like it used to!
We will shortly be posting out details for all that need to know ahead of time.
We have recently expanded. Andy has moved and is now working from the coastal town of Portstewart in N. Ireland. It is rather cold and wet but it does have a very nice beach and some excellent ice cream.
He will be carrying on working just the same (with his three screens) whilst picking up a few extra clients in N. Ireland as well. His long term goal is to establish a self-sufficient Media Collective office. If he can stay away from the beach.
We have recently been working with Caludon Castle School (Coventry) on a branding project. The brief was to produce a more corporate brand that would better position them as a Business and Enterprise Specialist School. After a very involved design and consultation phase the final solution was selected. The bold new brand is designed to stand out while reflecting the historic aspect of the school. Where the traditional values need to be reinforced it can be used with an updated school crest. It has already created much debate and discussion, which we think is great!
Phase one included brand development, letterheads and business cards and the production and installation of the site signage. We were there at each step of the process, from consultation to final installation and the project was completed on-budget with no nasty hidden charges and no problems. We are now looking forward to getting stuck into phase two as we continue to develop an excellent working relationship with the school.
