The food packaging industry has evolved massively over the last couple of decades. Gone are the days when packaging was produced as cheaply as possible, with the sole purpose of simply holding a product (and in some cases to extend its' shelf life a little). Now, the expectation is that packaging needs to work much harder for its money. Today, the fact that packaging makes food products look desirable, keeps them well protected and in perfect condition just isn't enough. Consumers want it to co...

First impressions are everything and if “the first bite is taken with the eye”, then regardless of how amazing, unique or delicious your product, the packaging will need to work hard to be successful in the food and drink market. Packaging will often be the first point of contact a customer has with you and your goods, and when it's sat on a crowded shelf or market stall, it needs to excite, entice and engage in a matter of seconds.  The power of food and drink branding In 2016, a top 4 U...

So you have a lovey market stall at a farmer’s market, in a quaint little village and now you’re ready for the next step: you want to sell your produce further afield. You know people like the way it tastes, you have plenty of repeat customers who rave about your recipe and visit your stall week after week. Your customers are making comments like “My friends would love this” and “You need to get this in the supermarkets”. You’re thinking; 'What a good idea, this time next year Rodn...

Good graphic design is an often underrated part of the marketing mix, but as designers and marketers, we’ve seen first hand the impact of graphic design on marketing results. Invest in design to supercharge your marketing activity in these five ways... 1. Make your marketing more memorable Impactful design is the key to making your marketing more memorable. If no one remembers your message, your marketing spend is as good as wasted. 2. Differentiate your business from your competitors ...

Your business brand is more than just your logo and colours – it’s your values, the way you speak, the personality you convey. Consistent brands provide the same experience wherever you come across them, whether it’s in person, on social media or on their website. It makes you more recognisable Being the same everywhere helps you stand out. For a start, it makes it less likely for people to confuse you with other brands. Consistency also breeds familiarity, making it easier for people...

Somerset-based MMA Architectural are sole UK distributors for the Jakob range of quality stainless steel wire rope assemblies, tie rods and fittings. The products are predominantly used in commercial environments such as office buildings, bridges, zoos, car parks and public spaces. MMA Architectural MD Justin Errington was faced with a dilemma: a need to ‘make visual sense’ of a rapidly growing business and the development of separate, niche marketplaces. He came to the decision that the e...

Your brand is not a physical thing. It’s the perception of your business that others have and the feelings that your business or product(s) evoke.

Old Mill Accountants and Financial Planners have always recognised the value of creative corporate graphic design. It plays a valuable role in communicating their expertise to a wide and varied client base. Wisdom is the latest Old Mill flagship magazine, produced exclusively for their rapidly expanding Private Wealth market. Featuring industry insight and specialist advice, the magazine includes articles on pension planning, investment portfolios and probate. Both informative and inspiration...

An imaginary fist pump was my inital reaction when I heard that we were going to be given the opportunity to design and build the new LED Architects website. Architects, as we all know, are designers. And as designers they are very visual. They like their work to tell the story with big, interesting and powerful project images – not the usual stock photography you find on every Tom, Dick and Harry's website. This is a web designer's dream, and I was chomping at the bit to get started on it. ...

Antony Lovedale founded Active Robots over 10 years ago as a catalogue and online reseller of robot parts and accessories to hobbyists and enthusiasts. But a recent expansion into higher value robots for use in education, academic research and corporate applications meant that Antony needed to create a separate business to address the needs of this rapidly growing market. Following a recommendation from a business contact, Antony met with Cognique and discussed his requirements. We quickly came...

Vinyl aficionado Stephen Waldron approached Cognique to make a lifelong dream come true: to own his own record shop. He already had a brilliant name (Fuzzy Warbles Vinyl Records), the notion of selling niche genre vinyl online and an idea for how his logo should look. But what he needed was someone to help him deliver the whole package professionally, and within a few short weeks. Based on the business name we first developed an 'A Clockwork Orange' inspired identity: Once the identity was a...

Cognique created a logo design for startup business Construction Certification Ltd. Working with SMEs in the construction sector, business owner Richard Shearwood-Porter approached us to create a logo that reflected his 'down to earth approach' combined with a 'plain language pitch'. Utilising pictorial elements from sister company HSQE, Cognique produced three concepts which were presented to the client. After a few minor colour tweaks and font variations the final logo design (which can be se...

Remous Print, a family run company in Sherborne approached Cognique for a company rebrand. Their existing brand and identity had served them well over the past 30 years, but now they felt it was time for a change, time to re-position themselves in the print market and time to show the public what the could really do. The brief was simple, they wanted to be modern, stand out in the competitive print industry, and to portray the wide range of services they have to offer. They didn't just want to ...

Cognique have recently completed the new Swan Hotel brochure design. We have serviced the marketing needs of the award-winning Best Western Plus Swan Hotel Wells for over five years and the hotel prides itself on the quality of the website, graphic design (including newsletters, brochures and adverts) and email campaigns produced by Cognique that help the in-house marketing team to engage with their growing customer base. The text for the brochure was intentionally kept to a minimum, allowing t...

Hosted Accountants (part of the Indigo Group) already had a smart new identity courtesy of Cognique, so we were delighted when they asked us to help with their corporate brochure design. The Taunton based company was planning its annual trip to Accountex ExCeL (the flagship event in the accounting calendar) and it was vital that they stood out in what was fast becoming a crowded market. The decision was made to produce a Case Study 'Bible' which would showcase what Hosted Accountants do best: p...

Chartered Surveyors RMW and PJK approached Cognique earlier this year to discuss a new corporate identity for their merged business RMW Knight. Both parties were keen to retain aspects of their existing identity (a blue background combined with a sans serif font) while creating a fresh identity that would be easily recognisable and readable from a distance on sales and letting boards.The two logos above left are the original identities before the merger, and the one on the right is the n...