On a Wednesday evening in June – we hosted our first ‘Gather Round Presents’ event at the Trinity Church Gather Round. It was one for the books…
Whether it was the promise of an honest, open conversation about the challenges of working in the creative industries, or a need for the answer to the mutually felt question “Am I the only one feeling the pressure?” – tickets flew out in record time.
At 6.30pm we opened the doors to The Vestry and a new community of creatives flooded in, the vibe was electric. Backlit by a perfect summer’s evening and armed with their own stories to share, we saw people making instant connections, sharing contact details and engaging in deep conversations before we’d even sat down. This is something we all needed to talk about.
After a glass of free prosecco and some delicious free pizza from our partners Bosco, we moved through to The Great Hall bringing an air of focus with us, as our all-Gather Round-member panel took their seats to share their wisdom.
Bend, stretch, but don’t fold… become elastic. Your business depends on it.
A recurring theme from each of our speakers and touched upon in more depth by Jamie Ellul of Supple Studio, was Covid, a trying time to say the least. Jamie discussed how those turbulent years almost sent Supple down – something that, back then, was easy to take personally. This feeling was only made slightly more manageable due to the fact that his friends, colleagues & clients were all feeling it too. Jamie openly discussed how this felt like a great exercise in cutting the umbilical cord, once he realised how much of his self worth was wrapped up in the business. Something that he has since tackled through therapy and looking inward. This raw honesty was something that fuelled the rest of the evening, with equally inspirational testimony from the rest of our panel.
Tim Miness, Creative Director of Osborne Pike, shared a few mantras with the audience that have helped him stay flexible, creative and resilient. A statement that resonated was not being afraid to admit when something isn’t working. Bend the rules. What decision do I need to make in order to change my situation? How can I tap into that magic creativity and find the answer to this problem? Not only that, but how can I ask the right questions? Tim’s advice – hire people that are better than you. Expand that collective creativity, and together, you’ll find the right question.
Honesty is the best policy, and we definitely heard that from our panel. There were murmurs from the audience mentioning how refreshing it is to hear people being open about their downfalls, where they could improve and how they got through hard times. A refreshing perspective on managing a business, compared to older, more traditional ways of thinking.
Tim shared his dislike for the phrase “Fake it til you make it”. Something we’ve all encountered and tried to embody in some way, as we try to make sense of our place in the world. Sharing his love for the sentiment of trying new things, but ultimately landing on, why do we feel like we have to pretend to know what we’re doing? Perhaps one of his mantra’s “Learn it til you earn it” feels like a more sensitive way to approach things, although (in his own words) “…it doesn’t quite have the same punch.”
We heard Robin Worrall, Creative Director of Rednine open up about his heart-first approach to his work. Something he’s cultivated after pulling his business apart and asking the question, what am I really trying to achieve here? After getting the nudge he needed from a post he saw on LinkedIn, with the sticky phrase “old keys don’t open new doors”, he knew he needed to reposition and rebuild his entire creative offer. Looking at what he needed to keep, what he was prepared to lose and what would be great to add. Robin compounded this with the sentiment that being creative is emotional, and that’s something he pushes through his work, to find the heart of brands and tell their story with authenticity. It’s safe to say, a few tears were shed.
Ask for help, reach out, learn from others, share failures and compare challenges. It all starts with… “Can I chat to you about something?”.
Robin left us with a perfect segue into Kate Southerby’s interactive section of the evening. Coaching with the brain in mind, Kate is a facilitator of insights. She guided the audience through her 7 step plan, asking everyone to score themselves out of 10 for each section: Sleep, Movement, Focus, Introspection, Daydreaming, Play, Connection. There was an overwhelming consensus that we aren’t looking after our brains as well as we could be, so this was a welcome exercise that left the audience with plenty of food for thought.
The importance of nourishing your mental and physical health was a thread followed by all of our panellists, as each person has faced certain difficulties of their own. As Steven Hore discussed, managing stress has elevated how he works. He and his family made the decision to leave London after more than 20 years in the city. Initially causing more stress than intended due to commutes, but, after Covid eliminated presenteeism, time usually reserved for long car or train journeys was swapped out for more time in nature, exercising and moving through beautiful spaces that nourish his soul.
Something more attainable than moving city that he shared with the audience though, and perhaps the most simple and obvious tip: get a good night’s sleep! Steven shared how implementing this one action has transformed his ability to handle combined stressors such as job insecurity, shifting budgets and demands of 16+ hour shoot days with ease.
It’s not all about work though, as we revisit a comment from Jamie Ellul on not letting your self-worth get too wrapped up in your business, the panel delved into the importance of finding things outside of work to nourish your creative side. Find a hobby you love and indulge in it as much as you can. Hustle culture is dying, now is the time for slow, intentional living.
Of course – it wouldn’t be a conversation about the state of the world right now without touching on artificial intelligence. A topic that roused the crowd, unsure on how to feel about this powerful new tool we’ve all been given. But the biggest question on everyone’s lips… What does this mean for creative jobs? Tim, Kate, Steven, Robin and Jamie all steadfast in their belief that creative jobs aren’t going anywhere. A sigh of relief. Steven shared some positive thoughts on how AI is a great democratiser. The barriers to entry now are lower than before, meaning more eyes, more screens and work happening in more places than ever before.
This being said, clients will always want emotional, relatable, human stories. From Jamie’s perspective, AI can only produce more of the same and will never be a match for the way humans think and create. We left that topic firmly closed with his mic drop moment – “AI won’t give you a drumming gorilla for a Cadbury ad”.
After a short break, we resumed the discourse in the form of an intimate Q&A. With questions from a concerned audience, on how positive the panel feel about the creative industries going forward – will we see an upturn? Leaving us with some final gems of knowledge, the panel discussed how being brave will ultimately lead to success. However you view success though, is up to you. Times have been difficult, really difficult, but they ARE changing. There are spaces, like Gather Round, where community is flourishing and people are coming together with ideas and strength beyond what they thought they were capable of, just a few years ago.
In the words of Anthony Burrill, “Work hard and be nice to people” – but most importantly, be brave, nourish your network, ask questions, take care of yourself and the rest will follow. Stay resilient out there!
If you want to get involved in our next event – make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter so you don’t miss out on tickets. They don’t hang around for long.
Written by Chris Naswari this article has previously appeared on the ADLIB Blog.
In this blog, we talk with Tim Fendley, Creative Director and CEO of Applied Information Group, a wayfinding consultancy dedicated to helping people navigate complex spaces with ease. Tim shares the story behind Applied’s innovative approach, their global impact through wayfinding solutions, and the challenges of scaling a purpose-driven business.
The purpose of our ‘Design For Good’ content series is to shine a light on how creative innovation can be a driver for positive change. We feature those that are making it happen, those with grand potential. Businesses and individuals that are shaking up their sector and finding ways to do things better, for social or environmental good.
Hi, I’m Tim Fendley, Creative Director and CEO of Applied Information Group. Applied is a specialist wayfinding consultancy. We design systems that help people move around places easier. While it may seem simple, it’s a surprisingly complex challenge requiring a very specific set of skills. We’re an established global business with a team of 45 and we are excited to be growing our team.
You could say we have two superpowers. Firstly, we use neuroscience to understand people: their motivations and preferences and how they find their way. Secondly, we have an ability to scale systems, across multiple locations, campuses and even countries. Sounds a bit mundane, but it’s incredibly effective.
I designed Bristol Legible City while at Applied’s forerunner: MetaDesign (we had the name before Zuckerberg!). This project perfectly matched my love of information design, cities and orienteering.
The first thing we did after starting Applied was to come up with the idea for a ‘Legible’ London. We highlighted the confusion millions of people find when they come out of tube stations. We could see how limiting this lack of knowledge was when experiencing a place for the first time. We thought this is a problem we can solve. It took five years of lobbying, promoting and designing to come up with a citywide solution. It went through prototyping and piloting and proved its impact at every stage.
We’ve now applied this approach across over twenty cities around the world, benefiting cities such as Brighton, Glasgow, Seattle and Madrid. We’ve helped people get around large campuses, such as Princeton University, the MET, the National Gallery London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Google and NASA. We’ve also implemented solutions that better connect regional transport systems for networks in Vancouver and Toronto. We’re currently working on the transit system in the San Francisco Bay Area. All these projects benefit from our two superpowers!
For Applied, ‘designing for good’ is pretty fundamental. We believe that the best design prioritises the public’s perspective, improving lives whilst meeting the objectives of the organisations that invest in our services. Wayfinding encourages more people to walk and wheel, benefiting health, retail sales and community cohesion. Our work also supports increased use of buses and trains, giving people the freedom to explore their surroundings.
B Corp’s objectives and values align very closely with what is important to Applied. B Corp provides a structure, a way to assess how you are doing and to look at some aspects of your business where you are strong and some where you need some work. It really helps to have a way to measure these ‘softer’ aspects, that are actually more important than they are credited.
For Legible London, we knew that ‘designing for good’ was the right thing to do, that it would be effective. We had an unbending belief and drive to overcome the city’s complex and natural bureaucracy. It took a lot of investment from Applied at the time. We backed our own ideas with our own money. Most of the time we were told it was not possible, and we kept asking why not. We found that the barriers were only psychological, and as soon as we generated momentum, we gathered a cohort of support. Legible London now spans over 25 boroughs in London and is seen as the definition of modern city wayfinding.
We are now focusing on expanding our digital solutions. With a growing team and enhanced capabilities, we are developing innovative products. The market is evolving from simpler, often imperfect digital solutions to more sophisticated ones with clear purpose. As our clients become increasingly discerning, Applied is well-positioned to deliver even more effective outcomes.
Our latest initiative is to re-design how walking, wheeling and cycling information is delivered throughout the UK.
Applied has gone through several stages in its growth. For the last few years we were hovering at just over 30 people in size, mostly in the UK and the US. A seemingly invisible barrier we could not break. We looked hard at ourselves and realised that it was not sales or new business opportunities that held us back. It was infrastructure. As soon as we won more work, we did not have the structure and systems to handle it whilst seeking future projects. We needed to listen to our own advice and build systems and roles that would allow the business to flourish.
We brought in experts, set-up systems, and started to behave like a company of 120 people, not 12. Central to this transformation was empowering our large team of senior leaders. We consistently hire astonishingly talented people, and it’s vital we give them the space to grow. It is also a lot easier to grow a team when you have a clear sense of purpose, if you all know why you are coming into work every day, and why you sometimes must park your own story to make sure the bigger story is successful.
My role is evolving from decision maker to coach and supporter, while also returning to being a creative ideas generator – dreaming up the next barmy scheme. Our senior team is now running the business, and we are thriving and growing.
Designing for good is simply a good idea.
Written by Chris Naswari this article has previously appeared on the ADLIB Blog.
We speak with Heather Hepburn, Head of Accessibility at Skyscanner, where she’s spent the past five years embedding inclusive design across one of the world’s leading travel platforms.
In this conversation, she shares her journey into accessibility, practical ways to design more inclusively, and how the Champions of Accessibility Network is helping drive change across the industry.
Hey, I’m Heather Hepburn, Head of Accessibility at Skyscanner. For those of you who don’t know Skyscanner, we’re an online global travel brand. We find great flights, hotels, and cars for our travellers. We translate our services into 37 different languages. We have over 10 million travellers a month who use us.
I run the accessibility programme and I’ve been doing that for five years. Internally, my responsibilities include creating the accessibility strategy for the business, planning our work and roadmaps, raising awareness and understanding of accessibility and disability inclusion, running our champions network, and building accessibility into our processes. I also advocate for accessibility externally, working with our airline and online travel agent partners, and speaking at various events. I also co-run the Champions of Accessibility Network (CAN) with Gareth Ford Williams and Charlie Turrell.
When I started at Skyscanner, I joined as a content designer. During my interview process, I was asked to do a UX critique of the Skyscanner app, and that’s when I realized how inaccessible it was. I had some knowledge from my previous job at RBS, where we considered accessibility when designing our products, but not loads. I ended up writing a job description for myself to start an accessibility programme at Skyscanner, and that’s how it all started. I’ve learned an awful lot in the last five years!
It really does. One of the biggest things in accessibility is making your content easy to understand. The role of a content designer carries significant accessibility responsibilities. If you’re writing visible content, you should also write any hidden content for screen readers at the same time and in the same tone of voice, so inclusion has always been something I’ve had to consider. The content design team at Skyscanner is now heavily involved in accessibility as well and help keep the rest of the designers in check, which is great.
Super important – it is my work. Every project or conversation I have is about improving accessibility, mainly in our traveller-facing products like our websites and apps. I also speak to our brand marketing teams about making their output accessible. We’re a team of two in a large company, so we have to shout loudly and often. We talk at town halls, other teams’ meetings, and have one-to-one conversations with designers and developers all the time. These range from getting people on board with accessibility to reviewing work and helping make elements or features more accessible.
Skyscanner runs global induction sessions for new staff every two months, which now include an empathy lab where we simulate different disabilities and get participants to carry out simple tasks. Empathy labs can be controversial, as the best way to understand disability is by speaking to someone with lived experience, so we do caveat these sessions very strongly that they are just simulations. However, they are easy to set up and can be repeated, and they start great conversations to get people thinking differently. So many people say things like “I’d never considered how someone might use a phone if they can’t see” and those conversations and considerations are so important to making them think in an inclusive way. It’s a great start for our new staff to then go on to learn how to create accessible products for our travellers, or how to be more inclusive with the way they communicate internally.
Our efforts to promote inclusive design begins with training product and content designers and we’re always looking to improve on what training we provide.
In addition to our accessibility training courses, we run hands-on workshops, including screen reader workshops with Adi Latif, an accessibility consultant who uses a screen reader himself. We’re also striving to implement accessibility practices into design processes by default. User testing is important, and we try to get designers to talk to disabled users early and are also trying to promote more co-designing with disabled users.
We also do what we can to ensure accessibility is considered as early as possible in the concept and design process, so we try to make this as easy as possible for our designers. We’ve introduced an accessibility checklist, as well as a semi-automated accessibility annotations tool called Include, which is eBay’s open-source toolkit. On top of this, we have weekly drop-in sessions for designers to ask questions and review their work with us.
There are plenty of challenges to this. Designers have a lot to think about and so we need to make accessibility feel like something they want to do rather than extra work to get buy-in from them. And accessibility is difficult! There are so many elements to it, and while it’s easy to start making positive changes, it’s hard to consider everything and be very good at it. That’s why we’re always looking to upskill and make the improvements we can.
It’s very, very hard to make things perfect, but considering these three areas will help designers make something great. It’s so much easier to do things right from the start than to fix them later.
I heard Gareth Ford Williams and Charlie Turrell, both ex-BBC, were thinking about starting a champions network, so I got in touch and asked if I could help. We had a steering committee with big names in accessibility which was exciting – I was pinching myself about actually being there! After initial work with them to set the direction, Gareth, Charlie and I got CAN up and running.
It started a couple of years ago as a LinkedIn group. It’s a network for anyone involved in accessibility, with over 2000 members from various sectors, from accessibility specialists, to designers, to developers, and everyone in between. The idea of the group is that it’s a safe space for support and advice, with such a wealth of experience amongst our members to provide guidance. We run monthly online meetups and some face-to-face meetups on topics ranging from accessibility strategy or the European Accessibility Act to setting up your own accessibility champions networks or burnout in the industry.
It’s a very supportive, collaborative group which anyone can join. A great part of the online meetups are the breakout rooms at the end for people to connect – it’s a lovely way to network with others who care about accessibility. So that’s what we’re trying to do – get people together, share all the wins and the struggles, and learn from each other. It’s just such a positive group of people. We absolutely love running it and feel very honoured to do that.
Accessible Design Resources
Following the insightful recommendations from our Design For All participants, we’ve curated an extensive collection of tools, guides, articles, books, blogs, and videos. This resource is specifically designed to support accessibility and inclusion specialists at every stage of their journey.
View Accessible Design Resources
Written by Chris Naswari this article has previously appeared on the ADLIB Blog.
In this article, we chat with Matt Thomas, Design and User Experience Manager at Motability Operations. With over a decade at the organisation, Matt shares how he and his team are embedding inclusive design across a range of internal and B2B products, supporting over 800,000 people with limited mobility.
From weekly “Accessibility Surgeries” to department-wide learning, Matt gives a practical look into what it really takes to make accessibility a core part of how a business designs, builds and delivers.
My name is Matt Thomas, and I’m the Design and User Experience Manager at Motability Operations. We work in the Commercial Operations division. I lead a team which is responsible for design across a range of products, including our B2B commerce platform which sells vehicles to dealerships across the UK, and all the supporting products and services which our colleagues use that help make this happen.
I’ve been at Motability Operations for 11 years. Early on, I worked in internal communications and marketing before moving into design. Reflecting on my career, whether at MO or previous companies, I’ve always been focused on improving experiences, whether with software or physical services. I guess I’m just one of those people who believes there’s always a better way of doing things and I’m keen to explore new ideas.
Motability’s main customers are people with limited mobility or disabilities, and everything we do ultimately aims to improve the experience for them – it’s great to work in a role in such a purpose-driven environment. My team specifically work on products which are used by car dealers in the motor trade, and our colleagues we work with each day. Quite a broad range of users and needs!
It’s really important. We work for a company who help over 800,000 people access independent mobility. As a leader in the design and product space, inclusion must be core to what we do, and part of that is bringing other people on that journey to show them the value of inclusion as well. It’s also simply the right thing to do.
We design for accessibility as a core principle, not just for customers but internally for our colleagues too. It’s about embedding accessibility across the board into how we design and work.
I think of it on three levels: individual, team, and departmental.
At the individual level, I expect designers to be comfortable and confident with accessibility. I set that expectation and support them through providing one-on-one coaching, learning through others in the team, and other resources so they can embed that learning within their product teams. I want them to get excited by accessibility, and encourage them to bring interesting new accessibility things they to share with the rest of the team.
At the team level, we hold an “Accessibility Surgery” every week — a dedicated session with specific actions focused on accessibility. This can involve exploring new tools or resources, tackling a particular problem that someone from the product team is facing, or discussions around how to embed accessibility into a new feature or product. We also look at how the designers can work more closely with their colleagues in each of their product teams to help build their knowledge and transfer their accessibility knowledge to other disciplines.
At the departmental level, we share accessibility learnings during town halls and product days, which are days dedicated to working with all the product teams across the department. We’ve also hosted talks about inclusive design at internal tech conferences too, helping spread knowledge across the wider company. It’s really important not to just keep our learnings within the team, but to take those learnings and push them across the whole department and broader organisation.
One of the challenges is that while our team has chosen to go deep into understanding accessibility, other teams and disciplines haven’t always reached the same depth. When we suggest the changes needed to meet accessibility standards, it can sometimes seem like a lot of extra effort if they haven’t already got the knowledge in place. Sometimes that means it takes longer for teams to implement those changes, which might lead to accessibility being perceived as slowing down delivery and make it harder to get teams to make accessibility changes in future.
Again, thinking at those three levels:
· Individual: Dive in and learn all you can. There are so many resources online now that make it easy to learn a lot quickly. Early on in your inclusive design journey, looking for gaps where you can make a difference with small changes is great. Finding smaller, quick wins add up over time, and help you dive in and understand those things further.
· Team: Set up a recurring accessibility meeting like an Accessibility Surgery. There was a point where I just had one designer in my team, and I put it in the calendar at that stage, so we had that time, even if it was just an hour a week, dedicated to accessibility. Now, years on with a bigger team, it’s still in the calendar every week and makes sure we’re always thinking about how to design inclusively, makes sure we’re building knowledge and solving problems. Dedicating time weekly builds momentum and knowledge over time so I’d definitely recommend this.
· Department: Share your wins. If you make accessibility improvements to a feature or product, do a bit of a write-up to show the before and after, what difference it makes, and share these with managers or in broader meetings. People won’t know it’s happening unless you tell them about it, so it’s really important to show people the improvements you’re making to build that attention and understanding of accessibility.
Also, don’t wait to be asked. Start doing, start sharing — even small actions matter.
· Craig Abbott’s blog — particularly his guidance on the European Accessibility Act given that’s coming into effect so soon.
· Mobile app testing resources — like Andrew Hickory’s guidance on mobile app testing and an accessibility handbook by a Dutch company called Appt.org. Doing accessibility right on mobile can be really tricky, and a lot of issues that come up in our Accessibility Surgeries are on the mobile side of things, so it’s great to have
· Accessibility card deck because everyone loves card decks! This is a visually engaging resource that’s being improved over time, and is really easy to dip into and get to grips with accessibility.
· WCAG in Plain English – This is our new favourite accessible thing to share! Really nicely broken down and easy to understand and consume. It’s made it really easy to collaborate closer with our content and engineering colleagues around accessibility, too!
Accessibility is hard and there’s no quick fix. It’s not a case of just getting a list of things you need to do to make a website accessible and implementing them in one go – it’s regular, ongoing work. Even if you build a fancy design system with accessibility built in, that’s just to the level of the components. You still need to do accessibility testing once you put those jigsaw pieces together. A design system like this isn’t a replacement for an accessibility focussed mindset.
It’s a long and enduring commitment, but it’s the right thing to do, and there’s a great community out there to support you. It’s tough, but it’s worth it.
Accessible Design Resources
Following the insightful recommendations from our Design For All participants, we’ve curated an extensive collection of tools, guides, articles, books, blogs, and videos. This resource is specifically designed to support accessibility and inclusion specialists at every stage of their journey.
View Accessible Design Resources
Imagine this. Instead of writing a traditional article like this one, we shorten our article to a series of headlines and project them onto a famous skyscraper. Outside an advertising awards show. We tease the event. And we invite you and influencers along to it. You take pictures and film parts of the show. You then post it on social media. We film the entire stunt. Afterwards, we edit the vid into different cut-downs for different channels. That my friends is a brand activation in practice.
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So what actually is the definition of a brand activation? ChatGPT defines it as a ‘marketing strategy designed to actively engage consumers with a brand, creating a memorable experience that drives awareness, interaction, and emotional connection’. It’s a decent definition for this recent advertising phenomenon. But for us, it’s an idea worth advertising. Something for your brand to shout about. And right now, activations are becoming more common. They’re taking full advantage of digital capabilities to propagate ideas online which in turn, amplifies brands organically for free. 30 years ago, a Tango ad on a Saturday night was talked about on a Monday morning in the school playground, or at the water-cooler. Today, it’s instant on Whatsapp, TikTok, Twitter and so on. And great activation ideas that live online, always have the possibility of getting shared time and time again.
Here are some of my favourite brand activations from recent times including an app concept for Toyota that was the no.1 downloaded app in the country it was made for.
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You read right. Sounds bonkers. But it was genius. True to their values, REI closed their doors on Black Friday. Instead of getting caught up in the chaos of the shopping day, they wanted their staff to #OptOutside, have a stress-free day off and enjoy the great outdoors. The feel-good news story was picked up by all the mainstream media outlets in the states, and the brand saw sales, brand warmth and employee retention increase off the back of this one activation.
Xbox wanted the world to know how tough their new Tomb Raider game was so they created an interactive billboard that played out like a live game show. Then they subjected the six people on the London billboard to the extreme weather conditions from the actual game. Fans streamed the show via Twitch, where they could even control the weather via their smartphone. Until only the grittiest contestant was left. The results were off the charts, from 450k+ views on Twitch, 2 million views on Facebook and 18 Cannes Lions.
How? By flipping disability around and creating ThisAbles. Ikea found 1 in 10 people in the world live with a disability. So they hacked their most iconic IKEA products by developing 13 open-source 3D printed add-ons, each solving a different accessibility issue. Besides the 5M$ worth of earned media from PR, 4,625 people downloaded the 3D models. One of the great brand activations, that intrinsically links to their vision and genuinely make people’s everyday, wonderful.
Education groups came together to launch Denmark’s Mental Health Day and create awareness about the increase of youth burnout. How? They crafted human sized candles and erected them all over the country to start a nationwide conversation. Each of the statues were made from wax that symbolised inaction leading to an entire generation burning out. They also targeted policy makers with small versions of the burnt-out youth, and produced a series of solutions to help address the growing issue.
The global sports brand discovered that 32% of women around the world feel uncomfortable swimming in public. In the Middle East, it jumps to a staggering 88%. So adidas created the world’s first swimmable billboard in Dubai, encouraging every woman in the city to dive in and become ambassadors for its new inclusive swimwear collection, regardless of their shape, ethnicity or ability. It sparked a global conversation across 60 countries about making swimming more inclusive as a sport for women.
Put your phone down while you drive and pick up rewards. That was the simple award-winning idea for Toyota in Ireland.
The app topped the Irish app charts, received national TV, radio and press coverage worth nearly £350k. But above all Irish people drove over 13 million miles with their phones faced down. And Toyota showed how “built for a better world” made a real tangible difference in people’s lives.
People think they know what ‘suicidal’ looks like: crying, anger, despair. In the absence of these signs, nobody intervenes. With 125 people taking their own lives each week, long-term partners Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and ITV, the UK’s largest commercial TV station, urgently needed to highlight the fact that ‘suicidal’ doesn’t always manifest the way people expect. So on the happiest day of the year, they created The Last Photo, a hard-hitting campaign that started a vital national conversation and empowered the UK to help prevent suicide.
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The next time you brief your creative agency, think about what it is you’re really looking for. If it’s brand awareness, perception, resonance and share of voice, give your agency the license to think bigger. Creativity shouldn’t be squeezed into conventional media formats – let your brand break free and break the mould. That’s what garners coverage, reach and long-term legacy.
It’s where experiential meets content meets stunts meets brand amplification. And in today’s world, that means more bang for your budget. Just remember, the best activation ideas can be summed up in an attention-grabbing headline. If you nail that and get excited about making it happen, who knows? Your brand activation could be talked about for years to come. Building long-term brand awareness and advocacy, that’s some return on investment.
Drop us a line at https://saintnicks.uk.com/contact-us/ and let’s chat about how we can use brand activations to take your brand further.
On the evening of April 3rd, students from a range of fashion and creative courses at Weston College came together to showcase their talent at Elevate, a spectacular fashion show held in the Regency Suite on the Grand Pier. This event gave learners the chance to present their work on a professional catwalk in front of friends, family, and the public. Also, the £321 raised from ticket sales will be donated to Weston Hospicecare.
The show featured collections and designs from A Level Fashion and Textiles students, Extended Diploma Fashion, Business and Retail students, and Fashion, Theatre, Special Effects and Media Make-Up students. Hair and makeup were also provided by learners from the HE Hair, Makeup, Prosthetics and Production course. We also had a range of volunteer models from across different subject areas, showcasing the amazing collaboration of the entire college.
Each collection was the result of months of creativity, research, and technical skill, developing initial ideas, conducting visual and factual research, experimenting with illustrations and media, and refining their concepts before constructing their final garments in chosen fabrics.
The Extended Diploma in Fashion, Business and Retail students explored themes such as Contrast, Refabrication, and Nostalgia, allowing for various interpretations and unique outcomes. Some examples include explorations of the architectural contrast within the National Trust’s Tyntesfield House, designs focused on the healing potential of flora, and investigations into the psychology of nostalgia through brain scans and synaptic imagery. Others took a more cultural approach, drawing on rock music from the 1970s to early 2000s.
A Level Fashion and Textiles students brought an equally diverse range of ideas to life, exploring cultural heritage, mental health, and ethical issues in fashion. From intricate Sashiko-inspired patterns to visual critiques of the denim industry’s environmental impact, these students demonstrated powerful, individual visions that reflected deep personal engagement with their themes.
The creativity didn’t stop at the garments. Students from the Extended Diploma in Fashion, Theatre, Special Effects and Media Make-Up created stunning looks that carried strong environmental messages. Their work responded to themes such as climate change, the ozone layer, California wildfires, and human impact on the planet—resulting in dramatic, thoughtful, and visually compelling headpieces and makeup designs.
Pat Jones, Principal and CEO of Weston College, expressed her gratitude to both the students and the community for making this event possible, adding, “The Elevate Fashion Show was a true celebration—not just of the incredible creativity and talent of our fashion learners, but also of the community spirit that made it all possible.
“Thanks must go to Michelle Michael and the team at the Grand Pier for so generously providing the Regency Suite free of charge, giving our students the unique opportunity to showcase their work in a truly professional setting. Thanks to this support, every ticket sold will go directly to Weston Hospicecare. We’re also grateful to St John’s Church for their kind loan of a lighting system that helped the show come to life. This event is a great example of what happens when education and community come together to lift up the next generation of creatives.”
Elevate is a great example of how Weston College’s Career Excellence Hubs give our students the career-preparing opportunities to gain first-hand experience in presenting a collection within a professional setting, developing their confidence, communication skills, and understanding of the production and logistics behind a runway event. The evening also offered invaluable exposure to peers, industry professionals, and potential employers which is essential for anyone pursuing a future in fashion or performance industries.
For many of the student models, walking the runway was a transformative experience. Stepping out of their comfort zones, they rose to the challenge with bravery and confidence, contributing to the energy and spirit of the event and supporting their peers on a night that celebrated creativity, courage, and collaboration. Elevate was an amazing reflection of the talent and dedication of our Weston College students, enhanced by community to bring this event to life for a great cause.
Well done to all our students who got involved in designing, creating, and modelling—this night wouldn’t have been possible without your efforts! Also, a big thank you to our fantastic Photography students: Harrison, Ethan, Cerys, Annabel, Taylor, Ellen, Toby, and Cameron for capturing the night perfectly!
Following a competitive pitch, SIM7 has been selected by the British Council as a key agency on its framework to supply services over the coming years.
SIM7 will work in partnership with the British Council’s international marketing teams, creating strategic messaging, copywriting and content to drive the organisation’s global initiatives.
This work will involve developing digital and OOH campaigns, creating assets across all channels, and supporting the British Council’s extensive international outreach.
SIM7 will join a handful of leading UK agencies selected to support the British Council’s strategic goals.
About the British Council
The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Operating in over 100 countries worldwide, the British Council builds connections, understanding, and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education, and the English language, reaching millions of people annually.
Says SIM7’s Simeon de la Torre, “As an agency with extensive international experience, this is a perfect partnership for us. We’re excited about working on some of the most significant cultural and educational initiatives globally, and empowering the British Council by delivering the effective messaging that we’re known for.
“Our capabilities closely align with the British Council’s mission to promote and uphold the English language worldwide. Our expertise will enhance the British Council’s efforts to make English accessible to learners across diverse cultures and backgrounds. Through innovative campaign strategies and engaging content, we’ll support the British Council’s role as a global leader in English language teaching and assessment.
“We’re looking forward to connecting with the international communities that the British Council fosters and supports.”
“The British Council is one of the best names in the industry for cultural exchange and educational opportunity, and the SIM7 team are all keen to help them deliver their mission of building connections between the UK and the rest of the world.”
SIM7 is an award-winning creative agency that uses language to empower design. We drive growth by creating brands, campaigns and strategy – for marketing teams around the world. Our experience in international education extends to universities, leadership organisations, business schools and more. For more information, contact Simeon de la Torre sim@sim7creative.co.uk
This article has previously appeared on the ADLIB Blog.
In this Women In Design feature, we caught up with Vee Rogacheva, Head of Product Design at Go.Compare which is part of Future Plc.
Vee emphasizes the importance of empathy, accessibility, and diversity in her work. She also highlights the unique contributions women bring to design, the need for mentorship, and the importance of owning your career to unlock opportunities for growth and success.
Could you please introduce yourself as well as your background?
Hi, I’m Vee Rogacheva, and I’m the Head of Product Design at Go.Compare which is part of Future Plc. I lead a team focused on building experiences that help millions of people across the UK save money.
Go.Compare is a regulated business and the design team is responsible for helping users achieve their financial goals. Our solutions are informed by deep understanding of users, grounded in research, and from the synergy between cross-functional teams and experts.
Before joining Go.Compare, I worked in the Education Technology sector, where I gained valuable insights into creating impactful experiences for users from different parts of the world. Prior to that, I was a user-centered design consultant, working with clients such as The Samaritans, Drinkaware, and Guide Dogs. These experiences helped me develop a deep appreciation for designing with empathy and purpose, focusing on accessibility and the diverse needs of different user groups.
At Go.Compare, I’m passionate about creating solutions that have a real impact on people’s lives, while nurturing a team culture that values creativity, inclusivity, and continuous learning.
In your opinion, what unique perspectives or contributions do you think women bring to the design industry?
As women we often have to challenge stereotypes and bring diversity into design thinking itself. By being in leadership positions, we can also influence the way products are shaped—ensuring that design is not just for a single type of user, but for a wide array of individuals with different backgrounds, needs, and expectations. This results in products that resonate more deeply with a broader audience, fostering inclusivity.
Women are also in a unique position as they, willingly or not, serve as role models for other women in any industry and design is no different. That means that female designers are often expected to not only perform at the highest level but also represent and pave the way for others. This dual role can bring added pressure and can be very tiring, no wonder so many women quit.
I’m passionate about unlocking opportunities in design for other women, which is why I got involved in co-organizing Ladies that UX Bristol, a community that supports women and under-represented genders on their design journey. We get together once a month and it’s a great opportunity to network and learn.
In an attempt to capture some of the Wisdom you’ve gained as a woman in the design sector so far, what is the 1 thing that you’d like to pass on to your peers as well as the future generation of talent within your sector?
I can’t emphasise enough the importance of owning your career. It’s crucial to proactively seek out opportunities for growth. A great example of is the story of my team member, Monica. She previously worked in another team here at Future and reached out to me, expressing her interest in design and her desire to transition from marketing to a UX role. Her initiative not only showcased her passion but also opened the door for her to explore new possibilities in her career. She has been a great addition to the team, bringing in all those skills she already had and quickly gaining new ones as she is now taking on bigger and bigger projects.
If anyone reading this is thinking about reaching out, I can’t promise you a job but I’ll always find time for people looking to break into design or wanting to become better designers. It’s essential to reach out, seek advice, and gather insights from those who can help you navigate your journey. Connecting with peers and mentors helps build your confidence and unlocks valuable opportunities to craft a fulfilling career in design.
If you’re inspired by the stories and wisdom shared in our ‘Women In Design’ series and would like to contribute your own experiences, we’d love to hear from you. Creatives at all levels, please email us and your story could be the next we feature.
Gold: Best Expression of a Brand on Social Media Channels
Bronze: Best Use of Copy Style or Tone of Voice
The Transform Awards celebrate excellence in brand strategy and execution across Europe. saintnicks’ work with Ascot Racecourse brought to life the brand’s creative platform, Elegance at Play – combining social-first storytelling, a distinct tone of voice, and thumb-stopping, jaw-dropping content that captured the attention of both loyal racegoers and new audiences alike.
Speaking on the win, Fraser Bradshaw, CEO at saintnicks, said:
“We set out to create a truly ownable brand voice and world-class social content that matched Ascot’s stature as an iconic British institution. To see that work recognised is a brilliant moment for the team and a testament to the power of brave, collaborative thinking.”
If you’re after a creative brand agency that will go the extra mile for your brand, drop saintnicks a line. You can find out more about their brand, campaigns, content and digital expertise here, or reach out to their Client Services Director, Francois d’Espagnac.
This article has previously appeared on the ADLIB Blog.
We caught up with Samantha Merrett, Senior Accessibility Specialist at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
She shares her journey into accessibility, the role inclusion plays in her work, and how small design changes can make a big impact. Samantha also offers practical advice for designers looking to create more accessible experiences and highlights key resources to stay ahead in inclusive design.
The purpose of the series ‘Design For All’ is to demonstrate the importance of inclusivity in design and share knowledge on how to create more inclusive and accessible design experiences.
Hi there, my name is Samantha Merrett, and I am a Senior Accessibility Specialist working at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). I have been at the MoJ for nearly a year now and I have worked in the Civil Service for more than 8 years.
Before joining the team at the MoJ, I was Accessibility Lead at the Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK Managing Editor at the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Whilst working at the MoD, I managed a small team of editors editing and publishing content on GOV.UK. The introduction of the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (PSBAR) in 2018 required us to upskill quickly to understand how to ensure our content was accessible.
However, there was one specific moment that made me realise that accessibility was the career for me! I spent time working on the Armed Forces Pension forms to try and make them more user-friendly and accessible. We ran focus groups with users to understand the problem areas and then worked to fix the issues. We then presented the improved forms back to the focus group and the attendees was so thankful that they could now independently claim for their pension.
It was that moment for me that made me realise how important accessibility is. I might have only helped one person in that room but that was enough for me! What we do matters and it can have a profound impact on the users that we serve.
For me accessibility and inclusion go hand in hand, if we make things more accessible, they should be more inclusive for all. In my current role, we encourage all colleagues to consider accessibility from the start, whether you work in design creating digital products or write emails and documents, accessibility should be front and centre.
Adding accessibility in at the beginning makes it much easier to ensure the final product or design is accessible. Addressing accessibility early in the design process is more cost-effective than retrofitting a product later.
Designing for accessibility can lead to innovative solutions that benefit all users. For example, adding captions to videos benefits not only those with hearing impairments but also for users in noisy environments.
Fundamentally, accessible design can enhance usability for everyone not just those with disabilities. This promotes equal access and prevents exclusion.
Promoting inclusive design is a core aspect of my work. I strive to ensure that the information and tools I provide are accessible to everyone. This involves using clear and concise language, offering alternative text for images and ensuring all interactive elements are keyboard accessible. I also never stop learning; I continuously keep up to date with standards and best practices to provide the most relevant and effective support to my colleagues.
One of the main challenges I face is designing visually engaging content whilst making it accessible. I like to ensure that complex topics are explained in an understandable way. Infographics and visuals are often avoided when it comes to accessibility, but this overlooks the benefit they can provide for those who are visual learners or neurodivergent. If graphics are designed using the appropriate colour contrast, accessible font types and use clear and consistent layouts they should be accessible to users. Of course, to make the content accessible you must also provide an appropriate, equivalent text version of the content so users can read through the text if they prefer.
First, you need to understand your users. Take the time to learn about the different ways people with disabilities interact with digital products. This might include using screen readers, keyboard navigation or using voice commands. Talk to people with access needs about their experiences, specifically in the area that you are working in. It is important to truly understand your users and acknowledge that not everyone’s experience is the same. We are all individuals with our own needs and preferences, and we all deserve to have these needs considered.
Never stop learning and make sure you invest time and energy into your own self-development. Continuous learning helps you to stay up to date with the latest news, technologies and best practices making them more effective in your role. Accessibility is an ever-evolving topic, and it can sometimes feel difficult to keep on top of all the latest trends. If you can prioritise your own development, you not only advance your career but also help to contribute to the overall success and adaptability of your team and organisation.
There are so many amazing resources that I could share but these are a couple that I refer to time and time again.
Accessible Design Resources
Following the insightful recommendations from our Design For All participants, we’ve curated an extensive collection of tools, guides, articles, books, blogs, and videos. This resource is specifically designed to support accessibility and inclusion specialists at every stage of their journey.
View Accessible Design Resources
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