Christmas is almost upon us. We have all come through another challenging year with the pandemic. We hope you all have exciting plans for Christmas to end the year on a high. We thought it was a good time to look back at the past year at Design Hive.
We have kept positive throughout 2021 and have come through our biggest year of growth to date. Our team are continuously grateful for the vast range of projects we take on. Even through Covid, we have been able to adapt and keep our staff and customers safe.
Our goals are to help our branding, graphic design and website clients achieve their goals and to look professional and respected. Helping our customers create great first impressions and ensuring they have a cohesive message across all marketing literature. It’s crucial, we help our clients attract customers, increase sales, and build awareness for their company. We safely help our client’s get online safely in front of their audience so that they can be seen by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Finally, we make it easier for people to find our customers websites, resulting in increased sales and business growth.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
The Unexpected…
Through the pandemic, we saw a huge rise in printing. This was unexpected and many thought it would be the end for print. However, our printers have been pushed to their limits, and due to this, we had to increase turnaround times slightly to accommodate.
Offsetting our carbon footprint!
Watching our carbon footprint is something at the top of our priority list. We are all very conscious at home and in the office. We have been meticulous this year looking at every part of the business to work out what we can do to help the environment. Something we have committed to is planting trees with Ecologi. We have won our first badge, have planted 130 trees and have saved 2 tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to one of the following;
- 2 long haul flights
- 6 metres sq of sea ice saved
- 4,962 miles driven in a car
If you would like to do the same and feel as good as we do, you can have 30 trees on us using this special link
https://ecologi.com/designhivesouthwestltd?r=61a75a3617c3bc3ca879c20b
Going Limited…
Though Design Hive have been in business for 13 years now, we chose to stay as a sole trader business. However, this year, we went for it and took the plunge. We are now registered as Design Hive (South West) Ltd.
Trademarks (simply buzzing!)…
One of the most exciting events of the year was choosing to register our logo as a trademark. Deciding to protect our logo is important to us as a business. The idea that another business could come along and copy our logo or take it away from us, is not something we wanted to chance. The process was a little more drawn out than expected due to an objection, however, we were delighted to have pushed through the barriers and now have our logo trademarked.
Not only this, but even more incredible news came when we also managed to get our name ‘Design Hive’ trademarked as a word mark. We were over the moon and feel incredibly proud to have our logo and name protected.
Sedgemoor Business Awards…
After years of events being postponed or cancelled, we finally got to attend the ball this year! After winning last years ‘Customer Service Excellence’ and ‘Small Business of the Year’ awards, it seemed only right that we sponsor the New Business category. It was such a treat to find out more about the incredible local businesses around us and be part of the judging panel. We can’t wait to do this again!
A few mentions…
We’ve had an exceptional year working with extraordinary clients. At the beginning of this year, we were privileged to work with David Salisbury, who are based in Highbridge, Somerset. They build exceptional orangeries, conservatories, and garden rooms, and we had the opportunity to design their latest brochure. This must be every graphic designer’s dream!
They have kept us busy throughout 2021 with many graphic design and branded merchandise related projects. We are truly grateful to David Salisbury for being part of their journey and are always inspired by the steps they take.
https://www.davidsalisbury.com/
Currently underway are many projects for our wonderful client Baytree School, who are based in Worle. Baytree School is a specialist school for children and young people who have severe learning difficulties and/or profound and multiple learning difficulties. We are rebuilding their website on to our latest WordPress system, so that the website is easy to maintain and kept up to date. Currently underway are some huge graphic design projects, including a large wall mural and signage around the school. The staff at Bay Tree School are the most wonderfully kind people and we are blessed to work with such inspiring people.
https://www.baytreeschool.co.uk/
We could not miss one of our longest standing customers, who have been with us for 15 years. Springfield Supplies & Projects are based in Thornbury and create exceptional learning spaces from concept to completion for their clients. Over the years, Springfield have seen huge growth and we have been so privileged to have been a big part of their journey. They are a fine example of a company that works incredibly hard on their branding. They keep us busy every week of the year so that they can keep delivering their message to their clients by way of email campaigns, brochures, flyers, email signatures, business stationery, catalogues and much more.
https://www.springfieldeducationalfurniture.co.uk/
A truly delightful customer that always makes us smile, AmicusLaw Solicitors. After working with AmicusLaw for many years now, we have spent the past year working on their brand new custom-built WordPress website. We’ve worked hard with the staff at AmicusLaw to design and build a website that incorporates their story, tone of voice, personality and of course, one that looks professional. It sits on an easy-to-use backend system that the team at AmicusLaw will love using. We would like to thank AmicusLaw for trusting us with all your branding, graphic design, and website requirements. You are always such fun to work with and make every project run so smoothly.
It wouldn’t be right not to mention our wonderful client Sopha. Sopha is a furniture store that aims to be different. We’re incredibly proud to have been the creators of the Sopha brand for their fabulous furniture store in Highbridge, Somerset. The team allow us to work from a blank canvas and to be as creative as possible.
We have worked with Sopha from start up, beginning with their logo and following on through to all marketing literature. From brochures, catalogues, flyers, leaflets, Christmas cards, stationery, signage, menus, adverts, through to a custom-built WordPress ecommerce website.
Public Practice Recruitment provide a recruitment service specialising in accountancy and audit positions all over the United Kingdom. The owner is dedicated, driven and focused. A true inspiration. We have a wonderful relationship with Public Practice Recruitment, and they are a joy to work with. We’ve had the pleasure of building them a new WordPress recruitment website and working on email templates and email signatures. We can’t wait to see what is in store for 2022.
https://www.publicpracticerecruitment.co.uk/
We are proud to work with our local Town Council. Burnham-on-Sea & Highbridge Town Council is the local authority for the two towns of Burnham-on-Sea & Highbridge. It is the third tier of local government after Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor District Council. The team are wonderful to work with and we always look forward to an email from them. We had the pleasure of designing and building them a new WordPress website and work hard to keep it safe, maintained and up to date.
https://burnham-highbridge-tc.gov.uk/
Finally, we had to mention the amazing Nornen Project. A professional, theatrical show about the wrecking of the Nornen in 1897 and the rescue of the crew and their dog. Led by Producer Corrinne Curtis. We were given a blank canvas to work our magic on a new logo design for the Nornen Project and posters to advertise the project. Honestly, could our job get any better!
https://www.facebook.com/NornenProject/
We have so many more businesses we would love to mention, but we will keep doing this within our #ThankyouThursday posts. Thank you to every business that has worked with us during this past year, we are truly grateful and inspired by you all.
Looking forward…
We are working hard to refine and review how we can improve our service and services to our customers. We have many exciting projects booked in for 2022, all of which you can watch out for on our social media channels.
We are also investing money into office improvements to benefit our customers and staff.
We would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Keep healthy and be safe.
If you would like to talk to us about how we can help you, please send us an email to info@designhive.co.uk or call 01278 783273.
