Hoffi: Branding, Brand Communications and Digital.

Christmas - Secret Santa

2009-12-17T11:01:00.001Z

Today we did our Secret Santa's. I think everyone was suitably impressed with their gifts.

Hoffi last day in 2009

2009-12-14T15:32:00.002Z

Our last day this year will be on the Friday 18th December and we will be coming back on the 4th of January. It's been a really challenging year for us, but one that we have been fortunate to be involved in some great projects. We have launched a number of new brands through our strategy and identity services. Also digitally we have managed to design and build a number of websites that have been hugely successful in terms of traffic and also through the development of technology involved. 2010 is going to be a big year for Hoffi as we already have a number of projects that are set to start as soon as we get back. We have also got a number of other ventures that we will all be working on over the next year.

Finally for all you Welsh speakers out there. Our very own Elin Williams will be on Wedi 7 talking about her passion for embroidery. Hope everyone has a great festive season and we will see you in the New Year. If you want to contact us before the 18th then please feel free to.

Wyeverne Electrical advertisement

2009-12-11T11:41:00.002Z

It's been a long week but we finally managed to get some shots of some branding and advertising for Wyeverne Electrical. We used a shop front on North Road, Cardiff to advertise the flagship store in Roath, Cardiff. Not 100% finished yet but getting there.

Eco Network event - Central Library

2009-12-09T12:23:00.003Z

I went with Elin to the third Eco Network event at Cardiff Central Library, yesterday. The event is an ongoing project by Ecodesign Centre, the design community and the Welsh Assembly Government with the ultimate goal of moving towards sustainability in the future. This event was based around a workshop facilitated by Ed Gillespie from Futerra.

By future projecting ten years into the future we looked internally at our own companies to see how the practice of designing may change. When I first started envisaging this I was thinking flying cars, aliens that kind of thing. But then when you look back ten years not a lot of fundamental changes have taken place. For sure things have got faster and there are many more channels of information but it still seems not that far removed. I will post some images of the event when Ecodesign centre release them.

Hoffi and National Theatre Wales website get a bit of press

2009-11-25T12:11:00.003Z

We were delighted to be told that we are on Creative Review's blog with a great article about the design of National Theatre Wales website this week. We also got a write up on creative match and we have just published a case study on drupal to get feedback on the technical aspects of the project.

Chapter Launch

2009-11-25T11:47:00.004Z

Me and Carwyn managed to get out to the re-launch of Chapter Arts Centre last night. It was absolutely packed and as ever a great place to people watch. There were a number of performances both dance and music and the traditional speeches. We also had some free cup cakes which were been handed around by one of our clients soft spot. Although the Centre has been open for a number of weeks before the launch the feeling was a real celebration atmosphere and to be honest it seems like they are going to need to make it even bigger as it seems to be getting more and more popular.

Cardiff University Sustainability week

2009-11-20T15:44:00.006Z

It's nearing the end of Cardiff Universities first sustainability week. At Hoffi we were approached to produce the Online quiz for the weeks events. As someone who is interested in the issues of sustainability I also managed to get to the debate 'eating our way to sustainability'. The event was well attended with some very high profile people on the debating panel. Consisting; Jane Davidson, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability & Housing, Steve Garrett, Chair of Riverside Community Market Association and Dr Pam Robinson, School of Social Sciences to name a few. It was set up in a Question Time style but as with Question Time we seemed to run out of time very quickly, just as it was getting interesting.

The event itself was good, but I think the thing I took most out of it, was a comment from Steve Garrett, when talking about Social Enterprises. He spoke very passionately about how these enterprises have to make money so they are sustainable. Rather than relying on funding, they have to be commercially viable schemes above all else otherwise they shouldn't be done. This reinforced my recent thoughts on work I have been working on with ARK and something I am glad people are beginning to accept and openly talk about rather than being vague about the commercial nature of the projects.

10 Feet Tall Photoshoot

2009-11-19T17:06:00.003Z

Following on from Julian's post in September, I finally managed to get down to 10 Feet Tall to take pictures of all the new brand communications we designed for them. We will have a case study up soon on our website, but for now I will leave you with one teaser photograph.

Huge

2009-11-19T13:14:00.005Z

I came across this from unclesomebodies blog. I really love this picture as the double take effect is great. Hope you enjoy the majestic tree.

A bit of physics never looked so cool

2009-11-18T16:06:00.003Z

As you have probably guessed through our recent blogs on the Hoffi and through our independent blogs we have been getting more and more interested in Augmented Reality and what it can do. I think for me personally it's the idea of 'real time' and how only a few years ago it would take hours for these things to render let alone play within a real environment. I came across this one recently and just liked the simple nature of the look and feel but also how integral physics and the making by drawing is still part and parcel of the process.

different perspectives

2009-11-17T15:01:00.000Z

CHOP CUP from :weareom: on Vimeo.

PSP game turns to augmented reality

2009-11-16T13:27:00.002Z

NTW - launches event programme and website

2009-11-05T16:35:00.004Z

Well it's been one of the busiest weeks in the studio ever. We have been racing to get the National Theatre Wales destination website launched in conjunction with linking it to the live streaming of the event programme to the world. There were moments of doubt but it all seems to be running smoothly now and the launch of the programme seems to have been well received by the press. The online social community that has been nurtured by National Theatre Wales and Native, has also been responding to the launch and the destination website, which has been great. With one commenting:

"Well done John, Lucy, Lesa and all the NTW team. An amazing programme, a beautiful looking website, and all the technology worked!"

It has been a great project to work on. The team assembled by National Theatre Wales have all managed to collaborate together in a very proactive fun way.

Thanks to NTW, Lesa from stop the pigeon, Elfen for working on the brand, Native for developing the online community. We hope that this can be used as a great case study to show how creative teams can work together in a collaborative way. I also got a great coffee which helped the tired eyes.

May you live in interesting times - Maker Faire texting and unConference

2009-10-27T12:31:00.007Z

Along with Cardiff Design Festival taking place during October there is also another festival called May you live in interesting times which has been set up by Bloc and supported by Chapter. I visited last friday and attended the unConference and a few other events during the day.

May you live in interesting times - Maker Faire texting and semaphore, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

May you live in interesting times - unConference, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

ignite - Wales Millennium Centre (WMC)

2009-10-27T12:22:00.002Z

It's been a busy few weeks for us during the Festival and it has taken me a bit of time to catch up. We all went to the ignite event a few weeks ago. A great event which was held in the WMC. My favourite was the guy in the picture below who spoke about how to keep chickens in the urban jungle. I loved the format and would definitely be interested in giving it a go in the future. Now I just have to think about a subject. Any ideas?

ignite - wales millennium Centre, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

New York, New York

2009-10-21T15:29:00.013+01:00

I have returned from New York and have finally got around to uploading some of the Photographs I took on my travels. So through a combination of 5 Airport Security checks, sore legs and feet, 10 very long queues and a few hot dogs to keep me going, below is a selection of my photographs.

Pier on Liberty Island, originally uploaded by Carwyn Lloyd Jones - Dylunio Creadigol.

Central Park View from Rocafella Center, originally uploaded by Carwyn Lloyd Jones - Dylunio Creadigol.

View from Rocafella Center, originally uploaded by Carwyn Lloyd Jones - Dylunio Creadigol.

Subway Car, originally uploaded by Carwyn Lloyd Jones - Dylunio Creadigol.

Inside Guggenheim Museum, originally uploaded by Carwyn Lloyd Jones - Dylunio Creadigol.

Guggenheim Museum, originally uploaded by Carwyn Lloyd Jones - Dylunio Creadigol.

NakedWales Pub Quiz

2009-10-21T14:05:00.005+01:00

After a lot of preparation the NakedWales Pub Quiz took place this week at Gwdihw, Cardiff. We had a great turn out and the winning team donated their winnings to the Heart foundation. There are loads more images of the night of my flickr account. We had some really good feedback about the evening and are considering making it a regular event, if any one out there has any ideas of what we should do in terms of games etc let us know at hello@nakedwales.com. We had a great mix of people from photographers, designers, lecturers to students and set designers.

NakedWales Pub Quiz, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

Brands and their associates

2009-10-15T15:08:00.005+01:00

When Hoffi was first setup I was really getting into networks and looking into how the many are stronger than the one. Nearly four years later we are about to see if the theory is correct. Over the years our work with NakedWales, Cardiff Design Festival, and AberdareOnline have been centred around community and giving people the opportunity to improve their knowledge and contacts. More recently Hoffi has been working more in a consultancy role using strategy and facilitating projects.

As a brand, Hoffi has many people who have experienced us on differing projects and in different ways. So we thought, if there are all these people who we have worked with us. They are unlikely to have met, so why don't we arrange a way of joining them together? We are now in the process of setting up an after hours network for our clients. We hope by setting up the network we can encourage clients to aire their issues and frustrations and maybe find people who can help them out with new projects. For us it is a great way of including them within the Hoffi culture and we hope that we will create deeper relationships with them.

We will be setting the network up over the next few months so we will keep you informed. Now all we need is a name.

UWIC - live brief

2009-10-13T21:31:00.003+01:00

The beginning of this week saw a group of students from UWIC visit us. They came to discuss a 'live' project that they have been working on for the last few weeks. This is the third time we have been involved in these 'live' projects and it is always great to see the different people that turn up. This year has been slightly different in that we have not set the brief, but have been asked to mentor them in the development of their projects. After speaking to Olwen, the idea of people working as groups rather than having everyone produce designs seemed to reflect the way studio's work in the real world, for experiencing it first hand I also believe the project has been beneficial for the students who have become less precious with their work.

Presentations are going to be this friday so fingers crossed for my group.

WonderCulture Designers Market

2009-10-09T13:05:00.004+01:00

Our friends at WonderCulture are holding another one of their Designer Markets this weekend. So if you are in the Canton area check them out. There is also going to be a chance to see the newly refurbished restaurant area of Chapter see more details here.

Be Kinded

2009-10-09T09:30:00.005+01:00

I came across this recently via the springwise website. As a branding company that works with various types of clients we believe that no matter what the size of the business their brands should be about people rather than profit. The goal is for brands to do the right thing on a social level. This is born out of the growing power of the customer and how they are now becoming the controllers of peoples brands. The internet gives people a platform to instantly aire views and news about a brand which can be positive but also negative. If companies are not going to concentrate on being centred around people rather than traditional business models, we feel they may well go by the wayside.

The Kinded project setup in NY is a lovely idea about making or rather reminding people to do random acts of kindness. It reminds me a lot of Danny Wallace and his Join Me project where he created in his own words 'a cult by accident' that centred around various do good endeavours including a be good to elderly gentlemen on a friday.

NakedWales - Pub Quiz

2009-10-06T18:54:00.004+01:00

There are some great events happening during the Cardiff Design Festival, among them is the NakedWales Pub Quiz – which we will be organising on the 19th of October. We hope everyone comes and has a great time.

Language is key to our success

2009-09-29T14:04:00.006+01:00

Having worked for a number of years on the development of multi-language brand communications, we have recently launched a piece that we are very happy with and wanted to share with you. We have been interested in the 3D images for a long time and have been thinking of a way we can work it into one of our promotional pieces. The piece discusses the story of branding and launches our seminar series. We used the 3D glasses to also divide language up which we feel really challenges the interactivity of the printed medium. What do you think?

3D poster of our cow

The jumbled back side

English in focus

Welsh in focus

If you are interested in getting you hands on one of our posters get in touch by emailing us shwmai@hoffi.com

Growing strength of social media

2009-09-29T09:24:00.001+01:00

Cardiff Design Festival Shortlist

2009-09-28T20:55:00.003+01:00

The launch of Cardiff Design Festival is only a few days away, and we have been notified that we have been shortlisted for three of our projects in this years awards. This year we have been very lucky to work on a number of great projects. All of them have been very challenging and we are delighted that they have been recognised by our peers. You can see the shortlist of this years design pieces on the Cardiff Design Festival Website.