Creating Media Work - Purple Shoots
19/11/2013
Author: Creating Media Team
Creating Media are just in the process of finalising a very exciting project for Purple Shoots – a new start-up. Purple Shoots have an angel investor, and are loaning out small amounts of the money to start-up businesses across South Wales, as well as offering business mentoring to really get the businesses on their feet.
It was such a great idea, and Karen, the brains behind the business, and Bob Shepherd, her business partner, were so fantastic to work with and passionate about the project that we really couldn’t wait to get cracking!
We began, as usual, with the logo design, establishing the visual direction for the rest of the project to take. From the first round of concepts, the client really love the flower design – so much so we only made one small tweak at the meeting and it was signed off as the final logo! They were also taken with the grass element from one of the other logo concepts, so we decided to incorporate this as a design feature throughout the rest of the project. The colour scheme naturally fell into a purple and green pattern, linking up with the business name and the idea of fresh new beginnings and growth (green has a link with nature and plants which gets summoned up subconsciously), as well as doing things a little differently (purple is often seen as a quirky colour).
The next stage was a full office-load of business stationery. Letterheads, compliment slips and business cards were all created in the same great visual style as the logo, and then sent to print. As the website address was now being promoted, we needed to provide a simple, yet elegant, holding page for Purple Shoots as well, promising that the website would be coming soon.
The next stage was the biggy – the website design. Purple Shoots was our favourite kind of client – who sent all the text over for the website in advance of the design, meaning we knew exactly what to work with and could just crack on with what we do best – the design. We stuck with the purple and white theme, with the grassy element along the bottom. We also commissioned our in-house illustrator to provide 4 lovely, playful images to illustrate the 4 key ideas behind Purple Shoots. These really help to make the brand feel friendly and approachable, unlike a big scary bank. This was the main idea behind the brand, lending money when others won’t. As Karen is also active on social media, we included a twitter feed across the website, and a blog for her to update with her views on various current affairs, business and finance. This again helps to get across the personality and friendly human element behind the business – making it more approachable.
The final stage was a range of promotional materials to help Purple Shoots get their name out there at networking and business shows. We designed a pull-up banner stand and double-sided promotional postcard to attract new potential business start-ups to take out the much-needed loan they need to give them that final push.
Purple Shoots have been a fantastic client to work with start to finish, and a brilliant idea to help people start businesses and community projects in an area that really needs the help.
