The Media Collective

We have just succesfully finished another busy summer period, having completed the design and installation of several large projects.  One of these was at Grace Academy Coventry (pictured) where we helped transform the site with the use of over four hundred inspirational, display and directional signs.  Working with, and developing their established brand identity, the project was completed on time and on budget and everyone involved is very happy with the results.  Alongside this, we designed and supplied a number of print collatoral and stationery items.

Things have not slowed down for us though and we are currently working on several large display & signage projects.  Our design department is also working on some branding and film projects that we are excited about.

On top of all of that we are progressing with our rebrand, which is nearing completion (it keeps being sidelined in favour of working on our clients’ projects) and we are all looking forward to rolling it out in due course.  We hope it goes down well!

One thing that we are most excited about is that we have just applied for planning permission for the development of some new office premises in Coleshill and hope to be commencing the construction later in the year.   This new development will give us more spacious, purpose-built development that enables us to still combine our design studio and print facility on one site. The site itself enjoys better access and we trust that it will provide a better base of operations for all areas of our expanding business.

Our business roadmap says that we want to be a company that is generous; both with our hard earned cash and with our time.  As part of this we have been helping out with National Designers in School Week.  We spent the day on Monday taking Graphics lessons in Hartshill School (one of our recent clients), where we talked to students about the rebranding process that we did for the school last year, and worked with them on a fast-paced brainstorm and brand exercise that was a lot of fun!

We also chatted to the students about how we work, what we think of design and were thrilled to discover a real enthusiasm from many of the students both in the area of design, but also for business.  Some of the questions that they threw at us were really intelligent and showed an eagerness to understand both what will make them employable and what it takes to run a design studio.  We were privileged to have been able to be a part of that process for them.

We are now already planning to go back into the school to run some business study lessons.

Price reduction

While everyone seems to be increasing prices at the moment, we are happy to announce that we have just significantly reduced the prices of all our substrates (foamex, alu panel and correx) across the board. It’s just another of the ways that show our commitment to offering an excellent service to all our customers.

More options

We have also updated our online calculator to include 10mm and 19mm foamex, which increases the number of products that you can quote yourself. Get an instant online quote now.

We have just helped launch a new website that we are really excited about: lovecov.com. The site has been launched as a springboard for a much more expansive philosophy and we will be helping to shape and develop this over the upcoming months and (hopefully) years. The site is aimed (as it’s name suggests) at the city of Coventry, and is supported by an ongoing marketing campaign, which includes billboards, beer mats in pubs, radio broadcasts and other initiatives, which we are also working on.

Although the site is for Coventry, the concept is for everywhere, so why not check it out. If you live in or near Coventry then sign up and get involved - it will be a great thing to be a part of. If you are not in Coventry then why not bring the philosophy to your home, workplace, college, town or city….

Congratulations to Hannah Rich from London, who sent in the winning idea for our re-brand competition. We liked the simplicity of the concept and thought that it showed a perfect progression of our existing brand. We will unveil it to the world just as soon as we have worked out how to apply it to all of our publicity and communication.

In the mean time, a cheque for £500 is on it’s way to Hannah for her efforts. Thank you to everyone else who participated, with a special mention to Nathan Spicer for his design, which really caught our attention.

After an extensive period of testing a range of new indoor materials for our HP printer we have now updated our online digital print calculator to reflect them.  You can now get prices for our most popular indoor and outdoor medias at the push of a button.

Don’t forget to get in touch for prices on any other media that is not listed, for any discounts available on large volume orders, or for bespoke production work you have; we will be more than happy to discuss any specific requirements you have.

Happy Christmas to all.

We hope that as you relax and enjoy whatever holiday you have you find time to spend with the people that matter most to you this year.

We will be closing our design office from 1pm on Friday 21st December and re-opening on Thursday 3rd January. Our digital print facility will re-open on Monday 7th January.

Help us re-brand and earn yourself £500

The Media Collective is calling all freelance designers and general creative types to help them with its identity crisis. If you can conceive the brand that best represents us you will win our respect and admiration, a sense of great pride, and also, five hundred smackers for the trouble.

Download the pdf brief form for more details.

Competition Brief

With the recent rise in our workload we recently decided to find ourselves another designer, who would not only be another pair of hands but would also compliment our existing skill set. We are pleased to say we found just the man. The recent arrival of Andy has meant that we can take on the extra work and still have time to sit around in our large, leather armchairs by the fire, thinking up punchy concepts while discussing the latest marketing and design trends. Yes, having Andy on board is excellent…

We have recently increased our digital print capacity by taking on a brand new large-format UV stable printer.  Capable of producing crisp, near photo-quality images for indoor use our new industry-standard Hewlett Packard is a welcome addition to our range, allowing us to provide a better service to all of our customers.

We are excited about  it’s ability to deliver posters, art boards, photo enlargements, roller banners, exhibition prints and a host of other high quality indoor print solutions faster and at better print quality than we have previously been able to deliver.

Of course this means that Ben has to work harder.  But don’t worry, we are taking on extra staff so that we won’t skip a beat.