Branding – it’s a tough task to get right for the average SME. Transitioning your thinking from visuals alone to understanding that branding is everything (from the tone of voice through to ethos and values) demands time and careful consideration. And just when you thought you’d made it through the quagmire of branding, along comes consumer change and new branding trends. This change is inevitable – and it should be embraced (if only for the fact that it can’t be avoided). What’s more, along with change comes opportunity. So here we look to the future – the next 12 months of it – exploring the challenges and opportunities for your SME brand – whether you see them as challenge or opportunity, depends very much on your mindset.
Kim
How to Grow Your Business With A Marketing Plan
Marketing plans, an often over looked utility by some businesses, can help you grow your business because they provide a clear set of objectives, making sure all that is done is not done in vain. It is crucial these days, that businesses develop such plans, not only to stay competitive but also to respond accordingly … Read more
10 Web Design Trends to Watch In 2017
The New Year has arrived, and as the Christmas period begins to feel further and further away, we’re cheering ourselves up with the many exciting things to come over the next 12 months. Here we dig into the upcoming trends, design approaches and changes that are soon to come to the world of web design. … Read more
Working with SIFA
We had the pleasure of working with SIFA Fireside for this project. Creating them a brochure explaining their services and opportunities for homeless people. Start Firstly a meeting was arranged with SIFA Fireside to establish what exactly they wanted and expected of us. Drafts were made of potential ideas and their current styling. We went … Read more
Branding. What’s the true cost of getting it wrong?
Branding. It’s a word that all too often gets confused with things such as a logo design, colour palettes, brochure design or, well, just plain old pretty pictures. Yet branding, in actuality, is far more than any of these single elements. Sure, it can be said to involve all of them – but at its most fundamental level, branding is what … Read more
From first time blog visitor to firm fan – Seven tips
Let’s face it, driving traffic to your blog can be challenging, demanding much time, effort and, if you invest in PPC, money. Once your visitors have arrived, you’ll want to make the most out of every first-time reader and (ideally) ensure that they come back for more. Here are seven tips to ensure you achieve … Read more
Most of your website visitors don’t trust you. Here’s how to turn it around.
Website visitors are seriously tricky customers – filled with mistrust and arriving with a protective defence that’s been built from years of digital marketing messages being thrust at them from every angle. Add to this the fact that the average website visitor settles on a first impression of your company within a seemingly impossible time … Read more
Squibble’s CEO scoops Young Entrepreneur Award
Squibble’s CEO scoops Young Entrepreneur Award Kim Leary, CEO of Birmingham based Squibble Ltd, has been named Young Entrepreneur. She beat off several competitors to win the prestigious award at the Forward Ladies Women in Business Awards. The Awards took place on the 28th September at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Birmingham, before an audience … Read more
Advanced UI Animations
UI Animations make the web experience more interesting, interactive and entertaining and with the use of modern web technologies are being used more and more. HTML5 has meant that animations can now be easily seen across all devices and can be scaled to any screen.
The Future of the VR Web Experience
With the launch of hardware like the Oculus Rift, 2016 is the year VR (Virtual Reality) is finally coming home. VR is already being used in the tech industry with press conferences being streamed in VR and being hosted on VR social networks such as AltspaceVR. VR is going to have a huge impact in … Read more
The Repetition of UI Patterns
One of the side effects of responsive design has meant that a lot of sites look similar and we are seeing repetition of UI Patterns. Responsive design isn’t solely to blame however. The huge rise of WordPress sites and the booming WordPress the me market has also contributed to it.Having a similar look and layout … Read more
Responsive Web Design
Not long ago, websites were typically designed for laptop and desktop screen resolutions. This worked fine until the advent of web capable smart phones and tablets. Responsive Web Design is becoming more and more popular due to the rise of mobile internet usage, in fact it’s now becoming less of a trend and more of a … Read more
Why the name change?
Recently we found ourselves in a bit of a quandary and it has led to some changes, so please read on… When I first started my little business it was quite aptly named Kimberley-Jane Design and for good reason. In my view it did what it said on the tin. It was just me, in my office, … Read more
Why Social Media Buttons Don’t Work!
Most people creating a new website will ask me at some point where the social media buttons will go. But is sticking the same tired and gaudy social buttons on every page of our new website really the best way? Here’s why we don’t think so. Distraction When creating a website it’s considered best practice … Read more
We Are Hiring!
Do you have what it takes to join our small but vibrant team? We are currently recruiting for a Junior Designer – please view and apply via Indeed https://www.indeed.co.uk/ We look forward to receiving your application. Closing Date 29 January 2015
How to become an authority in your industry
You know those people in your industry that always seams to get it right every time and they seems to catch the spot light perfectly at all the events they attend. They are always interviewed, featured, quoted, and applauded for their innovative ideas, thinking and they are referred to as industry experts. How on earth … Read more
Top tips for how to make your brochure more effective
Ever wondered how you can make your product, company or internal newsletter more effective? Read this article, and we will provide you with a few good, and necessary tools to make your brochure stand out and get a high customer respond. You need to understand your customers First of all, like any other marketing activity … Read more
What makes an effective logo?
It is said that a logo is worth their weight in gold, due to how they are revealing a company’s brand and values instantly. There are so many good logos out there, but likewise there are so many bad ones. How to make sure your logo is in the good category, there are a few … Read more
How to Create a website that Maximizes Your Brand Identity
Amazing web design is not enough if you want your website to be successful. The key to a successful web design is that it needs to reflect your brand identity, through the colours, text, images, navigation and everything else you choose to use. Think that when someone goes on your website for the first time, you want them to … Read more
Brand vs. Identity vs. Logo – What’s the difference?
A brand or you could say branding, mainly refers to the perceived image and subsequent emotional response to a company, its products and services. Additionally, it also represents the individual conversations that customers have with each other about the company. This is called word of mouth (WOM). The Branding Journal defines a brand as: “A … Read more
Essential Elements of an Effective Call-to-Action
Developing effective call to action campaigns is difficult, to get you on the right track we have gathered a few tips that is essential when aiming to developing an effective call-to-action campaign. Use Actionable Language Using verbs like `discover, unearth, find` instead of ones like `be smarter`. You should be empowering your readers to click on your … Read more
Psychology of Colour in Logo Design
We are all familiar with the power of colours: Colours convey messages, evoke emotions and add brilliance to everyday things. As a result, colour plays a big part in logos. A logo wants to grab your attention away from other logos, and say “look at me!”. This is communicated through the use of form and … Read more
How to use a website to strengthen a brand
Some might argue that branding can be described as `the most valuable fixed asset of a corporation`, and this can be seen as true in the light of the highly competitive market today. Take Apple for example, their branding is so effective by how they have built their fortunes on their incredible valuable and attractive … Read more
Designing a Brand Identity
One of the most interesting and challenging projects we, as graphic designers, work on is designing a logo and brand identity. It is exciting but challenging.The client has a clear (ahem sometimes) vision and image of how they want their brand to be represented. Our job is to transform those thoughts into a tangible piece of … Read more
Digital Marketing Trends You Need To Know
There are many different digital marketing trends out there, and it is easy to get them mixed up and a bit confused about which one best meets your needs. Fear not, we have gathered a few of the most important Digital Marketing trends in 2015. Use it as a checklist or a wish list in … Read more
Web Design Trends you can expect to see more of in 2015
he graphic design industry is continuously evolving, and as a result new trends are constantly influencing the industry, and staying on top of what is in and what is out is sometimes overwhelming. Fear not, we have had a closer look at the predicted hottest web design trends for 2015 and are excited to share … Read more
Top apps for events
App reviews: Events Make events easy with these top apps Whether you are attending, running or giving a speech at an event, these apps are all worth adding to your phone or computer right now! They help make the process of creating, attending or talking at an event a lot easier. Eventbrite Price: free … Read more
Social media: should I post now?
When should you post? Early risers and late night searchers- what to post to get the attention of your audience Social media is a wonderful tool, it allows you to market to a huge number of people for free, but it can be difficult to work out exactly when you should be posting. If you … Read more
How to make pop-up boxes less irritating.
No one likes to click and a site and immediately be bombarded with pop-up boxes demanding their attention. But so many sites use these pop-ups to advertise their newsletters, offers and much more (even we do!) so they must work. In this article we are going to look into how to create a non annoying pop up … Read more
Natwest Small Business Awards 2014
I know I was not alone this morning when I skipped into the office clutching our finalist certificate for the highly acclaimed Venus Awards. I am thrilled to announce that last night (7th October) we were named as one of three finalists for the Natwest Small Business Award. The ceremony was held at the magical Botanical Gardens in … Read more
How to design a memorable business card.
A business card acts as a reminder to your contacts of who you are and what company you work for. Your business card should be sharing the information that is most important for people to know about your business. But a business card can also tell someone how to perceive you and your company. Does it … Read more
How to turn Contacts in Customers
You’ve successfully gained a huge number of twitter followers, your mailing list is bulging at the seams, but this doesn’t seem to be translating into sales. What’s going wrong? You may be spending too much time focusing on growing your contacts and not enough time on what you send to them. Or adding people to your … Read more
How has website design changed?
These days we expect every website we visit to be elegant, easy to use and informative. We are used to clever graphics and beautiful images and can be harsh when it But when the web began websites looked a little different. In this post I will look into how websites has changed and improved over … Read more
How to design a great E-Commerce site
Your E-commerce website is your virtual shop, it must greet people with a warm welcome, show them exactly what is on offer and be easy to navigate. It needs to convert online visitors into paying customers, especially if you are selling solely online. Here are our tips for designing a brilliant e-commerce site: Navigation It’s … Read more
Is Printed media a waste of money?
We recently launched our new magazine, ENGAGE… for success. We decided to publish an online and printed version. But does anyone really take any notice printed media these days? Did we do the right thing printing our magazine? We were curious, so we looked into how successful printed media is in today’s internet-focused, social media filled world. … Read more
Contact forms vs Contact details
Do you need your contact details on your website? Or is it simpler to have a contact form? Many websites (especially stores) have removed their contact details in favour of a contact form. Customers are asked to enter their message and trust in blind faith that somebody will respond after it has disappeared into the websphere, but … Read more
Is Email Marketing still important?
Emails are being overtaken by social media, right? Wrong. Most businesses still connect through emails. Social media is great for marketing and targeting new customers, especially when trying to reach a new younger demographic. But email communication is still vital for businesses and can be a great way to capture the attention of potential new … Read more
It’s been 4 years!
4 years ago on May 14th 2010, our website went live! Our website has changed quite a bit since the first edition we launched and I can tell you it’s been a busy 4 years! I’m sure your’s has too?! Website designs have changed, styles have come in and out of fashion and techniques have improved since we … Read more
The importance of local marketing.
These days many more business owners realise the importance of focusing on what their local area has to offer, whether that be through locally sourced products, people or service providers. The use of hyperlocal marketing campaigns is growing with large corporations sometimes branching out or even disguising themselves as smaller, home-grown companies to appeal to … Read more
The importance of strong foundations
Without strong foundations, a house can crack and collapse. Similarly, a website can begin to break apart without the right foundations. Here are the key foundations for a strong website: Domain name: Not necessarily your company name. When deciding upon your domain name, think about what people will type into Google to find your company … Read more
We’ve moved!
We’ve moved! After a week of squeezing desks through doorways, struggling to carry chairs down stairs and finally deciding where everything should go we have successfully moved into our new office! The journey may not have been that long (the old office is just upstairs), but it was well worth it. Our new office is … Read more
We wait with baited breath…
There’s been a lot of excitement in the office today as our MD, Kimberley Leary, has been shortlisted for the ‘Future Face of Business’ award, so lots of big cheers and claps all round! These coveted awards recognise the West Midlands’ most inspiring people and organisations that play a vital role in business today recommended … Read more
How to Create an Engaging Brand Experience
Developing an effective marketing campaign is much about setting a clear focus on goals as it is with creative execution. It all starts with understanding what you aim to get out of the campaign and using this as a motivational factor behind the showcase. Without a clear understanding of your objectives, it not only reduces … Read more
How to Increase Employee Motivation
Employee motivation is an important aspect of business development and without it, businesses would lack the drive needed for substantial productivity. 1. Collaborate Goals Working with employees to help set and develop work-based goals is an invaluable motive. Individual goals differ and each person has their own interpretation of what it is to reach self-actualisation. … Read more
How to Think Like a Successful Brand
You know who they are. They are the brands which dominant the market place, guarding their territory from new entrants with high levels of brand equity. Everyone knows who they are and it was once said that the Mc Donald’s logo in particular was more recognisable than the Holy Cross in some Countries . … Read more
What is Good User Interface Design?
So just what is user interface design and why is it a golden path to website success? User interface design may be seen as a customer focused approach which lends itself to ensuring that all that is done on a website is done with the customer in mind. This may include helping website visitors to … Read more
The Pleasures of Holistic Branding
So just what are the pleasures of holistic branding? Well from a customers’ perspective, holistic branding equates to brands, which are easily recognisable, consistent in their brand activities and brands which make no confusion about just what it is they stand for. Holistic branding from a business perspective maintains the ‘espirit de corps’ of the organisation, making sure … Read more
Website Design for Business
Website design has come leaps and bounds since it was first made commercially available, way back in the 1990’s. Today the webpage holds a lot of weight, as the one single place where information is transformed into an easily accessible matrix of links. In a business sense, the web page has become the central location … Read more
What is Digital Marketing?
What is Digital Marketing? Digital marketing can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, depending on how it used and what it is used for. Marketing agencies, which specialise in offering digital marketing services often use terminology, which may seem alien to the average business owner but with a little … Read more
Stop the Press! Stars of 2013
I am very proud and honoured to have been named ‘Business person of the Year 2013’ from the Tamworth Herald. It’s fantastic to receive such an accolade and have all my hard work recognised. Of course it wouldn’t be possible without the support of my team, networks, family and friends! Here is the story taken … Read more
Support for the Future Faces of Birmingham
Our MD, Kimberley Leary, was today named Executive Committee Board Member for Future Faces. Her appointment will help to drive support for it’s young members and provide individuals with the skills required to develop their career. Future Faces gives our young work force the training and networking capabilities required to succeed in the city. Kimberley … Read more
Does Britain Embrace its Entrepreneurial Spirit? (Survey Results)
So finally, ladies and gentlemen, the long awaited survey results are here. We asked whether Britain was embracing its entrepreneurial spirit and results came back with a conclusive ‘yes’. This was mainly attributed to an emergence of new opportunities and the ability to spread brand awareness through the likes of social media. The survey was … Read more
Proud Sponsors of the Networking Awards 2014
At the beginning of the year we were celebrating with a glass of champagne (or two) as Squibble Ltd received double honours. We were named Events/Promotions Business of the Year and received Highly Commended Business of the Year in the start up category. On the evening of the ceremony I pledged to sponsor our winning … Read more
A New Intern-Ship has Arrived
Three reoccurring words, which enter my mind when applying for new vacancy’s are ‘experience, experience and experience’, AAAAAARGH! Though I value the need for experience and realize that an overhaul of theoretical knowledge alone would not cut the mustard, so to speak, my question has always been how can we (as graduates) gain experience … Read more
We’re looking for an intern!
We are looking for an intern to join our team. If you want to work in a fast paced environment then send your CV today. Ideally we are looking for a marketing student. Working closely alongside the Marketing Team, you’ll be responsible for the production of marketing campaigns to effectively organise market research, collate printed … Read more
What to consider when having your logo designed?
A logo brings recognition and awareness to a business, the face of your business and the first initial impression that potential clients will see. It is your unique identity. Considerations for a logo design: 1.Who is your target audience? Who is it we are designing a logo for? (Consider the age, gender, income, employment and lifestyle … Read more
How do colours affect purchases?
How do colours affect purchases? Colour and Branding Colour increases brand recognition by 80%. Why is this important? If we recognise a brand we instantly connect with their values thus increasing consumer confidence and a quicker purchasing decision. BOOM! Do you still think colours have no impact? Intelligence, Light, Organisation Yellow is the colour most … Read more
Welcome to our new intern
We would like to introduce Lauren Mills to the team. Lauren will be with us two days a week and she has already become an integral part of the team. She has produced some fantastic artwork and we are excited to see what else Lauren has up her sleeves. If you’d like to say hi … Read more
We are now a limited company
We are excited to announce that Kimberley-Jane Design has taken the next step and is now a limited company. We would like to thank our current and past clients for your continued support. Exciting times ahead. Please update your records and make a note of our new bank details. Sort Code: 60-21-50 Account Number: 60235683 … Read more
Kimberley-Jane Design receives 2 honours at Business Networking Awards 2013
Successful local businesswoman, Kimberley-Jane Turrell, was delighted to receive two honours at the finals of the Tamworth, Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield Business Networking Awards 2013. Tamworth based business, Kimberley-Jane Design, attended the Awards ceremony on Saturday 24th January, winning the ‘Promotions Business of the Year’ Award, and being Highly Commended for the prestigious ‘Business of … Read more
TAMWORTH BUSINESS EARNS TWO AWARD NOMINATIONS
Successful local businesswoman, Kimberley-Jane Turrell, has been named a double finalist at the Tamworth, Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield Business Networking Awards 2013. Tamworth based business, Kimberley-Jane Design, has reached the final stages of two business awards: Business of the Year and Events/Promotions Business of the Year. Kimberley-Jane spoke about being a twice-over finalist: “I am … Read more
Kimberley-Jane Design to exhibit at Middleton Hall Business Expo
Kimberley-Jane Design will be exhibiting at Middleton Hall on Friday 17th August which runs from 1pm-5pm. The afternoon will allow for meaningful business networking, an exhibition of local businesses and a full agenda of small, punchy and relevant interactive workshops – not to mention the buffet lunch or just coffee while you network! #MiddletonBizXpo will … Read more
Improve your website layout!
White Space Matters! White space refers to the area within a pages layout that is left empty. It is the space between graphics, margins or text and is also referred to as negative space. White space should not be considered merely ‘blank’ space — it is an important element of design which enables the objects in it … Read more
Hip Hip Horray!
We are pleased to announce our new offices located in Tamworth (Cue cheering and air punching). We’ve had a really successful 12 months taking on some pretty big clients and some exciting SME’s in between. This meant more space was needed and more importantly somewhere our clients could sit comfortably with a cuppa! We’re settling … Read more
How important is Typography within your composition?
I often think that Typography is overlooked in print and digital artwork. For me it is the je ne sais quoi! It will either make or break the image, more often or not probably breaking it. I believe that some people don’t think of typography as an important part of designing or an art form. … Read more
Your Guide To Printing
I am the managing director at Birmingham based Kimberley-Jane: Design and I often come across customers who struggle to understand the terms used by printers. In this article I will explain the printing processes available to you, and which ones you need. Then I will shed a little light on the jargon with a handy … Read more
Why is a good logo design so important?
When people ask me to design them a logo I always ask a set of questions which are supposed to encourage the client to think about what they want. Quite often they don’t actually know but a logo is the most important thing to get right. A logo is what represents you, your company and … Read more
Photography Fashion Shoot in Leicester
Tamworth based photographer Kimberley Turrell from Kimberley-Jane: Design and Leicesterhsire Ladies Beth Widowson and Lizze Leary from Kindred Sole embarked on a day of fashion, shoes, skittles and horse stables. As a result some gorgeous fashion photography was produced for Kindred Soles website. Their Autumn/Winter collection of 2010 went live this week and below are … Read more
Design Winners at Fresh Business Thinking
Maybe I take my role as a designer a little too seriously but when I am surrounded my marketing material I cant help but analyse it. If I dont like it why dont I? What is it about their colour scheme that I like? Let me put it into context…Yesterday I went to the ‘Fresh … Read more
A Chance to Self Indulge!
My name is Kimberley Turrell and I am the creator of Kimberley-Jane: Design. I would like you to join me on my journey as a new business start up and I will share with you some truly inspirational work, I have already found some amazing stuff.