Stacey Solomon wins I’m a celebrity.

Stacey Solomon wins I’m a celebrity.. just weeks after appearing in Devonport for Company of Designers. Well done Stacey! Well done DRC

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Going the extra mile

 

Reflecting on a successful and enjoyable summer, the Blue Mile event was one of the many exciting ventures for the CODE team.

The Blue Mile, tag-lined ‘Race for the Environment’ is the UK’s newest mass-participation event designed to engage people actively with our blue environment.  

Conrad Humphreys, around-the-world sailor was the organiser of the event, which was designed to raise awareness of ‘what lurks beneath the waves’, and the environmental pressures faced by the marine environment.

CODE was commissioned by The University of Plymouth to produce an assortment of impactful flags to be used at the event, held on the Barbican. The team also developed an advertisement supporting the event which featured in the Western Morning News, in a double page article, prior to the event. The flags were used in conjunction with other Blue Mile promotional merchandise. 

Open to everyone, participants were invited to complete a mile in, on, or next to, a water environment to raise vital support and money for WWF-UK, the world’s leading conservation organisation.  

Over 600 hundred people took to the waters around Plymouth Sound. The event saw participants swimming, kayaking and paddle-boarding around a mile-long course, creating an all-round experience for both adults and children.

Tracy Wilson, Head of Corporate Marketing at the University of Plymouth commented: “The flags CODE produced for us, for display, at the Blue Mile Festival creatively balanced the branding requirements of this large scale, multi audience event with our corporate enterprise branding guidelines whilst clearly articulating our position as the UK’s greenest University.”

Talented Students get creative in a bid to raise awareness of SWGaTE

SWGaTE (South West Gifted and Talented Education) is the South West’s Regional Partnership for supporting and ,developing the education of able, gifted and talented pupils.

The CODE team was commissioned by SWGaTE to work with a small group of students from five local authorities across the South West to design innovative postcards to be used by schools across the area. The student group undertakes different projects on behalf of SWGaTE and meet once a term to advise them and share their experiences as able students.

The aim of the project was to get the students thinking creatively to produce possible designs for the postcards. The initial stage involved the CODE team taking the students through the different design stages, enabling the students to learn how to make creative decisions on images, written content and layouts. The CODE team then helped the group to analyse their initial ideas before producing two postcard designs which the students then evaluated before one design was chosen for production.

The postcards are used by schools across the South West in a variety of ways, including: aide-memoirs between teachers and students, as invitations to parents to attend school Gifted & Talented events and for students to give to teachers with suggestions on how to improve interaction with Gifted & Talented students in their classes.

SWGaTE‘s Regional Co-ordinator Christine Mitchell commented: ‘The CODE team was able to enhance the students’ understanding of the design process and to challenge their thinking as they began to generate possible designs. The postcards are now being used across the South West in a variety of ways and each time a postcard is used it helps to promote the work of SWGaTE and the Gifted Voices student group.’

Giant cartoons, massive labels and X Factor star, help promote city’s largest one day exhibition – delivered by CODE

Devonport Regeneration Community (DRC) Partnership commissioned CODE to deliver a multi-venue exhibition showcasing over 220 DRC funded projects to celebrate the work and achievements of the Devonport Community.

A ’future video’, massive fact labels, banners and flags all created impact for the 4000 visitors that toured Devonport between 11am and 6pm. To accompany the event a twenty minute DVD produced by CODE was shown on the big screen in the city’s piazza.

Lynda Harris from the DRC Partnership said “there’s been a continual stream of people in and around Devonport all day long.”

The theme of the day was ‘Devonport’s in great shape.’ Over the past 10 years the DRC has supported and funded the regeneration of Devonport via 6 themes featured in the Brickfields Sports Centre; Health, Education, Employment, Community, Community Safety and Livability & Development. The recently restored Devonport Guildhall hosted an exhibition on The Future of Devonport and included details of the Land and Leisure Trust as well as the new Devonport Area Neighbourhood Board.

CODE obtained sponsorship from Frobishers, the South West’s pure smoothie company. Free smoothies were given out to members of the public from the juice bar, one of the events key attractions.

The huge cartoons were brought to life from the DRC Partnership’s logo and featured in prominent positions throughout the exhibition, whilst large Devonport-shaped maps hung from the ceiling above overshadowing the different themes of the exhibition.

X Factor star Stacey Solomon came to Devonport to entertain the people of Devonport and performed a collection of songs to the crowds.

The CODE team also produced large venue flags, large banners and information boards which were given to 40 external projects around Devonport allowing the public to drop in to find out more information. Other attractions on the day included; garden tours, boat tours and a free buffet held in the Kier Marquee situated in the Plymouth Albion rugby grounds.

The event provided an opportunity for the work of the DRC to be recognised by the public and to emphasise that Devonport was now in ‘great shape’ for the future.

The DRC team stated ’It was a great day enjoyed by all with many positive comments about all the changes to the area.’

High quality motorhomes – now motoring online!

The CODE team have recently designed and launched an exciting new website for Murvi Motorcaravans Ltd. 

Murvi have 30 years of award-winning leisure vehicle production to their credit – not to mention enough awards to fill one of their motorhomes. Every Murvi is special, built just for the individual by people who care passionately about quality.

It’s the same at CODE. Having recently produced Murvi’s high quality brochure it was a natural step to develop their website. The new website provides Murvi with an updated web presence to communicate with their new and existing customers.

The website takes advantage of a state of the art, search engine friendly content management system which enables it to be easily updated and managed online by the Murvi team.

MD of Murvi, Rex Kneebone commented “I am very pleased with the final result; the website allows us to communicate more effectively online to a wider audience.”

Transforming Learners, Transforming Lives CEPPL Conference

Following on from the success of their 2008 conference, The Centre for Excellence in Professional Placement Learning (Ceppl), at the University of Plymouth have recently hosted a 2010 conference.

Teresa Thorne, Ceppl Project Manager commented “On behalf of the Ceppl team I would like to thank you (Company of Designers) for the excellent design work and for working closely with the team to ensure quality and accuracy. The conference was a huge success”.

The Graphic Design team at Company of Designers were briefed to design a package of conference marketing material that would reflect the theme “Transforming learners transforming lives” in a lively and innovative way.

The conference was aimed at academic and practice staff, students, service users and those with an interest in placement learning. The conference provided an opportunity to discuss and share innovation, knowledge and practice in placement learning, along with showcasing the work of the Center for Excellence in Professional Placement Learning (Ceppl)

The conference was a huge success with presenters coming from across the country and from overseas. Delegates enjoyed a varied programme of presenters, discussion panel workshops and posters, all of which generated opportunities for sharing of practice, networking and further growth opportunities for the centre. Click here to visit the Ceppl website.

If music is the food of love, here’s a graphic feast

To celebrate Plymouth’s Polish festival Company of Designers was commissioned to produce a distinctive twenty page programme featuring an illustration by Oliver Butcher from The University of Plymouth on the front cover.

“The brief gave us an excellent opportunity to create a graphic rich and spacious publication” says Jerry Found, Design Director at Company of Designers. The Plymouth Polish Festival programme celebrates the music of Chopin and also introduces new music by Polish composers including Zbigniew Bujarski, Weronika Ratusinska and the ElettroVoce performance from Agata Zubel and Cezary Duchnowski.

The year-round Peninsula Arts programme includes exhibitions, music, film, talks and performing arts. Its aim is to provide a prestigious and wide-ranging series of events that opens up the arts and university to the people of Plymouth, the South West and visitors to the region.