About the Project.

My initial project proposal to National Carpets on October 3, 2018, outlined the foundation of my entire approach for consolidating the National Carpets brand — what I called my 3Rs Plan: Revitalize (bring the brand back to life in the minds of customers), Revamp (clean up, update and reenergize the brand visually) and Re-establish (re-affirm the company’s presence as a market leader and expand from there). A key component in the plan was relationship-building with our client, and we worked closely with the general manager and senior management to effect a collaborative approach that would also resonate with them as a business.

It is one thing to brand build purely for the prestige and quite another to build towards the future of a 45-year-old family business. The ability to make this distinction is what my Studio is founded on: “a good name is rather to be desired than riches” (Proverbs 22:1) and if we can manage a bit of both then we have well succeeded!

#design #graphicdesign #corporatedesign #branding #intuitivebranding #socialmedia #advertdesign

Our 3Rs Plan: Implementation.

We carried out our 3Rs Plan as follows:

Basic

Creative Strategy:

Using thorough, tailored branding strategies, monthly social media planning and promotional campaigns. Understanding the calibre of our client and our customer was key to meeting our goals, so frequent discussion particularly at the start of our relationship contributed to a stronger overall understanding of our clients needs and goals and an improvement of our approach from 2019 onwards.

Intermediate

Website Design, Development and Process Management:

Using Working closely with one of our preferred website development partners MiWeb, we successfully migrated the website to a new host and developer. Then, over a period of 3 months we carried out a complete overhaul of their old website to create a modern, chic site, that retained the professionalism and quality their customers have come to expect while becoming more engaging. A key part of the brief here was to also build the site to evolve and take on additional interactivity in the future. We also worked on ensuring the branding was strong and would align with the other work we were carrying out on the National Carpets’ social media platform.

As part of the project management we carry out as a Studio, we handled both the collation, collection and organizing of content, whilst also creating additional content and supporting graphics including the design of the initial UI concept.

Advanced

Social Media Set Up, Scheduling & Monthly Management:

We set up two new platforms for National Carpets — Twitter and Instagram. We then ran a review and clean up of their Facebook profile, updating information and branding initially to match the website. In fact the Facebook page was our first port of call to ensure that we maintained a viable digital presence while the website was being built.

The process there after included — themed monthly branded artwork kits with custom copywriting and post blurbs, monthly and annual schedule creation, planning and set up, general copy and post writing, brand management and remote support.

Advanced

Design for Print and Overall Brand Building with Content Creation:

This included print advert design, advertorials, branded corporate calendars, copywriting for adverts, and article writing for social media and in magazines.

Advanced

Overall support and ideasmithing:

Maintaining strong communication with our client, forward-planning and strategising working in tandem with their goals ensured for smoother, consistent and and effective results in the long-term.

Concept UI Design - National Carpets 2019

Left — Website Concept (Visualization) 2019

Being able to envision where you
want to go is just as important as
getting there. A visualisation allows
to explore my ideas and begin
a mental alignment with a brand.

Working with the right web developer
is the next vital step to the successful translation of the idea. The right developer can elevate the most mundane of ideas.

Website Development Partner:
Tawanda Munava (MiWeb)

Email MiWeb

Watch a Video Walkthrough of National Carpets Website as it was 2019 to February 2023

By the end of my Studio’s season there we had successfully managed to:

re-establish and consolidate a stronger digital presence, with the combined development and use of a new company website, setting up and growing the two new social media platforms (Twitter and Instagram) and strengthening their most popular (upon the end of our contract) platform (Facebook). Instagram and Facebook saw the greatest growth.
re-energise the brand as a whole while building up a consistent visual style and message to support their mission both in the digital space and in print media, including writing articles for magazine print and social media blog posts.
vivid and attractive branded promotional campaigns for seasonal and annual sales and the updating of various promotional collateral and
oversee evolution and growth planning through strategic proposals and recommendations on request and otherwise; this includes pivoting as needed particularly during pandemic times.

Magazine Advertorial

Article Writing | Design & Layout | Advert Design & Copy

National Carpets Advertorial - Structure & Design Magazine - Page 1

National Carpets Advertorial - Structure & Design Magazine - Page 2

National Carpets Advertorial - Structure & Design Magazine - Page 3 - Advert

Branding Styles over the years
(2019-2023)

Wall of Banners

Every instance of working on a design influences the next iteration. Where we start is just as important as where we finish. Below are just a few snippets of possibly hundreds of banners created since we started in 2019.