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Andy Purpose StudioLR
22nd November 2018

On Purpose

[2 min read]

I recently shared an article with our team about how sweet treats (biscuits/cakes) in the workplace are a danger to our health.

I was surprised that everyone responded with their thoughts – although that maybe says more about what I usually share. But they all agreed that it’s really difficult to avoid them.

It made me question how responsible we’re being by having biscuits in meetings and rewarding ourselves with G&Ts on a Friday. It’s all a matter of choice, but with obesity rates soaring, too many of us are making the wrong choices, and workplaces definitely aren’t helping. I heard a nurse on the radio highlight the challenge suggesting that the NHS was neglecting its duty of care allowing boxes of biscuits and chocolate ‘thank yous’ on the ward as the norm.

Our Why

We’ve been on a mission to find our Why… Why do we get out of bed in the morning? What makes us tick? What do we really enjoy and dislike? And, critically, does this even matter to our clients and their customers?

We help organisations unearth their Why, but doing it for ourselves proved really difficult. We’ve finally got somewhere that we all believe in and can rally behind.

So, what is our Why?

We leap out of bed in the morning to make people’s everyday experiences better. That’s what we’ve always done. From our early work creating distractions around Aberdeen Children’s Hospital, to our recent work creating emotive visitor experiences for Volvo and National Trust for Scotland, to our pioneering work setting new standards for symbols to help people living with dementia find their way around.

By always focusing on the people, we can stir emotions, encourage participation and change behaviours to make a positive difference. Raise a smile. Win hearts and minds. That’s the aim of every brand, every campaign, and every experience we create.

Living our brand

With that mantra in mind, we shouldn’t go too far wrong:

  • In the office, we’ll always be respectful of each other and encourage a healthy environment with our standing desks, yoga Wednesday, walking meetings and adopting a plant (mine’s a bonsai).
  • For our clients, we’ll always go a step further to make their everyday better – simple principles like calling more than e-mailing, being ‘reassuringly challenging’ and not accepting the norm. We create work that makes their people’s every day better and gets them the results they need. And when things don’t go as planned we’re open and honest and do what it takes to get things back on track.

For Society, we do our bit for local charities volunteering on the Care Van to help feed Edinburgh’s homeless people, and helping The Spartans Community Football Academy, Seamab School and participating in the Social Bite Sleep in the Park.

So, that just leaves me with a Bigger Question than Why …

“Should we ban sweet treats?”

Thoughts welcome.

– Andy

21st September 2018

Social Shifters of the World Rise Up

[4 minute read]

 

I’m fresh out of the Social Enterprise World Forum, SEWF2018. This annual, three-day-event brings Social Entrepreneurs from all over the globe together in one place to share ideas that are changing the world for good. You’ll struggle to find a more inspiring event…

 

What is a social enterprise?

A Social Enterprise is an organisation, or a person, changing the world for the better. Like most businesses they aim to make a profit, but the key is that they reinvest the majority of their profit to create positive social change. This allows them to tackle social problems, improve people’s life chances, support communities and help the environment.

Government statistics identify around 100,000 social enterprises of all sizes in the UK, contributing £60 billion to the economy and employing nearly two million people.*

Here’s a quick illustration of the range of organisations active in this movement:

  • Cordant Group, the UK’s 2nd largest recruitment and services business with revenues of £840 million and 125,000 employees, reinvests the majority of its profits into social programmes across education, employment, and healthcare, pledging to touch and improve thousands of lives, one community at a time. To demonstrate its intent, Cordant has capped all annual shareholder dividends and all executive salaries, and agreed to be independently audited, using recognised Social Impact measurements.
  • Social Bite is a chain of sandwich shops with a difference – they’re on a mission to end homelessness in Scotland. They created the world’s largest annual sleep out Sleep in the Park which last year alone raised £4million.
  • Students of Broughton High School in Edinburgh have created BROEnterprise which tackles social isolation and loneliness in the community by bringing people together each Friday afternoon in the school to enjoy tea and cake, and to have fun together through craft and reading activities. Everyone is welcome from early years to golden-agers and, as you can imagine, the social enterprise has been a really positive movement in the school.

 

How can we make a difference?

Imagine a world where Social Enterprise is part of the curriculum in every primary school. It’s a main subject choice in every secondary school, and it’s a culture that’s embedded in every workplace. We all know that the best ideas come from people working together, free from prejudice, financial constraints and fear of failure.

With our Society offer at StudioLR we walk the talk about improving people’s everyday – that’s our purpose and the reason we come to work each day. We collaborate on ideas that make a difference to people from all walks of life. We listen and improve until we get it right for the people that need it – they’re the experts. We make sure it’s sustainable and for good. And when it’s embedded we measure the impact.

I urge you to think about what you care about and use that as a starting point to make a difference. There are huge challenges for people all over the world that need our creativity, motivation and determination to solve. Do you care about loneliness, obesity, inequality, or the ageing population?

And if you need inspiration, this is a good place to start.

Lucy Richards

Founder of StudioLR

 

* Social Enterprise UK, State of Social Enterprise Survey 2017

22nd August 2018

Bring on the trumpets for Brodie Castle

Our work with the National Trust for Scotland at Brodie Castle is nominated at this year’s Scottish Design Awards.

We created a site personality for the brand new Playful Garden – rolling it out across interpretation, experiential design in the café and retail spaces, merchandise, packaging and signage. 

As a family day out the key ingredient was fun. How do we use the Brodie family heritage to put a smile on people’s faces?

A list of adjectives could never capture the diverse personalities that make up the Brodie family. But luckily we had a secret weapon… Daffodils!

When Ian Brodie had to name and register the 414 different daffodils he developed at the Castle, he left behind a goldmine…  daffodil breeds with names like Cheerio, Pomp, Fortune’s Beauty, King of the North, and Laughing Water.

We allocated a number to each daffodil in the Brodie ‘family’ and used their unusual names as a springboard for playful interventions, interpretive stories, marketing and merchandise. With a cast of over 400 unique characters, there’s plenty to be playful with…

Project Team

Architecture: Hoskins Architects

Landscape Architecture: ERZ

Interactive Garden Design: Paragon Creative

Visitor Strategy & Planning: Scott Sherrard

To find out more about the award-winning work we do at StudioLR, please get in touch.

22nd August 2018

Let’s keep this short and sweet.

Nominated at the Scottish Design Awards, our Personal Letters have gone down a treat with our clients and colleagues.

Why chocolate letters?

We wanted a way to keep in touch with our clients, partners and friends throughout the year.

A personal way to say thank you, to say hello or to put a wee smile on their faces.

Nobody sends personal letters anymore… and everyone loves chocolate.

 

To find out more about the award-winning work we do at StudioLR, please get in touch.

21st August 2018

GOING, GOING, GONG?

Our launch of Volvo CE’s flagship rigid hauler (featuring a disappearing hundred tonne hauler) is nominated for a Scottish Design Award.

The launch introduced the world to the R100E – celebrating the expertise and hard work that went into making it. And building relationships to help sell it around the world.

The new hauler has no unexpected features… because Volvo has been listening to customers and developing products based on what they want. The R100E was loaded with the customers’ experience as much as Volvo’s.

We developed the theme ‘Made by you. Built by Volvo’ and all creative for the event – including the unveil of the new hauler and a tour guiding delegates around a factory filled with 2D and 3D graphics, interactive displays and videos.

What Volvo had to say:

“The launch event, which was recognised across the Volvo CE Group, was a major success. As well as launching the new rigid hauler to the world, it helped celebrate and inspire the whole team.

The team at StudioLR presented an exciting concept, something different and brave. We hoped the event would help us make trucks disappear but we didn’t expect to do that literally! ‘Made by You. Built by Volvo’ resonated with our ethos and all the expertise that went into creating Volvo’s first rigid hauler.

Even months on, our company, dealers and customers are still talking about the event. Together we created a unique experience – one our customers and colleagues will never forget.”

Jacqueline Reid

Interim Director – External Communications, Volvo CE

A wee thanks to a few those who helped us make it happen:

To find out more about the award-winning work we do at StudioLR, please get in touch.

21st August 2018

a far-off land for people with illness

Nominated in the Publication category of the Scottish Design Awards,  ‘a far-off land’ by Alec Finlay for Macmillan Cancer Support explores the memory of landscapes as a fond illness-companion.

A far-off land is a book of photography by Hannah Devereux poems by Alec Finlay exploring place-names and their meanings – commissioned for the new Macmillan Cancer Support Day Unit in Arbroath.

The photography remembers childhood illness, where bedding becomes an imaginative landscape – with scenes suggestive of the glens of Angus.

The book is based on the thought that the memory of the landscape remains fond and healing, even when it cannot easily be accessed, whether through illness or people coming to the end of life.

To find out more about the award-winning work we do at StudioLR, please get in touch.

8th August 2018

Top tips from an award-winning campaign

[3 min read]

As featured on The Marketing Society in Scotland’s ‘What’s Going On’ members update.

StudioLR: top tips from an award-winning campaign

Just over a month ago at the Star Awards, StudioLR took home Gold in the Design category for their work at Inverewe with the National Trust for Scotland. Inverewe’s personality is unique. And as it’s been brought to life over the last two years, it has reaped rewards – family visits are up 28% and overall footfall is up 110%.

Here, StudioLR share their three top tips from the project:

1. If you want to attract a new audience, you need to get out of your comfort zone
Taking obscure plant names and turning them into Roald Dahl-inspired phrases and rhymes will make some botanists anxious. Printing a family’s favourite recipe on their historic kitchen ceiling will make some conservationists anxious. But this kind of approach gets families excited by plants and history. It’s not easy but it works.

2. If you’re going to do something brave, build from the inside out
When you’re breaking rules, or doing something new, it’s important that people internally see why. Otherwise they’ll feel anxious and see no value. Bringing the conservationists, historians, gardeners, and volunteers in on the creative process meant our ideas were much richer, more unique, and easier to make happen.

3. Creativity isn’t just for ‘creatives’
Kevin Frediani, the property manager at Inverewe has taken the seed of an idea and made it flourish. From ongoing marketing to events programming… even setting up an artists-in-residence programme – the idea has flowed through everything. Getting a wide NTS team involved in the creative stage helped build pride and ownership – we were one team. Ideas are poor value if they just belong to agencies… good ideas are for everyone to use.

StudioLR won the Gold award for Design at the 2018 Marketing Society Star Awards. Read more about the Star Awards here.

20th July 2018

Can you stay true to your heritage and attract a wider audience at the same time?

With a site personality bursting with colour and rich stories, the Playful Garden at Brodie Castle welcomes visitors of all ages.

[3 minute read]

The newly-opened Playful Garden at Brodie Castle is a place to have fun. A short hop from the castle’s front door, the garden puts a lively twist on Brodie’s long and colourful history. Digging for an idea that could bring centuries of stories to life, we unearthed a secret weapon…

Daffodils!

Ian Brodie developed and registered over 400 varieties of daffodil at the Castle – and he named each and every one. The weird and wonderful names were a springboard for stories that sprout up all around the site – from the origami boat tickets (Sailor #160) to merchandise, decor, interpretation and signage.

Staying true to your heritage doesn’t mean doing things the way they’ve always been done. We can help unearth what makes you different – and bring it to life creatively in campaigns and experiences that spark something in people.

The project is currently nominated at the Scottish Design Awards, along with five of our other projects.

Bring on the trumpets!

The tickets are fun for kids and big kids alike… the daffodil “Fortune’s Arrow” becomes a paper aeroplane, while “Sailor” becomes an origami boat.The daffodil names lent themselves to a huge range of merchandise. “Fortune’s Gift” was a gift for the swing tags. And the most tourist-friendly daffodil names made a great set of magnets and keyrings.

The café space was brought to life with hanging flags, painted tables and custom
packaging – each again highlighting a daffodil name – from “Lemonade” to the
soup bowl’s “Copper Bowl”.

Playful signs around the garden remind people to have a good time. Giant plant-marking lollipop sticks stick out in the garden – each one housing an interpretive panel, using the daffodils to tell a unique story.

 

Contact us at StudioLR to find out how brave design-thinking can help you reach more people.

28th June 2018

Finding your way around Scotland’s first dementia-friendly park

At StudioLR, We’ve been designing wayfinding signage to help people living with dementia live more independently.

[7 Minute Read]

With features such as dementia-friendly signs, handrails and benches, Kings Park in Stirling recently launched as Scotland’s first dementia-friendly park. Led by National walking charity, Paths for All, we were asked to design signs which would help people living with dementia navigate the park more easily on their own.

“This project was an important step for us in working towards our aim of driving improvements in the quality of life, well-being, empowerment and inclusion of people living with dementia in Scotland.”

– Dr Corinne Greasley Adams, development officer for Paths for All

Paths for All came to us after hearing about our successful initiative to design signs that will help people with dementia find their way around care homes.

Aligning with our company belief that great design improves people’s everyday lives, we wanted to make a difference to people living with dementia through empowering signage design.

Working with our academic partners (Edinburgh University and Stirling University) we challenged the signage typically used in care environments. Using an academic approach gave us confidence that our assessment was accurate. And our recommendations would have the intended level of positive impact.

Easy wayfinding would improve the wellbeing of people with dementia (potentially extending their life) and also reduce the strain and cost on their families and on societal care resources.

We realised our findings could easily be transferred to other public spaces, like Kings Park, providing an even greater opportunity for extended independent living.

Read more about the dementia-friendly Kings Park project in the Scotsman article here.

To find out more about what we’re doing at StudioLR to make the world an easier place to find your way around then read about our latest Inclusive Symbols project.

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