ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE US... TIMES HAVE CHANGED! Thanks for reading our
In other news, our lead developer and company
first newsletter as Stunn Ltd. It’s been a huge
Stalwar t Matthew Bruce has joined Ben and I
couple of months for us both internally and with
on the board to bring an extra dimension to the
client work. We’re ver y much looking for ward to
management team and to allow each of us to
showing you what we’ve been up to in a bit more
concentrate more on our strengths. Matthew
detail than a web site like ours allows.
has worked with us for over a decade and we’re delighted that the relationship has been
Stunn was officially born in June of this year
cemented in this way.
after a lengthy process of internal consulting, design and redesign. We felt that our for ward
In a final piece of internal news, we’ve also been
face needed to be more representative of what
refitting the studio - there’ll be some photos of
we actually do. We understood that T VS Media
that soon, once the finishing pieces arrive, but
was ver y much viewed as a web design company
with ever ything else changing, it seemed daft
and that we were undifferentiated in a busy
not to make things more compliocated than they
market place. It was time for a change and while
had to be.
T VS has been good to us, we we’re pleased to say t’ra and move on to pastures new.
We hope you enjoy the new look us!
We decided that the brand had run its course.
Karl
A new web site was needed to fully represent us and our name had become problematic.
Karl Baxter, Managing Director
Almost fifteen years have passed since we first
karl@stunn.co.uk
introduced T VS Media. The meaning of which
DDI: 0121 616 0093
had been lost in time. When we star ted the
@WEARESTUNN
business, “media” was a by-word for new media and all that came with it. Over time, it became a word associated with half baked degrees and eventually, we’ve come full circle, back to the 80s and we’re back into media meaning the homogeny dominated by the press and telly.. which isn’t really us either. So here we are, new name, new look and a streamlined
proposition.
We’ve
bitten
the
bullet taken a piece of our own advice and we are looking for ward to the next fifteen years growing into the new brand.
Orginal Factor y Shop The identities and abstracts from the design boards produced for Original Factor y Shop in store AW 2102.
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STUNN REPOSITIONS WOMENSWEAR FOR ORIGINAL FACTORY SHOP It’s been a fantastic period for us working with
swing tags and labels.
some fantastic new clients; none moreso than Original Factor y Shop.
The designs were signed off in early July and are currently in production ready for an autumn
We were instructed as par t of a complete
/ winter launch this year.
repositioning of the instore clothing offering at OFS to refresh the existing Tendresse &
The process was complicated by the supply
Originals brands and to provide graphics,
/ buying chain; much of the production is
branding and ar tworking for three fur ther lines
under taken in China and as such, the creative
as the buying team at the ever growing retail
and ar twork had to be made with absolute
powerhouse now have the oppor tunity to flex
clarity of instruction to prevent errors and slip
their muscles with a more comprehensive in
ups, as there is simply no time to get it wrong.
house offering. We’re ver y much looking for ward to seeing the Our remit was to provide new logos for each of
results in store and we’ll post a blog with some
the five brands and to carr y wider contextual
photographs as soon as they are available.
design through swing tickets, hangers, back neck labels, bra cards, purse cards and general
Our Remit
packaging. ›› Research and exploratory reporting The brands were required to stand in their own
›› Typography
right, each targeting a different demographic,
›› Corporate Identity
ranging from young “fast fashion” through
›› Graphic Design
to a more discerning, yet price conscious
›› Technical Artworking
core audience. Alongside the three distinct
›› Visualisation
clothing brands, Originals (wardrobe basics)
›› Pre-production
and Tendresse (lingerie and nightwear) were expected to have a broad based appeal to as
For more information on our creative and design
many customers as possible.
services, call Karl Baxter directly on 0121 616 0093.
The process began with mood boards to set type styles and colour pallettes which could be viewed independently and collectively to set the general mood for the labels. From there we moved through the design process into logo design, suppor ting typography and graphic ornaments and finally into ar tworking of the
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PERFORMANCES BIRMINGHAM Late May saw Stunn installed on the creative roster
for
Per formances
Birmingham,
operators of the iconic Birmingham Town Hall and Symphony Hall venues. THSH decided to move away from a traditional ad agency model, retaing a single supplier and instead have instructed a small pool of local creative agencies to supply the marketing output, utilising a newly created marketing tool kit. We’re mostly producing display adver tising and large format graphics for bannerstands and in venue graphics. We won the contract via an open tendering process, completed in May, which involved a series of creative exercises and a process and cost scoping exercise. The pitch team of Karl & Annie are now taking a lead on ser vicing the creative and key account management. We were invited to a meet and greet with the marketing
and
programming
teams
along
with the other agencies on the roster for a per formance by The Imagined Village at the Town Hall. We believe that the new set up is not only an excellent strategy on the par t of Per formances Birmingham, but that it also encourages close peer interaction between local creatives and digital practitioners. We’re looking for ward to a long and happy working par tnership.
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Page by page The image on page eight is a pull up banner graphic. The images on this page are a variety of display ads produced for a range of local and national magazines.
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KARMAN LAUNCH Pictures by Karl Baxter
Nilima Devi Director and Founder of the Centre for Classical Indian Dance, Leicester takes to the stage to talk about the Karman Project, the exhibition, book and suppor ting literature for the tour was designed here at Stunn
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Karman Launches Thursday 14th June saw the launch of the Karman living archive project at LCB Depot, Leicester. Karman - The Living Archive is an oral histor y project
and
growing
archive
with
touring
exhibition, documenting the histor y of classical Indian dance, with par ticular focus on its UK reach, and key stakeholders such as Nilima Devi, of the Centre for Classical Indian Dance in Leicester. Introduced to the project by long term coconspirator
and
project
curator,
Simon
Redgrave, our brief was a simple one.. to provide movement. We were commissioned to produce a touring exhibition, a book and the suppor ting literature for the exhibition itself. The exhibition has now left the LCB and is touring public buildings around Leicestershire Hamilton Librar y, 0 3 – 17 July St Barnabas Librar y, 17 – 3 0 July South Fields Librar y, 31 July – 15 August Belgrave Librar y, 0 3 – 17 September BBC Radio Leicester, 01 – 17 October Cur ve Theatre, 0 8 – 19 November Highfields Librar y, 19 – 3 0 November You can read more about our involvement and approach on our web site w w w.stunn.co.uk
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From left to right Enjoying a drink folowing the formal launch Dance Per formance a highlight of the event Dawinder Bansal, Project Manager Simon Redgrave, Project Curator
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CONVERSION, CONVERSION, CONVERSION Cash Genie recently instructed us to help with page and form design to improve user experience and conversion rates on their web
any of the really clever stuff can begin. Doing it first means that any money you’re spending on
site.
the clever stuff is being bought with additional
While it’s never an exact science, best practice
simple stuff right from the off.
goes a long way when bringing a new usability, or conversion strategy in. There’s a hit list of
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“must do” tasks that have to be actioned before
profits so there’s real benefits to getting the
We say simple, but it’s definitely an “easy when you know how” situation and you see the same
inherent issues with almost ever y project. The problem comes when branding takes priority over goals. The alternative is something that bricks and mor tar business has long understood; when you work customer first and your primar y aim is to provide exceptional customer ser vice, with
your
brand
messages
fitting
around
that customer experience - balance between customer needs and secondar y business goals are improved. In this specific example, we compiled a list of known issues and a number of softer advisories to address both calls to action and obvious points of abandonment. To be clear on this, Cash Genie got a lot of stuff right, and we saw our job as ver y much a spit and polish.. the valet before the showroom. Our Work We redesigned the home page and application forms with a no nonsense business first approach. Calls to action were made far clearer and more immediate - any graphical and copy elements that were not essential to the application process, or trust building were given far lower priority and what was a 3 step form was amalgamated into a one page application, with progress bars and simple explanantions of why information was being asked for to guide the process and give the customer a firm indication of where they were in the user journey. The updated UX is currently in production and will be live late July.
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