The Buchan Guns team is formed of some of the most respected and skilled craftsmen who have dedicated their lives to the fine art of gunmaking. Great care was taken throughout this project to ensure that the brand represented the exceptional level of quality, detail and craftsmanship that can be found in one of their bespoke pieces and it was fantastic for our work to be recognised in this category.

A special mention for artist Ella Ginn whom we worked alongside to help us bring our vision for the coat of arms to life.   Congratulations to all the fellow winners and nominees, it was an honour to pick up an award amongst so much incredible talent within the Scottish design community.

Orroland Estate is a breathtaking place, however owners Melinda and Robert never felt that the brand truly reflected what makes Orroland special. We wanted to capture the character of the estate and set Orroland apart from other holiday cottages as a destination within Dumfries & Galloway.

The brand was inspired by the many sculptures and characters of Orroland. The estate feels “…like you are stepping into another world.” The idea of Orroland being a magical space led us to traditional fairytales and book covers. We wanted to bring this feeling into the brand and build our own sophisticated fairytale for Orroland.

With many curated sculptures on the estate, Orroland and art go hand in hand. The estate itself is situated near the artist town of Kirkcudbright. In order to compliment our concept of ‘a fairytale place’ we commissioned local artist Liz Myhill to capture the colourful elements of Orroland through linocut illustrations.

View the full case study here.

The Scottish Design Awards take place on the 29th June 2022 and full details can be found here.

I wanted to understand the different paths into a career in design; for many, the route isn’t always straightforward. Looking back, design seems like it would have been a natural choice for Kieran, who from a young age enjoyed designing football strips and badges at the back of school jotters and scrap paper. But it was only later that he realised this.  

“Originally, I actually wanted to study architecture. Throughout school that was the plan, until I did work experience at an architecture firm in the west end of Glasgow. Long story short, I absolutely hated it. I think I was just young and naive at the time, and if I had done more research into the type of place I was going to, I could potentially have got more out of it. But it just wasn’t for me.  

So I went back to school at the end of the summer, and I ended up doing really well. I was particularly inspired by my art teacher, who had trained as an interior designer. She was great at guiding me and helping me figure out my next steps. At the time I didn’t know if I wanted to go to college or university, but she ended up helping me put together a portfolio for an open day at The Met (now City of Glasgow College). I enrolled on a graphic design and visual communication course on the back of that portfolio – which was made up of things like studies of album covers – so that I could learn the more technical knowledge and theory behind the designs. 

To be honest, I didn’t know exactly what graphic designers did when I first went to college. I just knew that I already loved designing football crests in Pro Evolution Soccer and covers for CD mixtapes. I was already practicing graphic design without realising it. Looking back, I think I was always going to end up in this industry in some way or another and I’m glad that’s how things turned out.” 

It’s sometimes funny when you look back at how you’ve gotten to where you are, and realise that something not working out was actually for the best. It seems that this still rings true for Kieran. 

So, how has design changed because of the pandemic? 

“The usual processes of face-to-face briefings, meetings and studio gatherings disappeared almost overnight, and we had to learn how to adapt to the situation pretty quickly. We had to be agile and introduce new, flexible ways of working. We had to learn how to present our work differently and sell our ideas over a zoom call rather than a cup of coffee.  

Going from a studio environment to a home office really highlighted how important collaboration is to the design process. As a studio we used this as an opportunity to connect and collaborate with as many local creatives as we could, when a project allowed, and we have built some great relationships from this.” 

I’m really interested to know what’s been your favourite project to work on so far, and why? 

“One project I’m particularly proud to have worked on was our rebrand of The Torridon as it was briefed and delivered during the early months of the pandemic. We worked closely with owners, Dan and Rohaise to realise their vision for the hotel without ever meeting face to face which would have been unthinkable 18 months prior.  

The rebrand and repositioning gave The Torridon a platform to refocus their guest experience and since launch the hotel has gone from strength to strength even after the challenges of the pandemic.” 

On a final note, Kieran offers some great advice to any young people who are wanting to pursue a career in design.  

“Be yourself. Focus on your own craft and don’t worry too much about what other people are doing. Reach out to fellow creatives and agencies that you admire and introduce yourself. Passion and drive can go a long way in this industry.” 

I think that’s some great advice that can apply to many of us.  

If you’d like to learn a bit more about Kieran and his work here at SHINE, click here.  

This can involve everything from customer satisfaction, emotional connection, personality and goals. 

Branding is not just a logo, but something that encompasses your ideals, personality and values in a range of sensory products.

A brand tells a story that builds a relationship between a customer and a product. This includes:

• Positioning

• Benefit for customers

• Personality

• Aspiration

• An emotional connection

One brand that has excelled in developing a unique and instantly recognisable offering is Netflix.

Netflix’s device is clear, concise and direct that flows naturally throughout their entire offering. Although from when they initially started, technology has advanced leaps and bounds in ways no one ever expected, their brand structure has remained solid and relatively unchanged in terms of ideals.

Netflix is now known as the most popular ‘on demand’ video streaming service in the world. 

To give you some context, during lockdown alone, Netflix gained 20 million new subscribers within the first month of quarantining! These numbers just highlight the huge powers and influence globalisation can have and has had for industries such as those in entertainment to be able to reach audiences that just weren’t accessible 15 years ago.

But before they introduced the streaming concept, Netflix first started off as a Movie and TV Show Rental Service since it’s beginnings in 1997.

Originally founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, who were two software engineers who left the company they were working for to take a risk and develop a company that embellished both of their unique skills and interests.

Randolph who had an interest in the internet wanted to start an internet business but didn’t know what type of product to sell and Hastings who saw how retailers were charging people for renting movies, was disgusted by their practices and wanted to make renting more consumer-friendly. This lead to Netflix being born.

The Logo

The First Design

Netflix’s presence at the very start screams ‘computer generated’. Starting off with a very generic and over-used black text that was split by a circle spiral in the shape of a reel of film. The brand had very little character to say the least.

The ‘90s was a time when branding and marketing were really becoming hot. There was a huge competition to build meaningful brands that stood out in the ‘branding boom’. People really started to associate themselves with brands and buy into their whole brand, rather than just their logo.

Netflix quickly outgrew their first logo as it didn’t capture their values and ideals. It’s possible a logo such as this took influence from other logos such as Nike’s infamous swoosh, that paved the way for other brands to incorporate a simple shape or design that was instantly recognisable. Netflix did not make the right choice in how they developed their original logo and was far too similar to brands from the early ’90s and wasn’t until their rebrand in the 2000s that their brand really caught on.

The Second Design

This brings us onto their second design which you will instantly recognise. This is when Netflix really came into its own with their branding, developing a typographic logo that flowed naturally through the products and services that they offered.

Utilising a semi-circle curve at the bottom of the typography brought a second 3-dimensional aspect to the already 3D type. The letters were arched in a way to cleverly look like an old projected curve, and that only continues in the shadowing behind the white letters, making the entire title of Netflix to look like a projected movie on a screen.

The device is utilised a bold red as the background, the same iconic colour of traditional theatre curtains that were prominent across America for years.

Although at first glance the brand appears simple, once analysed the logo embellishes some of the most iconic and profound nods to movies and theatre of decades gone by.

The Third Design

The third phase for Netflix’s device, saw the simplification of the projected letters and the background replaced, whilst the arch and deep red have been kept.

We have just said that Netflix’s previous logo was working well, so why the need to change?

The rise of Millennials.

The turn of the decade in 2010, brought with it a new era of consumers. The Millennials. They are a generation who grew up alongside the advances in technology and were raised on data and information being at their fingertips, as they turned into adults they brought with them a new wave of consumerism.

What fits perfectly with a generation that has extremely low patience due to having been drip-fed and nurtured on having access to information, high-speed internet, online shopping and instantaneous communications within seconds? An on-demand streaming service!

Netflix began to adapt their brand to fit their newly developed browsing system. They still adopt their Hollywoodesque arch and colour but have embraced simplicity by dropping the 3D effect. This simple change promotes ease of use in application across the board. The brand is recognisable and performs well at a variety of scales made for digital media and does so consistently at all times. The application of the brand itself takes inspiration from their forever expanding collection of film, tv and a sense of almost unlimited choice at your fingertips. Which you’ll understand from countless hours of scrolling through the ‘stacks’ trying to find something to watch!

“The new identity for Netflix revolves around the ‘stack,’ which is best imagined as a stack of cards all printed with some element of the entertainment company’s brand, like a character from one of its series or part of the red logo. A conceptual and visual thread to unify every touchpoint.”

The Netflix brand has grown and evolved with technology. The way we consume film and tv is very different now to how it was when Netflix began but this can also be said about the way we consume brands. We live in a time where content is king and we want it as fast as we can get it. Now it’s true to say within the app the brand becomes secondary to the image cards we now instantly recognise but this has been earned by building the brand over years. Constantly refining, fine tuning and keeping up with the times has ensured that the Netflix brand will be a mainstay in our lives for years to come.

Sometimes businesses need to rebrand for various reasons. Whether your brand needs to communicate it’s message and positioning clearer or if it is simply just a visual refresh, we can help work with you to bring your brand to life.

We hope we have inspired you with this blog! However, if you would like to work with us on improving your own branding, get in touch!

Check out our Instagram and give us a follow for updates on life at Shine – https://www.instagram.com/theshineagency/

Nestled in the heart of Aberdeenshire’s tranquil countryside, but just a few short miles from the bustling centre of Aberdeen, our charming 13th century baronial mansion house, 240 acre estate and golf course offers more than luxury.

We look forward to working with them and can’t wait to show you what’s next!

To answer the question, design for me means communication, progression and trying to make things better along the way. It means never standing still, there’s always something new to learn, someone new to meet and most importantly new problems to solve.

So how do you stand out?

When we work with any business, we strive to develop not only their brand but enhance and build upon their story with the goals and targets of the business in mind.

This has proved vitally important when developing a gin brand. With a saturated marketplace and a savvy customer base, potential consumers want to know the story behind the brand with unique ingredients and sustainability being two widely sought-after factors. From our research, we discovered that bottle shapes along with label finishes were also key in the decision-making process of the buyer.

Utilising bespoke assets including photography, in-bar and in-store marketing play a massive role alongside the brand to help shine through a busy marketplace. This is key to drive sales and push brand awareness.

The challenge when developing a gin brand is to make it both recognisable and identifiable on the shelf and yet distanced from prime competitors in the ever-expanding gin industry. With a plethora of amazing gins out there it was important that we studied the craft gin market to identify a visual gap in the market.   

We wanted to create a brand that sold the Arcturus story with the first impression. We combined hand-drawn illustration techniques with beautiful typography to capture the brand message of a ‘foraged and handcrafted luxury gin’.

An initial brand workshop played a major part in understanding the values of the client and their brand. Establishing these brand values and ensuring they are communicated through the final product allows consumers to identify with your brand, building loyalty and familiarity.

Within the Arcturus logo, as mentioned above there are nods to the location and ingredients of the gin coupled with a touch of the client’s own story.

Brand continuity also proves essential when developing the digital side of the product. The brand story needs to flow equally between product and website. We achieve this by using high-quality, brand photography that highlights the USP’s of the product such as location or history guiding the user from discovery through to purchase.

In an ever-expanding drinks industry, it is important to consider where in the market you are trying to place yourself.

Premiumization is huge at the moment as brands compete to achieve luxury status. You have to highlight the premium nature of the drink you are selling but maintain the personality and relatability you are trying to portray. Attention to detail is key.

This can mean using crafted typography combined with tactile finishes that look and feel premium. On the other hand, now more than ever qualities such as sustainability and authenticity go hand in hand with the luxury perception.

This is down to the fact that old luxury ideals of bling and glam are being driven out by the force of millennials who now demand assurance that their product has a backstory that they can buy into and shows signs of being sustainable, which is now a requirement for any new brand that plans on making an impact in the market.

The Gin and Drinks industry is a fast-paced and everchanging environment that is constantly bringing up new challenges, and we can’t wait to see where our next drinks venture takes us!

Do you have ideas to set up a gin or perhaps take your current gin to the next level?

If you think we could work together in the future, get in touch!

As technology advances, it has become apparent that online users are increasingly impatient with day to day activities. This comes down to technology speeding up almost every aspect of our lives from self-checkout machines to being able to purchase something online and have it delivered to your door in under 24-hours. 

Although this advance in tech is groundbreaking and provides us with never before experienced access, it is forming a population who are more idealistic, more socially-conscious and more experience-oriented than any of their preceding generations, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but businesses need to be aware of this change to be able to cater for it.

So how do we as a design and digital agency focus ourselves to provide an experience that fits this new-wave of consumer?

By analysing rising trends and carrying out intensive user testing we are able to stay ahead of the curve and consistently deliver a unique design and digital experience for our Hospitality clients that allow them to manage their own guests’ expectations and offer them a smooth customer journey from the first click on the website until check-out.

Importance of Hotel Branding

When we discuss branding, this does not mean just your logo. It is the sensory experience that a client initiates when coming into contact with your brand, and in turn, becomes your most important asset as a business. It helps tell your story whilst allowing your potential customers an insight into your offering and values. Your brand will be one of the first things a guest may interact with and could play a pivotal role in their decision to delve further into your offering and book. It is then key that your brand reflects your price range and proposed target audience. 

Brand Consistency

Brand continuity in look, feel, offering and message should run coherently through everything you do. Although the visual aspect is very important it is probably the easiest to get right. Your brand values and offering are the reason why people book and return to your business and it is, therefore, key that staff members align to the brand values allowing consistent delivery of service across the board. 

Importance of Signage

Following on from consistency, the quality of your brand should be reflected through well thought out signage and wayfinding across hotel interior, exterior and grounds. Signage is an opportunity to reinforce your brand message through the choice of materials and finishes. 

One of the key factors when developing a hotel website is making sure that the user experience is focused on the route to a booking. It is vitally important that the book now button is clear and easy to see on the site. On mobile, it is also good practice to have it visible at all times as a higher percentage of people will access a hotel site via mobile. If possible allowing the user to enter their potential arrival dates on the site is good so that when they get to the booking section they are presented with the correct rooms and prices for that date range.

Importance of Engaging Media

Through user testing, we were able to determine what makes the most interactive and engaging home page on a website. Comparing professional and poor photography allowed us to see the significance each one had on bounce rates and engagement, proving poor photography directly lowers your chances of a booking on your site and similarly out of date or poorly lit images can give a bad impression of the hotel and can turn a user off instantly, so we focus on creating engaging, high-quality gallery pages or include a video as these proved most popular during user testing. This reduces the bounce rate by allowing the viewer to get a quick, detailed overview of what exactly the product on offer is, without having to spend time hunting for details.

After securing a high-end Design & Digital experience it is essential that the experience flows equally through the social presence.

So, this year more than ever it is pivotal to expand and promote your Social standing and allow it to demonstrate truthfully the product you offer.

One of the first things people do when looking up a new hotel, apart from visiting the website, is looking at their Instagram. 

By working closely with our clients and paying regular visits to build your content we allow your platform to be seen as transparent and authentic whilst still portraying the high-level you offer, this is achieved by balancing a range of different posts that include staff, rooms, food, and location taken both professionally and live on site.

We use a range of techniques to build a profile that not only sells your business but will have a direct increase in successful bookings, this is down to how we attract consumers attentions by building a realistic aesthetic and from there create a short and simple journey redirection through to the booking page in a matter of clicks.

If you think we could work together in the future, Get in touch!

One of our clients, Angus Soft Fruits, attend every year and asked us to design their exhibition stand for them.

The brief was to ensure it looked fresh and eye-catching, with a really natural and almost ‘farmy’ look to it. One of our key inspirations came from a wooden crate of strawberries, which definetly ticked all of these boxes.

We got to work with some creative ideas and came back to them with 4 different concepts for them to choose from. The decided favourite was the ‘wooden crate’ concept, inspired from the image above. It met with the brief of being, fresh and eye-catching – really helping to showcase the products.

We also organised a bespoke branded stamp, allowing Angus Soft Fruits to mark their logo on paper bags.

It was a very successful weekend and Angus Soft Fruits sold out! Congratulations everyone!

“Just wanted to drop you all a quick note to THANK YOU so much for your skill, speed, delivery and service for the RHS. It was amazing what you pulled out of the bag for us (especially at the last minute!)

So all in all THANKS – you really are all awesome!”
– Jill Witheyman, Marketing Manager at Angus Soft Fruits

The Enchanted Company

The Enchanted Company started when founder, Bernie, was inspired by his young daughter’s love of ‘Miss Bun Bun’ – her pink rabbit! It wasn’t long before Bernie (with some help from his wife, Mariessa) developed a new business idea, creating children’s clothes starring ‘Miss Bun Bun’ and other forest friends. The idea grew from there, and today, The Enchanted Company has expanded to sell knick-knacks and homeware for grown-ups too.

The Brief

‘Clean and modern’ 
Bernie and Mariessa came to us with a desire to grow their business further with a redesign of their brand and website. The project was done in two stages, starting with an interim re-brand before the final brand was unveiled on the 17th May. This was the original brand:

Stage 1: Interim Rebrand

‘Modernise and simplify’
The idea was to work with the original branding, making some small alterations and bringing the website up to a more modern style. Karen was given the task of creating this new brand and we all got very excited with ‘Pinning’ ideas to our collaborative Pinterest board. During this time, we focused on growing engagement and getting the brand message out to more people. 

Stage 2: Development

‘Branding, branding, branding’
We started coming up with some ideas for the new brand and came back to Bernie and Mariessa with these 3 ideas:The favourite was the geometric idea in the middle, so we started to develop this further and Karen got the drawing tools out (see, it’s not all digital work!!)

We had a slight detour when Bernie accidently spotted another idea that Karen had had in the initial brand development: dandelions.

So back to the ‘drawing board’ and we set up our ‘Enchanted Wall’ and had lengthy discussions over how it would work and how to make it look really cool.

Stage 3: The Final Brand

‘A living brand’
After lots of hard work, meetings, Whatsapp messages and happy tears, we were ready to reveal the final brand and launch the website. Martyn was very excited to use his animation skills and created a mini launch video to showcase the new brand.

https://youtu.be/Fs4tVDGJE5c

The final website design drew from our interim redesign, using the same concept and makeup, but changing the style and creating more aspects to the site.
The ‘logo’ and brand image is living and dynamic, changing according to where it is positioned and how it is used. This gives us a number of different brand options that we can choose from to optimise the experience. The parent logo (on the left in the image below) shows the full aspect of the brand, incorporating the key colours, styling, and imagery (i.e. the big dandelion). The logo variations (on the right) are simplified versions, each of which derives from the parent brand.In addition, we also drew on ideas from previous concepts, such as the colouring and style from the ‘geometric’ design, but also decided to create individual identities for the sub-sections of the brand. Kids, gifts and homeware, each has its own identity and colour, helping people to distinguish between them.

So… let us know what you think…