This year, enjoy our Christmas Cocktails.

Give them a try and post photos of your cocktails on our Facebook Page.

Photo © Rob Grange Photography

Earlier this year Keswick Tourism Association (KTA) approached us with an idea – to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, they wished to present to Her Majesty a portrait mosaic made up of photographs of Keswick and the Lake District.

Jobs like this don’t come round very often, and its uniqueness really appealed to us. We built on KTA’s initial idea and presented them with a proposal that made the concept viable, marketable and, most importantly, beneficial to them as an association and tourist destination. This included an opportunity to increase their photo library, social media following, and mailing list subscribers, as well as opening the door to potential advertising/sponsorship opportunities for their members within the Portrait itself.

The project had two obvious goals:

1. Create a unique piece of artwork to celebrate The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. It was important for this to be a gift from Keswick, and to achieve this we needed to get people involved – local residents and businesses, and the many visitors to the area.
2. In turn, promote Keswick.

Phase 1 of the website created awareness of the project, what it was and how to get involved, plus the business opportunities, and a submission form so people could contribute photos.

Website Phase 1 - www.keswickjubilee.co.uk

Traffic was driven to the website over a short time period through a high level of media exposure in the local press, including The Times & Star, The Lake District Herald, The Keswick Reminder and The Cumberland News, as well as a direct request for photographs on BBC Radio Cumbria. Word was also spread effectively via the Keswick Tourism Facebook and Twitter channels, with Twitter proving particularly successful.

The Portrait mosaic incorporates a total of 2,450 photos, which include breath-taking scenery, friends and families enjoying the area, local businesses, attractions and produce. The finished portrait represents a unique image of Keswick in 2012 – the perfect contemporary snapshot captured for the Diamond Jubilee year. The portrait was officially unveiled on 1st June at Derwentwater Foreshore by the directors of KTA and local press.

Unveiling the Portrait at Derwentwater with David Jackson, Chairman, KTA; Linda Furniss, Tourism Officer, KTA; and the Mayor & Mayoress of Keswick

The final website provides a myriad of features and functionality and is fully content managed, powered by WordPress. The portrait artwork can be interacted with via a special interface which allows users to zoom into and explore each of the individual 2,450 photos in detail. Every resident, business and visitor that contributed photos is individually acknowledged. A guestbook provides visitors the opportunity to leave comments and messages to The Queen. Finally, before making its way to Buckingham Palace, the framed portrait will be displayed in and around Keswick at various venues, a full schedule of which is found on the website.

The website is the official source for Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in and around Keswick and the Lake District throughout 2012, so it was important to integrate an events content management system to make the website both usable and easy to update and manage; promoting events over the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend and throughout 2012 in Keswick. Each events listing has it’s own individual click through page, with full event details and a location map.

Visit keswickjubilee.co.uk

The Queen’s Portrait has been an exciting and interesting project, and working with Keswick Tourism Association on this has been an absolute pleasure. We’ve also had some great feedback from KTA and many others since the Portrait launch on 1st June:

“Slug & Bull listened to my ideas for the project, and then put together a plan and proposal which reflected not only understanding of the project but added so much more. The website is fabulous and exceeded expectations and both it and the portrait were delivered on time without any fuss – a major task given the scale of the work involved. I could not recommend them more for innovative and imaginative work, first class delivery and great to work with.”
—Linda Furniss, KTA Tourism Officer

“Slug & Bull not only met our criteria but were a joy to work with, ensuring that the project exceeded our expectations by providing detailed planning and attention to detail. The associated website they designed wonderfully captured the spirit of the Jubilee. The finished portrait has been drawing in the visitors, all of which have commented on what a wonderful mosaic it is. I would have no hesitation in recommending them.”
—David Jackson, Chairman, KTA

Brief: To design and produce stationery for a Christening.
Style: To be ‘super elegant and super cute’.
Items: Invitations, envelopes, thank you cards, menus and gift tags.

“AMAZING!!! You really understood what I was looking for. Very pleased with the outcome; stunning, super stylish and incredibly cute. We love it!”
—Olga Selfa Marin, Mother & Event Planner

The Winter Warmth Fund Leaflets

The Winter Warmth Fund is managed by Cumbria Community Foundation as part of the national Surviving Winter Appeal.

The campaign appeals for unwanted Winter Fuel Payments and donations to help older people suffering from the cold.

We were asked by Cumbria Community Foundation to design and produce the identity and leaflets for the campaign. We produced 40,000 leaflets which were distributed through the November 2011 issue of Cumbria Life Magazine.

Feedback from the client:

“The Winter Warmth Appeal was a huge success with over £50,000 raised. At the heart of the campaign was our leaflet distribution. It was a pleasure working with Slug & Bull, they grasped the brief quickly and generated designs which were contemporary but which encapsulated the important messages we wanted to put over. We were working to a tight deadline and they met and exceeded our expectations.”
—Andy Beeforth OBE, Director, Cumbria Community Foundation

Hot Spots Flyers

Following the success of The Winter Warmth campaign, we were approached by Stoneleigh Communications on behalf of Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency for their scheme, ‘Warm Homes, Hot Spots’.

Hot Spots is a Cumbria Affordable Warmth Partnership project administered by Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency and funded by Cumbria County Council through the Department of Health’s Warm Homes, Healthy People Fund.

The scheme is for vulnerable people across Cumbria who are in danger from cold homes – older people, the sick and young families on low incomes who are at highest risk. It offers fast financial and practical help to repair heating systems, maintain boilers, provide replacement heaters or help make a cold home more energy efficient.

We were asked to design and produce flyers and information cards building on the visuals we had produced previously for The Winter Warmth Fund.

25,000 flyers were distributed to homes throughout Cumbria and 5,000 cards were given to social workers, health visitors and carers.

Feedback from the client:

“We’d been struck by the work that Slug & Bull had already done for Cumbria Community Foundation and wanted to continue those same themes. Slug & Bull were flexible, their estimated costs were very clear, they helped us to meet several tight deadlines and they even came up with a couple of options when we were struggling to fit everything that we needed to say in restricted spaces. Thanks for making a challenging project work out so well.”
—Sally Seed, Stoneleigh Communications and David Prentice, Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency

All you need to do is download Christmas card, print out on nice — the-thicker-the-better — A4 card, trim on the lines and fold down the middle! Enjoy!

P.s. Leave a comment below, we’d love to know what you think!

What’s this all about?

With Christmas just around the corner, we’ve decided to have a bit of fun! Starting 1st December we’re uploading a series of free printable christmas cards for you to download, print out and send to your friends.

Get the full series of printable Christmas cards

• Printable Christmas Card #1: Snowman
• Printable Christmas Card #2: Turtle Doves
• Printable Christmas Card #3: Present
• Printable Christmas Card #4: Santa Claus

All you need to do is download Christmas card, print out on nice — the-thicker-the-better — A4 card, trim on the lines and fold down the middle! Enjoy!

P.s. Leave a comment below, we’d love to know what you think!

What’s this all about?

With Christmas just around the corner, we’ve decided to have a bit of fun! Starting 1st December we’re uploading a series of free printable christmas cards for you to download, print out and send to your friends.

Get the full series of printable Christmas cards

• Printable Christmas Card #1: Snowman
• Printable Christmas Card #2: Turtle Doves
• Printable Christmas Card #3: Present
• Printable Christmas Card #4: Santa Claus

All you need to do is download Christmas card, print out on nice — the-thicker-the-better — A4 card, trim on the lines and fold down the middle! Enjoy!

P.s. Leave a comment below, we’d love to know what you think!

What’s this all about?

With Christmas just around the corner, we’ve decided to have a bit of fun! Starting 1st December we’re uploading a series of free printable christmas cards for you to download, print out and send to your friends.

Get the full series of printable Christmas cards

• Printable Christmas Card #1: Snowman
• Printable Christmas Card #2: Turtle Doves
• Printable Christmas Card #3: Present
• Printable Christmas Card #4: Santa Claus

All you need to do is download Christmas card, print out on nice — the-thicker-the-better — A4 card, trim on the lines and fold down the middle! Enjoy!

P.s. Leave a comment below, we’d love to know what you think!

Get the full series of printable Christmas cards

• Printable Christmas Card #1: Snowman
• Printable Christmas Card #2: Turtle Doves
• Printable Christmas Card #3: Present
• Printable Christmas Card #4: Santa Claus

The awards, in conjunction with Print & Paper Monthly (Whitmar Publications) ‘celebrate all the best things in print – quality innovation, its environmental ethos and importantly, the people.’ So the nomination alone is something we’re very proud of and a big pat on the back for us.

6000 leaflets we’re printed on Cyclus Print 100% Recycled, FSC certified paper, using environmentally friendly inks by McKanes Printers, Keswick. Printing the leaflets on the Cyclus Print recycled stock meant they were eligible for the ‘Best of Recycled’ category within the Awards.

The Print & Design Awards announcement read:

We have had a tremendous response to the awards this year – our best ever. There were some stunning examples of print.

The environmental category, as always, was inspiring, with all contenders showing a deep understanding of how print works hand in hand with ecological issues and provides greener communiations.

The judges felt that the overall quality and creativity of the entries was fantastic and in all categories it was a difficult selection process to shortlist the best. But after much discussion the nominees were finally chosen.

The Print & Design Awards will be held aboard the Silver Sturgeon boat on the River Thames on 23 June.

Download an extract PDF from the Print & Paper Monthly June edition announcing the nominees in our category.

8 Faces is a new magazine for fans of typography that asks eight leading type designers compelling questions informing the arguments behind “good” type usage. The magazine had sold out completely the first day it was announced. Luckily Media Temple (mt), the lead sponsors of 8 Faces, had some limited editions made exclusively for partners and some lucky clients. To win a copy you had to enter an example of work showcasing your best typography.

We decided to enter the wedding stationery that Matt had designed earlier in the year for his wedding. Having obsessed over it for months, it was one of our favourite pieces of typography work… and Media Temple agreed!

See what you think of the wedding stationery below.

Custom Monogram of Matthew & Olga. Fonts used are Mrs. Eaves and Aphrodite Pro

Info card accompanying wedding invitation

Order of Service cover

Order of Service sheet in Spanish and English so all guests could follow the service

Cocktail menu, information sheet and thank you card

Table name card. The bride had danced ballet for 20 years, so tables were named after famous ballets

Thank you card to accompany wedding favours