Are you communicating a distinct message? Do your reports and presentations leave your audience begging for more? Is your website and branding delivering you leads? Let us turn information spaghetti into clear and effective communications.
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Our client Network Research launched Fabric, an advanced, bespoke knowledge management tool that works in real-time to help companies engage with customers, interpret behaviours and plan actions customised to their needs.
Keen as Mustard helped create a prominent name, a strong visual identity and launch materials to match their unique technology.
“Over the past couple of years we’ve come to use Keen as Mustard as our go to agency for marketing. Building on our own visual identity and website, we knew we could trust Mustard to create a brand for our new tool that would perfectly describe and communicate its unique abilities and actionable results. Keen as Mustard made sure to give us exactly what we wanted - and more.” - Virginia Monk, MD of Network Research
Branding and design
The name Fabric was born from the weaving together of multiple strands to form a cohesive whole – in the same way the strands of complex and disparate data sources are woven together via the portal.
The logo includes subtle visual nods to the parent brand by reusing the circular shape from the ellipses, along with the orange colour and font type. The symbol demonstrates the strands being interwoven, while also articulating an F.
The strapline refers to the way Fabric can be tailored to any client and to the ultimate benefit of actionable insight, while again referring to the master brand through the ellipses.
Animated video
We prepared a one minute video to immediately engage with visitors. Using a friendly and knowledgeable tone, the animated video connects potential clients to the portal and creates a deeper understanding of its use. To see the full animation click here.
Supporting the launch
We designed postal promotional material including a promo item in the form of a lens cleaner to show clients that they will ‘see more clearly’ using the new portal.
We also designed a banner ad to display in both Research Live and MyCustomer.
Finally, we used our industry contacts to gain media attention from the press. We received coverage in leading research industry publications including Research-Live and MrWeb.Branding and launching the latest technology for Network Research
Our client Network Research launched Fabric, an advanced, bespoke knowledge management tool that works in real-time to help companies engage with customers, interpret behaviours and plan actions customised to their needs.
Keen as Mustard helped create a prominent name, a strong visual identity and launch materials to match their unique technology.
“Over the past couple of years we’ve come to use Keen as Mustard as our go to agency for marketing. Building on our own visual identity and website, we knew we could trust Mustard to create a brand for our new tool that would perfectly describe and communicate its unique abilities and actionable results. Keen as Mustard made sure to give us exactly what we wanted - and more.” - Virginia Monk, MD of Network Research
Branding and design
The name Fabric was born from the weaving together of multiple strands to form a cohesive whole – in the same way the strands of complex and disparate data sources are woven together via the portal.
The logo includes subtle visual nods to the parent brand by reusing the circular shape from the ellipses, along with the orange colour and font type. The symbol demonstrates the strands being interwoven, while also articulating an F.
The strapline refers to the way Fabric can be tailored to any client and to the ultimate benefit of actionable insight, while again referring to the master brand through the ellipses.
Animated video
We prepared a one minute video to immediately engage with visitors. Using a friendly and knowledgeable tone, the animated video connects potential clients to the portal and creates a deeper understanding of its use. To see the full animation click here.
Supporting the launch
We designed postal promotional material including a promo item in the form of a lens cleaner to show clients that they will ‘see more clearly’ using the new portal.
We also designed a banner ad to display in both Research Live and MyCustomer.
Finally, we used our industry contacts to gain media attention from the press. We received coverage in leading research industry publications including Research-Live and MrWeb.
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When Greenbook (a guide for buyers of marketing research and the team behind IIEX) called us to talk about redesigning the famous GRIT Report (GreenBook Research Industry Trends) we were immediately inspired.
The GRIT Report had been going for 16 editions with little or no change to its design. We’d felt for some time that there was a great opportunity to freshen the design and demonstrate how much the visualization of data in our industry has moved on. The GreenBook team felt that the design reflected ‘old MR’ and they wanted to show leadership in the industry - not only with their content but also with design and communication.
We started with an online workshop, Mustard in the UK and the GRIT team in various locations across the USA. Using GoToMeeting we were able to talk face-to-face, share and discuss existing material and get a feel for what the GreenBook team were looking for - what needed to be changed, what kept and what was ‘up for grabs’. We were also able to understand how the publication is put together. GRIT is a collaborative effort with a great deal of support from many sources, with Leonard Murphy at GreenBook acting as the glue holding these diverse elements together.
We quickly discovered that a change in size, format or finish was not an option as the report is available both electronically and printed so there must be one design to serve both purposes. Beyond this core requirement and the need to retain the structure, content and all the data we were given creative freedom.
As a result of this review process we were able to recommend that we produce design guidelines in the form of a template, that the GreenBook in-house designer Megan and their freelance designer, Alex, could use to build the next report.
Our minds buzzing from the workshop, we went away and started to develop an underlying theme for the design that would also appear throughout the document. Elliot, Mustard’s graphic designer came up with the hexagonal pattern that, when overlaid with a transparency, created 3D blocks. We felt that this reflected in a visual way how GRIT builds a nuanced picture of the market research industry from flat data. As part of the process of developing the theme it became apparent that a new visual identity (logo) was required in order to signal change in the design and ethos of the report. Using the inputs from our online workshop, we developed a new identity, built very naturally using the theme we had developed yet integrating the reference to pie charts used in the original GRIT logo.
At the same time we took great care in developing a harmonious colour palette. Clearly, green was an important core colour, but we did try to tone it down a little with the use of white space and a subtle secondary colours. We also picked a classic clean font for the logo and headers and a more readable serif font for body copy. All these were treated as brand elements that would be used consistently through the document along with other elements including the hexagonal motif.
As part of the workshop we agreed to design and supply artwork for the cover, key pages and specifications for colours, fonts and a wide range of chart options, to give Greenbook the opportunity to break the monotony of the existing bar charts. We also put in place a process of ongoing meetings, consultation and support with the team, which allowed them to have our input, if they needed it, whilst they built the new edition from our guideline / artwork template.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience working with GreenBook and we awaited the report’s launch with anticipation. Now Mustard Towers is plastered with them and we are sharing with everyone! To take a look at what we did see this link: http://www.greenbook.org/grit. Lenny Murphy, GreenBook’s Chief Editor & Principal Consultant, said:“After years of growing in importance to the industry as a barometer of trends and strategic direction, it was time for the GRIT report to be updated visually to ‘practice what we preach’ and become more visually engaging to tell the story of our findings in a better way. Our first, last and only choice to help make that happen was the Keen as Mustard team. They worked with us in a deeply collaborative way, guided the process with excellence, and helped us create a new standard for GRIT that incorporated the best of what had come before while refreshing it to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the most dynamic and interesting reports in the world. The final result was a new GRIT that has received accolades by many readers and a product we are very proud of in every way. The Keen as Mustard team quite simply rocked this engagement, and I can’t wait to find another opportunity to work with them.”
Mustard redesigns the GRIT Report
Mustard redesigns the GRIT Report
When Greenbook (a guide for buyers of marketing research and the team behind IIEX) called us to talk about redesigning the famous GRIT Report (GreenBook Research Industry Trends) we were immediately inspired.
The GRIT Report had been going for 16 editions with little or no change to its design. We’d felt for some time that there was a great opportunity to freshen the design and demonstrate how much the visualization of data in our industry has moved on. The GreenBook team felt that the design reflected ‘old MR’ and they wanted to show leadership in the industry - not only with their content but also with design and communication.
We started with an online workshop, Mustard in the UK and the GRIT team in various locations across the USA. Using GoToMeeting we were able to talk face-to-face, share and discuss existing material and get a feel for what the GreenBook team were looking for - what needed to be changed, what kept and what was ‘up for grabs’. We were also able to understand how the publication is put together. GRIT is a collaborative effort with a great deal of support from many sources, with Leonard Murphy at GreenBook acting as the glue holding these diverse elements together.
We quickly discovered that a change in size, format or finish was not an option as the report is available both electronically and printed so there must be one design to serve both purposes. Beyond this core requirement and the need to retain the structure, content and all the data we were given creative freedom.
As a result of this review process we were able to recommend that we produce design guidelines in the form of a template, that the GreenBook in-house designer Megan and their freelance designer, Alex, could use to build the next report.
Our minds buzzing from the workshop, we went away and started to develop an underlying theme for the design that would also appear throughout the document. Elliot, Mustard’s graphic designer came up with the hexagonal pattern that, when overlaid with a transparency, created 3D blocks. We felt that this reflected in a visual way how GRIT builds a nuanced picture of the market research industry from flat data. As part of the process of developing the theme it became apparent that a new visual identity (logo) was required in order to signal change in the design and ethos of the report. Using the inputs from our online workshop, we developed a new identity, built very naturally using the theme we had developed yet integrating the reference to pie charts used in the original GRIT logo.
At the same time we took great care in developing a harmonious colour palette. Clearly, green was an important core colour, but we did try to tone it down a little with the use of white space and a subtle secondary colours. We also picked a classic clean font for the logo and headers and a more readable serif font for body copy. All these were treated as brand elements that would be used consistently through the document along with other elements including the hexagonal motif.
As part of the workshop we agreed to design and supply artwork for the cover, key pages and specifications for colours, fonts and a wide range of chart options, to give Greenbook the opportunity to break the monotony of the existing bar charts. We also put in place a process of ongoing meetings, consultation and support with the team, which allowed them to have our input, if they needed it, whilst they built the new edition from our guideline / artwork template.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience working with GreenBook and we awaited the report’s launch with anticipation. Now Mustard Towers is plastered with them and we are sharing with everyone! To take a look at what we did see this link: http://www.greenbook.org/grit. Lenny Murphy, GreenBook’s Chief Editor & Principal Consultant, said:“After years of growing in importance to the industry as a barometer of trends and strategic direction, it was time for the GRIT report to be updated visually to ‘practice what we preach’ and become more visually engaging to tell the story of our findings in a better way. Our first, last and only choice to help make that happen was the Keen as Mustard team. They worked with us in a deeply collaborative way, guided the process with excellence, and helped us create a new standard for GRIT that incorporated the best of what had come before while refreshing it to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the most dynamic and interesting reports in the world. The final result was a new GRIT that has received accolades by many readers and a product we are very proud of in every way. The Keen as Mustard team quite simply rocked this engagement, and I can’t wait to find another opportunity to work with them.”
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Having spent most of his life in suburban Harrow, Simon recently escaped the Big Smoke and now resides in rural Yorkshire (though not the bit without broadband!). He spends his days wrestling his children, trying to fix an old house, and escaping to his office for some peace and quiet.
Apart from owning his own design business for three years, Simon has worked as a design director in the market research industry for 15 years and is an expert in all things graphical – design, print, websites, PowerPoint, video, training and more.
Research International played host to Simon’s expertise for seven years where he worked alongside Lucy Davison. It wasn't long before he decided the great camaraderie and exciting client opportunities offered by Keen as Mustard were reasons enough to join forces with team Mustard.Favourite Mustard: Horseradish mustard
Simon Dunn
Creative Director
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The team at Mustard Towers recently accepted the exciting challenge of repositioning Dub from a tech provider to a digital qualitative partner. Keen as Mustard helped the company articulate their new positioning and designed a brand new website to deliver Dub’s objective.
Dub provides digital engagement software for researchers, marketers, planners and strategists to help them deliver insight and generate new ideas. They recently joined the Mustard fold in need of a new brand direction and website.
Mustard was eager to accept the challenge of repositioning Dub and helping the company to grow.
We ran a workshop involving the senior management team members to discuss Dub’s vision, positioning, messaging and future objectives. This allowed Mustard to prioritise Dub’s specific needs for the content and design of the new website. This moves the brand from being a technology provider to being a partner, enabling better relationships with people for qualitative insight and innovation. Dub’s Founder and CEO Stephen Cribbett said, “Working with Keen as Mustard has been really helpful. It was stimulating to work with a team who truly understood our company and our clients as well as digital marketing. Mustard listened to our needs and has delivered a new website design and copy that will help our company enter its next phase of growth.”
If you’re in the market research sector and require a touch of marketing from a company that fully understands your industry, please get in touch.Transforming Dub
Branding & Design
The team at Mustard Towers recently accepted the exciting challenge of repositioning Dub from a tech provider to a digital qualitative partner. Keen as Mustard helped the company articulate their new positioning and designed a brand new website to deliver Dub’s objective.
Dub provides digital engagement software for researchers, marketers, planners and strategists to help them deliver insight and generate new ideas. They recently joined the Mustard fold in need of a new brand direction and website.
Mustard was eager to accept the challenge of repositioning Dub and helping the company to grow.
We ran a workshop involving the senior management team members to discuss Dub’s vision, positioning, messaging and future objectives. This allowed Mustard to prioritise Dub’s specific needs for the content and design of the new website. This moves the brand from being a technology provider to being a partner, enabling better relationships with people for qualitative insight and innovation. Dub’s Founder and CEO Stephen Cribbett said, “Working with Keen as Mustard has been really helpful. It was stimulating to work with a team who truly understood our company and our clients as well as digital marketing. Mustard listened to our needs and has delivered a new website design and copy that will help our company enter its next phase of growth.”
If you’re in the market research sector and require a touch of marketing from a company that fully understands your industry, please get in touch.
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Sante Fe is a global mobility services company, which specialises in providing information and logistics to businesses who are relocating an employee or employees overseas. They facilitate a full range of assignment services through locally based offices worldwide, in over 56 locations. Combined with research provided from Circle Research they produce a report, the Global Mobility Survey, annually which they then distribute to clients and potential clients, to advertise their expertise within the industry and beyond.
Keen as Mustard have been tasked for the last couple of years with turning the text and charts supplied in MS Word format by Circle Research and Sante Fe into a dynamic report for print and download that includes info-graphic style charting.
The report is the largest of its kind with the biggest range of research and won an award at a recent industry event.Report, Export
Sante Fe
Sante Fe is a global mobility services company, which specialises in providing information and logistics to businesses who are relocating an employee or employees overseas. They facilitate a full range of assignment services through locally based offices worldwide, in over 56 locations. Combined with research provided from Circle Research they produce a report, the Global Mobility Survey, annually which they then distribute to clients and potential clients, to advertise their expertise within the industry and beyond.
Keen as Mustard have been tasked for the last couple of years with turning the text and charts supplied in MS Word format by Circle Research and Sante Fe into a dynamic report for print and download that includes info-graphic style charting.
The report is the largest of its kind with the biggest range of research and won an award at a recent industry event.
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We don’t know about you, but in the run up to the May 2015 general election here at Keen as Mustard we were all unsure who we were going to vote for. So we asked our brilliant designer Elliot, to come up with an easy way to understand the sentiments of the main political parties. And he has cleverly created this infographic showing the 20 most frequently used words from each party’s manifesto.
To download our infographic click here.Manifesto Sweet Talk
Infographic, Design
We don’t know about you, but in the run up to the May 2015 general election here at Keen as Mustard we were all unsure who we were going to vote for. So we asked our brilliant designer Elliot, to come up with an easy way to understand the sentiments of the main political parties. And he has cleverly created this infographic showing the 20 most frequently used words from each party’s manifesto.
To download our infographic click here.
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"We asked Mustard to both design a new template for HPI and help us to use it in the most effective way possible. The sheer effort and attention to detail that Mustard put in to ensure all of our expectations were exceeded was fantastic and they ensured stakeholder engagement was very high throughout the process (from Graduate to MD). I would recommend them to anyone!"
Tom Wakeman
Partner - HPI
Quote
“We asked Mustard to both design a new template for HPI and help us to use it in the most effective way possible. The sheer effort and attention to... Read more
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The Independent Consultants Group is a thriving community of freelance and independent research experts. Until they approached Mustard they had a rather old-fashioned and dull identity which was not doing them any favours in recruiting new members and in their online profile. Working with the committee and a tiny budget, we focused on what they really wanted to say about themselves and came up with an all-important strapline - ‘expert independent researchers’ - to better explain what they do. We then used the insight gained from our kick off workshop to develop an identity for them that was all about bringing people together, presented in a really bright and modern way.
We then applied the new identity design to their website, coming up with the idea of having 2 big buttons for entry to the right areas of the site. Having drafted the copy for the site and designed the navigation and the subsequent pages, they were ready to launch a radically updated icg on the unsuspecting research world – to great acclaim. As one member put it: “Wow! Most impressive – this definitely brings the ICG into the 21st Century.”ICG
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This was originally posted on Quirk's. You can read it here.
As a marketing agency working in a niche business area like marketing research, we make it a point to keep an eye on what is going on in research, the mergers and acquisitions as well as the general buzz of business life with people changing jobs and new announcements. We are also very interested when a company rebrands or builds a new Web site. The conversation either falls into two camps, admiration for a job well done or unease at things we feel could have been done better.
But we have also observed a trend: Everything is starting to look the same. Design has always been subject to fashion, as trends are adopted and then quickly dismissed within a year or two. This fickleness is probably best demonstrated by the recent move from photorealistic 3-D-style icons to flat 2-D icons. The most high-profile example of this is Apple, when it changed the design of iOS last year. It could be argued that Apple was in fact late to the game and the first indicator of this trend was Microsoft with Windows 8.
Technology has certainly accelerated the speed of change. At the beginning of the Internet design wasn’t a factor. Everyone went wild with excitement building websites without any design skill or consideration – just pure enthusiasm for this new medium. Over time the aesthetic was introduced and the evolution of web standards meant that designers and coders were less restricted by the technology and beautifully-designed websites began to flourish.
Recently there has been a jump in both the design and technology of websites in the form of the parallax scrolling website. This is essentially a long page with a lot of sections; the name parallax comes from different elements on the page scrolling at different speeds.
This presents an interesting new way for web pages to work – arguably the first significant change since the start of the World Wide Web. The downside is that we have seen a homogenization in designs and increasingly see very similar site styles – making us wonder what could cause this design coalescence.
We think it’s that most designers are looking over one another’s shoulders. With the proliferation of visual social media such as Behance and Pinterest, everyone is copying everyone else like a magpie bringing to the nest everything that is shiny and new.
Why is this trend the case in web design but not in brochure design or other collateral? This is probably down to the nature of the technology. Unlike print, a website is something that can be continually tweaked and adjusted. Sites can evolve with input from designers and also unconsciously from visitors to the site whose behavior is tracked with Google Analytics.
This is essentially design by committee on a vast scale born from our continual need to see and adopt what others are doing and our obsession with tweaking and optimizing.Standing out from the rest
So how do we avoid this? Well, companies need to know what they stand for and be brave. Only ever start the design of your website with a full understanding of who you are and what you want your site to do. Always use a creative brief to work with your designer and make sure you use it to discover your own secret sauce.
Above all, be authentic and don’t compromise. You don’t have to make changes to your site just because 4.35 percent of visitors are slightly confused by the use of green to indicate a link. Most of all, just because someone else is doing it doesn’t make it right. We are all unique with various strengths and qualities – let’s differentiate not homogenise.Rethinking your website? Be authentic.
Blog
Rethinking your website? Be authentic.
This was originally posted on Quirk’s. You can read it here. As a marketing agency working in a niche business area like marketing research, we make it a point... Read more
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Maritz Research is renowned for its consumer satisfaction studies. They’re global leaders in that field. Maritz approached us because they wanted to grow awareness of their automotive business amongst automotive research buyers in Europe, so we devised a digital content marketing campaign, in order to initiate conversations with research buyers. To start with, we created a Maritz Automotive microsite – separate but connected to the main Maritz Research site. We designed the site to communicate Maritz’s thought-leadership and extensive experience in automotive research. The microsite serves as a home for brilliant content, and is also host to a constantly updated blog.
Using the microsite as a start point, we create monthly content for ongoing HTML mailers about research into a range of topics of interest to automotive manufacturers such as branding, pricing or car clinics. The mailers are sent out to a focused and targeted database and we track these carefully, providing detailed reports to the Maritz team for follow up sales purposes. We also review and post the content for a new blog each fortnight, taking advantage of the new thinking by Maritz automotive research experts around the world. This is marketed through social media, notably LinkedIn. In order to do this, we created a LinkedIn company profile for the Maritz automotive team. We use this to post the content by Maritz’s experts. We also use sponsored posts, which are great because they allow us to target exactly who we want to reach. The page is updated with fresh content every fortnight.
As a result of this activity, the company has built up a strong following – after the first month they had gained 40+ followers on LinkedIn, and three months later they’re approaching 100.
For a relatively minor investment, Maritz has impacted awareness of its automotive specialists hugely. By creating and promoting content of genuine value to their (very clear and concise) target, they have really caught their attention.
Get in touch if you want to grow the awareness of your business.Maritz
Website, Copy, Newsletter
Maritz Research is renowned for its consumer satisfaction studies. They’re global leaders in that field. Maritz approached us because they wanted to grow awareness of their automotive business amongst automotive research buyers in Europe, so we devised a digital content marketing campaign, in order to initiate conversations with research buyers. To start with, we created a Maritz Automotive microsite – separate but connected to the main Maritz Research site. We designed the site to communicate Maritz’s thought-leadership and extensive experience in automotive research. The microsite serves as a home for brilliant content, and is also host to a constantly updated blog.
Using the microsite as a start point, we create monthly content for ongoing HTML mailers about research into a range of topics of interest to automotive manufacturers such as branding, pricing or car clinics. The mailers are sent out to a focused and targeted database and we track these carefully, providing detailed reports to the Maritz team for follow up sales purposes. We also review and post the content for a new blog each fortnight, taking advantage of the new thinking by Maritz automotive research experts around the world. This is marketed through social media, notably LinkedIn. In order to do this, we created a LinkedIn company profile for the Maritz automotive team. We use this to post the content by Maritz’s experts. We also use sponsored posts, which are great because they allow us to target exactly who we want to reach. The page is updated with fresh content every fortnight.
As a result of this activity, the company has built up a strong following – after the first month they had gained 40+ followers on LinkedIn, and three months later they’re approaching 100.
For a relatively minor investment, Maritz has impacted awareness of its automotive specialists hugely. By creating and promoting content of genuine value to their (very clear and concise) target, they have really caught their attention.
Get in touch if you want to grow the awareness of your business.
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Founded in 2005, Illumination Research is a growing full-service custom market research company based in Ohio. It helps many of today’s most successful companies improve their decision-making through a deep understanding of their customers, lighting their path to growth.
The company has recently developed ‘Speed Suite’, a portfolio of research tools, designed to reduce the time and cost projects need to gain meaningful insight.
The company approached us to help them promote Speed Suite. They were receiving tremendous client interest when sharing these new tools in face-to-face meetings, but they needed a more efficient way to scale up their marketing efforts and drive awareness of the tools on a national level.
Our solution was to create a microsite for the Speed Suite, accessed from the main Illumination company website, that focused on these tools specifically. The microsite serves as a home for brilliant blogs, client case studies, and other content relating to the tools; everything you need to know about them.
It was important to set Speed Suite apart with its own website because these tools are on the leading edge of industry innovation and we felt clients would benefit from a deeper level of information about what they are and how they are used. In our discussions and brainstorms with the team at Illumination, we got one very strong message: Speed Suite gives researchers ‘superpowers’. In effect, these on demand tools turbo-charge research projects; turning researchers into superheroes.
The final messaging we created is fast, affordable, and makes you a superhero.
We came up with the idea of using an animated researcher on the home page of the microsite. The researcher transforms into a superhero when presented with the benefits of the Speed Suite tools. As the benefits zoom on to the screen, she sprouts a cape, a mask, a great big smile, and more.
The microsite and messaging is just the first step however. We are certain you will be seeing a lot more of Speed Suite in the future as we work to drive traffic to the site.
Karri Bass, CEO of Illumination Research, said, “The Keen as Mustard team did an outstanding job understanding our key objectives and developing a very engaging way to bring Speed Suite’s benefits to life. We are extremely happy with the new microsite and excited to have a powerful and efficient way to share our Speed Suite message with current and future clients.”Illumination Research
Turbo Charge your Research
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FocusVision provides technology to support market research. The firm came to us after acquiring Revelation Global, the mobile and web platform for qualitative market research. We had worked with Steve August and his team at Revelation for some time on their marketing; but after acquiring Revelation, FocusVision needed to revise its messaging and website in order to incorporate Revelation.
So we packed our bags and flew to Stamford, Connecticut to conduct a workshop with FocusVision’s board and investors. The workshop reviewed their current positioning and their vision for the future, it looked at their competitors, their brand messaging and where they wanted to go. Once we had honed a creative brief, analysed and revised the brand and site architecture and focused on their core messaging, we were ready to start. Because the company was planning further acquisitions, it wanted the new site up and running in as soon as possible. We developed a schedule that meant we could do it in five weeks - from sign off of the creative brief to launch.
The client also wanted us to build the site on the HubSpot platform; an inbound marketing software platform that helps companies attract visitors and convert leads from their website. We had not used Hubspot before to build a site, but Mustard’s previous experience in building websites and our knowledge of current internet standards meant it didn’t take us too long to get our heads around it. We worked hard to design and build the site within the chosen HubSpot theme, writing all the copy and content to ensure they all worked together to give a focused and relevant message.
The project was successfully completed within the timeframe.
Though the new site for Focus Vision was a temporary solution to a big issue, we are proud of the results, in particular of delivering the project within the short time frame on an unfamiliar platform.FocusVision
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In 2013, Siobhan graduated from the University of Reading with not only a BA (Hons) in typography and graphic communication but also the realization that she could never look at any piece of design again without checking out its kerning.
Before stepping into the working world, she spent three months in America working as a summer camp photographer and travelling from state to state.
After, she returned to her family home in sleepy Devon and decided it was time to join the fast paced lifestyle London has to offer. Her internships and two years of industry experience have seen her working in a variety of different ways, from email to exhibition material design, with various small business and big name clients.Favourite Mustard: English Mustard (as it is the key ingredient in her famous cheese sauce)
Siobhan Nolan
Graphic Designer
Contact:
Favourite Mustard: English Mustard (as it is the key ingredient in her famous cheese sauce)
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Aurora is a thriving market research company offering full service research as well as sample via panels. Their old image was inconsistent and recessive and very much in need of an overhaul if they were to meet their ambitious new business targets.
So Mustard got to work focusing in on what was great about Aurora and linking that to their name. We came up with the idea that they offer a ‘brighter research experience’ both in terms of having really bright people working in their team but also in terms of ensuring the whole experience of working with Aurora was as brilliant as can be. We used this idea to inspire the swirl of stars and the really colourful suite of materials we created to support their new business efforts (mailers and ads as well as post cards).Aurora
Advertising, Design, Branding, Materials
Aurora is a thriving market research company offering full service research as well as sample via panels. Their old image was inconsistent and recessive and very much in need of an overhaul if they were to meet their ambitious new business targets.
So Mustard got to work focusing in on what was great about Aurora and linking that to their name. We came up with the idea that they offer a ‘brighter research experience’ both in terms of having really bright people working in their team but also in terms of ensuring the whole experience of working with Aurora was as brilliant as can be. We used this idea to inspire the swirl of stars and the really colourful suite of materials we created to support their new business efforts (mailers and ads as well as post cards).
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"After years of growing … it was time for the GRIT report to be updated…to ‘practice what we preach’ and become more visually engaging to tell the story of our findings in a better way. Our first, last and only choice to help make that happen was the Keen as Mustard team… The final result was a new GRIT that has received many accolades … and a product we are very proud of in every way. The Keen as Mustard team quite simply rocked this engagement, and I can’t wait to find another opportunity to work with them" Read more here.
Lenny Murphy
GreenBook’s Chief Editor & Principal Consultant
Quote
“After years of growing … it was time for the GRIT report to be updated…to ‘practice what we preach’ and become more visually engaging to tell the story of... Read more
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“With Keen as Mustard you are getting British creativity, an American-like dedication to the task, and great value for money.”
James King
R&I Consultants
Quote
“With Keen as Mustard you are getting British creativity, an American-like dedication to the task, and great value for money.” Read more
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MRops is an end-to end market research operations company, working with research agencies and management consulting firms across the globe. The company was founded in 2007 and has grown very fast – excelling at executing the most complex work in the MR industry. When they approached us earlier this year it was because they felt their visual identity and website were not communicating the right messages anymore.
So, we got started with a workshop, with team members from different offices around the world to discuss the company’s vision, positioning and messaging, and exactly what was special about it. Along with exercises mapping the market and looking at their current communications, we also did a visualisation of their business in the future, giving us an understanding of how to approach the design of the new visual identity.
After the workshop, we synthesised all the materials and worked up a brand strategy document which we used as a spring board for the future design and website. The idea was to focus on how MRops makes really difficult research happen – by building the teams, technology, and processes to support the execution of the most complex work, from targeting hard to reach audiences around the world to developing respondent engagement solutions.
For the new identity we came up with the different arrows and the strapline – ‘this way for possible’. Once the new brand identity was established we built on this with the website design, emphasising the importance of the people with in their company – to excel at executing the most complex work in MR, you need people who are up for the challenge! The site is populated with pictures of the teams around the world at work, and even illustrations of them at play.
COO Wander Meijer said, “Our rebrand and website project has been a great experience with Keen as Mustard. They approached the project attentively and creatively, and delivered excellent results. Our web site visits, LinkedIn and Facebook pages got visited three times as much and several clients spontaneously complimented us. ”
The whole project – from the workshop to the launch of the new site took 12 weeks – and although we all worked fast – we made sure to pay attention to all of the little details. And we’re very proud they show!Research Operations
MRops is an end-to end market research operations company, working with research agencies and management consulting firms across the globe. The company was founded in 2007 and has grown very fast – excelling at executing the most complex work in the MR industry. When they approached us earlier this year it was because they felt their visual identity and website were not communicating the right messages anymore.
So, we got started with a workshop, with team members from different offices around the world to discuss the company’s vision, positioning and messaging, and exactly what was special about it. Along with exercises mapping the market and looking at their current communications, we also did a visualisation of their business in the future, giving us an understanding of how to approach the design of the new visual identity.
After the workshop, we synthesised all the materials and worked up a brand strategy document which we used as a spring board for the future design and website. The idea was to focus on how MRops makes really difficult research happen – by building the teams, technology, and processes to support the execution of the most complex work, from targeting hard to reach audiences around the world to developing respondent engagement solutions.
For the new identity we came up with the different arrows and the strapline – ‘this way for possible’. Once the new brand identity was established we built on this with the website design, emphasising the importance of the people with in their company – to excel at executing the most complex work in MR, you need people who are up for the challenge! The site is populated with pictures of the teams around the world at work, and even illustrations of them at play.
COO Wander Meijer said, “Our rebrand and website project has been a great experience with Keen as Mustard. They approached the project attentively and creatively, and delivered excellent results. Our web site visits, LinkedIn and Facebook pages got visited three times as much and several clients spontaneously complimented us. ”
The whole project – from the workshop to the launch of the new site took 12 weeks – and although we all worked fast – we made sure to pay attention to all of the little details. And we’re very proud they show!
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We worked with fast growing full service research agency Incite for 6 years, taking them from a team of 10 to 40 over that time. We worked on all aspects of their marketing from direct marketing and media relations to identity design and newsletters. One core part of our work for them was the creation of a new identity which reflected the idea of incite as a bright burst of illumination and really engaged clients and employees alike. In addition we created a clean and stylish website that truly reflected the vision of the business.
Incite
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Customer experience expert Network Research has been helping many of the UK’s best known companies to win and build profitable relationships with customers since 1987. The management team approached Mustard to update their brand identity and website as they felt a specialist agency would understand their needs better than one without MR experience. Before we started creating the new brand identity, we got the senior management team members together at a Mustard workshop to discuss the company’s vision, positioning, messaging and vision for the future to pin down exactly what sets Network Research apart.
We synthesised all of the materials we collected and put together a creative brief which we used to inspire the visual identity and website. We focused on the story-telling nature of the work the company does – giving clear views to advise clients how to win and keep profitable customers.
The new visual identity and strapline incorporates three orange dots, or suspension points, after the company name - indicating there is more to follow and communicating the agency’s capacity to translate their insights into compelling, issues based stories, based on research data. The modern, clean web design gives the agency the opportunity to articulate its views in original and interesting ways. Our designs also incorporated a range of support materials for the new branding, such as PPT and Word templates, stationery and notebooks. If you visit Network Research, look out for the orange dots!
Managing Director Virginia Monk said, “For over 30 years, we have been known and respected for our strong opinions on what research says, coupled with intelligent views about what our clients should do to win and keep customers. Finally this is apparent through our visual identity and website. The project has been a pleasure from start to finish - Mustard understood our needs from the outset – and we are very pleased with the outcome.”
We’re really proud of our work. If you’re interested in finding out how to go about a branding or positioning project, please get in touch.Visualising Network Research
Customer experience expert Network Research has been helping many of the UK’s best known companies to win and build profitable relationships with customers since 1987. The management team approached Mustard to update their brand identity and website as they felt a specialist agency would understand their needs better than one without MR experience. Before we started creating the new brand identity, we got the senior management team members together at a Mustard workshop to discuss the company’s vision, positioning, messaging and vision for the future to pin down exactly what sets Network Research apart.
We synthesised all of the materials we collected and put together a creative brief which we used to inspire the visual identity and website. We focused on the story-telling nature of the work the company does – giving clear views to advise clients how to win and keep profitable customers.
The new visual identity and strapline incorporates three orange dots, or suspension points, after the company name - indicating there is more to follow and communicating the agency’s capacity to translate their insights into compelling, issues based stories, based on research data. The modern, clean web design gives the agency the opportunity to articulate its views in original and interesting ways. Our designs also incorporated a range of support materials for the new branding, such as PPT and Word templates, stationery and notebooks. If you visit Network Research, look out for the orange dots!
Managing Director Virginia Monk said, “For over 30 years, we have been known and respected for our strong opinions on what research says, coupled with intelligent views about what our clients should do to win and keep customers. Finally this is apparent through our visual identity and website. The project has been a pleasure from start to finish - Mustard understood our needs from the outset – and we are very pleased with the outcome.”
We’re really proud of our work. If you’re interested in finding out how to go about a branding or positioning project, please get in touch.
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Founded in 2005, Illumination Research is a growing full-service custom market research company based in Ohio. It helps many of today’s most successful companies improve their decision-making through a deep understanding of their customers, lighting their path to growth.
The company has recently developed ‘Speed Suite’, a portfolio of research tools, designed to reduce the time and cost projects need to gain meaningful insight.
The company approached us to help them promote Speed Suite. They were receiving tremendous client interest when sharing these new tools in face-to-face meetings, but they needed a more efficient way to scale up their marketing efforts and drive awareness of the tools on a national level.
Our solution was to create a microsite for the Speed Suite, accessed from the main Illumination company website, that focused on these tools specifically. The microsite serves as a home for brilliant blogs, client case studies, and other content relating to the tools; everything you need to know about them.
It was important to set Speed Suite apart with its own website because these tools are on the leading edge of industry innovation and we felt clients would benefit from a deeper level of information about what they are and how they are used. In our discussions and brainstorms with the team at Illumination, we got one very strong message: Speed Suite gives researchers ‘superpowers’. In effect, these on demand tools turbo-charge research projects; turning researchers into superheroes.
The final messaging we created is fast, affordable, and makes you a superhero.
We came up with the idea of using an animated researcher on the home page of the microsite. The researcher transforms into a superhero when presented with the benefits of the Speed Suite tools. As the benefits zoom on to the screen, she sprouts a cape, a mask, a great big smile, and more.
The microsite and messaging is just the first step however. We are certain you will be seeing a lot more of Speed Suite in the future as we work to drive traffic to the site.
Karri Bass, CEO of Illumination Research, said, "The Keen as Mustard team did an outstanding job understanding our key objectives and developing a very engaging way to bring Speed Suite’s benefits to life. We are extremely happy with the new microsite and excited to have a powerful and efficient way to share our Speed Suite message with current and future clients."Turbo charging Illumination Research
Blog
Turbo charging Illumination Research
Founded in 2005, Illumination Research is a growing full-service custom market research company based in Ohio. It helps many of today’s most successful companies improve their decision-making through a... Read more
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FreshMinds recently adopted a new visual identity; to mark the merging of its social business with its research business.
Mustard was set the task of creating a powerpoint design which fit in with this new branding. We created two templates; an auditorium template for large presentations and a report template for intimate settings and emailing.
Once we had created the templates in close consultation with Nikki at Fresh Minds Creative Director Simon also went along to their HQ to do some training with the team, demonstrating how to use the templates to create consistent and on brand presentations.
This helped to reverberate a clear and consistent brand image throughout FreshMind’s communication channels, allowing them to fully utilise their new brand image.Presenting FreshMinds
Design, Templates
FreshMinds recently adopted a new visual identity; to mark the merging of its social business with its research business.
Mustard was set the task of creating a powerpoint design which fit in with this new branding. We created two templates; an auditorium template for large presentations and a report template for intimate settings and emailing.
Once we had created the templates in close consultation with Nikki at Fresh Minds Creative Director Simon also went along to their HQ to do some training with the team, demonstrating how to use the templates to create consistent and on brand presentations.
This helped to reverberate a clear and consistent brand image throughout FreshMind’s communication channels, allowing them to fully utilise their new brand image.