Group Presentation

Last Thursday we had to do a group presentation at college, looking into various companies and designers. My group looked at regional companies:

Navy Blue

Navy Blue is a brand communications agency with offices based in Edinburgh, London, Muscat and Johannesburg. I quite like the clean, structured look to Navy Blue's website, however it is a bit hard to navigate and doesn't show their portfolio of work very clearly. Their logo is nice and simple which  means the images stand out more and are the main focal point. They seem to take on various sized clients and don't stick to one particular style which works well as their client base is so varied.

The Chase

The Chase is a Manchester based studio set up in 1986, the now have an office in London and just recently opened a satellite office in Preston. They are a medium sized studio with 46 staff in total and offer a full range of services. They have worked for alot of big clients for example, Marks and Spencer, BBC, Yellow Pages, Fujitsu, Fox's Biscuits and Selfridges. The Chase have a very modern feel to their work but still keep it corporate enough that it can be successful. Their website is very clean and white, with a simple layout, making it very easy to navigate. Their work has a very contemporary look using alot of photography and illustration to keep it interesting to look at.

Elmwood

Elmwood is and international design business that started in 1977. They work across many disciplines with several areas of specialist knowledge and expertise. Elmwood has many big name clients including ASDA, BBC, Comic Relief, Durex, The FA and Royal Mail. Their website is very green! With all the objects you can see in the image below animated. For me this is far to busy and distracting and also can take a little while to load a new page. However despite the distractions the website is very simple to navigate, the work is very professional and you'll find it hard to find something on here that you haven't already seen in your daily life.

Dedass

Dedass was set up in 1991 making a creative agency that uses alot of illustration in its design. Their work has been seen in many magazines including, Wallpaper, Design Week, Computer Arts, Eye and Icon. Dedass' portfolio is very contemporary with unusual illustrations and a unique style. The website continues this contemporary feel however I initially find it distracting as theres so much to look at on one page, but you quickly get used to it, and despite this it is very easy to nagvigate. Alot of their work is print based pieces, mainly posters or exhibition work.

True North

True North was founded in 2001 in Manchester as an agency 'that creates design that is as effective as it is beautiful.' Alot of their clients are museums but they have also produced work for Adidas, bmi, Durham University and Royal Mail. Their work seems very corporate but with a twist to make it interesting and unique. The website is simple with drop down menus and full screen images. I think the full screen images are very effective as when you are looking through their portfolio it creates drama and impact.

I found this task very helpful and insightful especially as one of the groups had London companies and we went on a college trip to London the week after. We are also currently designing our own portfolio websites so this task was useful to be inspired by professional companies and designer's websites and see what works and what doesn't.