More details begging for sponsorship to follow!

This years Popi Ski trip was in Morzine, France. The ski addiction is spreading with our newest Skiier Graeme joining in with the fun! After a few lessons on the dry slope, Graeme was ready to hit the Black Runs. We all had a great time with only one ‘lost’ incident that ended up with a taxi ride back to the appartment.

Congratulations to our Studio Manager, Paul Woodger, who got married to Corina on Valentines Day this year. It was a beautiful day at Cooling Castle Barn with a magician, fantastic food and a live band. Everybody had a great day and we’d like to wish all the best to the wonderful newly weds, Mr and Mrs Woodger.

Working with the client our conclusions drew us to an elegant design using a scripted typeface resembling that of a royal letter. Produced on keaykolour parchment with a matching envelope, the look was finished off with a bespoke wax seal carrying the flash emblem that makes up part of Rayovac’s logo. The names were hand brushed in by Peter, co-founder of Popi and lettering artist by trade for a great portion of his career which bought an authentic old school edge to the final project.

The result was something striking and high impact, with a range of talent and skills being bought into motion to create the final project. It was reported back to us that the vast majority of recipients commented on how well they fitted the theme, with particular interest being drawn the seal. The invitations helped set the tone for the event and both the client and recipient’s expectations were exceeded.

If you think Popi could help enhance the impact of an event you are holding, or you would like to add an extra dimension to your invites or any other project using the Popi touch, please get in touch!

Woody

See how you get on, I got 5 wrong out of 20 and clearly am not as good as I think I am!

Woody

Take the quiz here http://www.ironicsans.com/helvarialquiz/

This got me thinking that seeing an error on an advert or any printed document for that matter makes me question the integrity of the company who have posted it. Dealing with type and layout is what we do, and in these modern times not only do we design and artwork for our clients but we also take on their artwork – which has sometimes been set by themselves and others by 3rd party designers. We plan and proof this artwork back to our clients for that all important ‘final check’ to make sure nothing has gone wobbly and once approved we send it to print. My point is, that when artwork is sent in, apart from planning the job and checking the technicalities are correct (trap, bleed, pagination etc) we don’t check the content at all.

Back in the old days, we would proof read everything we sent out and Peter would read letter for letter what had been typed in to ensure that what popi had produced was spot on. Of course turn around was slower, production costs where higher and supply of artwork was few and far between. It meant time was somewhat more luxurious. I personally think this lost link back to the old days is a service that should never have disappeared. What I’m proposing is resurrecting is this ‘old school’ service, harking back to the good old days, where we can proof read your artwork, spell check and read your documents before we print, sure it might cost a little extra and possibly add a day to the turnaround but wouldn’t you rather that than a £27 million mistake?

The Maidstone based Lawyers and Investment Managers came to us asking for a minor makeover, freshening up their brand to encourage more enquiries from a wider audience. Currently their branding focusses heavily on being unique to Kent and they have set us the task of expanding the message of being able to offer their expertise nationally whilst being unique to Kent.

Popi Sponsor Maidstone Rally Driver

Here at popi we do love a bit of home grown talent, so when 23 year old Rally Driver Louise Cook from Maidstone came knocking at our door asking for sponsorship we were keen to get involved. Anyone willing to hit a blind crest at over 100mph on gravel is alright in our books, and worthy of sponsorship!

Louise is competing in The Dulux Trade British Rally Championship. She dreamt up and implemented a campaign called Promotion50 which encourages local businesses to sponsor her at £50 a go to help raise the £25,000 needed to keep her rallying. Louise (or Cute Cookie as she is commonly known on the Rally Circuit) currently lies 5th in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy, top 10 in the F2 Championship and is leading the BRC Ladies Cup. You may have spotted her on the television in the winter offering driving tips in the snow, or even at Eagle Heights in Eynsford in Kent where she raced a Peregrine Falcon and a Cheetah in a Celebration of Speed! (pictured).

Some of the guys in the studio are keen motor-sport enthusiasts and have previously designed the vehicle graphics for the Varta sponsored rally car driven by Ryan Champion in the 2008 WRC Welsh rally. We felt that sponsoring Louise and helping her to realise her dreams was the least we could do. We will be following her progress and wish her the best of luck with her campaign!

To find out more about Louise and her rally driving exploits please visit http://www.cutecookie.co.uk

Cheers,

Woody

You will notice in the coming months a reinvention of our published items, be it print or web based. The current look has been in place for 3 years now and while it still looks fresh (well we think it does!) we are in the process of giving it an overhaul. One of the beautiful things about being in the position we are in is the ability to use ourselves as a showcase for our talents. This is a great cross selling technique as it gives our designers space to flex their creative muscles and also the printers and finishers to shine with their production expertise. Expect some fresh looking materials from Popi by the middle of the year!

Woody

As you can imagine, being printers we are surrounded by paper. From time to time we end up with surplus stock which either gets used to make ready to print on or sits on the shelf for months and months. Well, now we have found a home for it. Woody’s fiancé Corina is a teacher at Woodlands Infant School in Tonbridge, we have come to an agreement whereby she picks up the Die’s for our Diecutting Machine and we repay the kindness in paper. “The children love having big sheets of paper to draw or paint on and it comes in handy for all the craft projects and wall displays we do, paper is expensive and is a huge drain on our school budget so it is fantastic to be able to mutually help each other out in this way”.

Ian