Design with soul is more than a tag-line. To us at the loft, it’s a complete way of life. Our promise to you the client, the partner, the investor or staff is that everything we create in our studio has been worked on with passion and intelligence, that its creator has given their all to its task. That it’s been designed with soul.
We fully reject the nice, the ordinary, the un-ambitious and blue in place of the bold, the brave and the beautiful.
To many, there is a fine line between genius and folly. We take that fine line and dance all over it.
At the loft we build ‘emotive brands.’
Emotive brands are memorable, they stand for something, they educate and inspire. People fall in love with emotive brands. An emotive brand is the cornerstone of a successful business. It allows your company to linger in the memory, provides a statement of intent to staff and drives loyalty from clients and suppliers. In a congested marketplace an ‘emotive brand’ can offer true differentiation and leadership.
‘Nice is no good in tough times.’
Every market segment has reached ‘saturation point.’ True differentiation and boldness is the only way to rise above a ‘sea of sameness’ and create a company, and a cause, that people can buy into.
The Lofts role in building emotive brands is to get to the core of a company’s being. To find out its ‘raison d’etre’ and build the brand from the inside out. Vision workshops, strategic analysis, stakeholder involvement, mission statements are all just the tip of the iceberg in building an emotive brand.
Emotive brands are created using a little strategy, quite a bit of co-operation and a lot of creativity. All fuelled by a genuine passion to build something truly memorable whilst blowing away the commercial goals in the process.
In 2010, I ran a social media campaign asking the lofts followers what they thought of ‘design with soul’? We received a mixed, varied and very personal response. It would appear that this phrase could only ever evoke a personal response. So here is my very personal interpretation of ‘design with soul.’
Ironically it starts with a very common phrase.
I wanted to become a designer in the early 90’s. From about nine years old, I wanted to be a car designer and a landmark TV programme called ‘Better by Design’ with designers SeymourPowell sealed the deal. I distinctly remember them talking a lot about ‘X-factor.’ A delightful phrase used to convey something surprising or delightful. A raising of the pulse. ‘X-Factor’ is why I am a designer today.
How do you ‘engineer appeal?’
Almost twenty years on, from that programme and my experiences as a designer, I can tell you engineering appeal is anything but easy. From the programme, I remember designers painstakingly working through the night, an activity with which I would become very familiar. The ‘all-nighter’ is just the start. It really begins with a heavy dose of idealism. Creativity and passion follows naturally.
A lot of man hours are a given. I found that ‘X-Factor’ really is tweaking and re-tweaking, thinking and re-thinking. It requires at least 10,000 hours of practise and expert status beforehand and inevitably means working to 4AM and beyond. Panda eyes and fast food are just part of the process.
Ultimately it’s the art of creating something special and meaningful. At the loft, we basically put ourselves on the line this way, time and time again. It begins with my own role as the head designer and works its way through all our strategic partners and suppliers. They are all stake-holders in the same madness.
‘Engineering Appeal’ is the reason we do what we do. It’s why we exist.
It’s just that since the talent show, I now call it ‘design with soul.’
Benedetto Bordone, Creative Director & Founder
True Differentiation
In a competitive marketplace (and they nearly all are at the moment,) true differentiation is the only way to grow your business. The creation of a memorable brand experience based on your vision; from the first touch-point to the delivery of the product/service itself, is the only way to grow. Being memorable is so important; it allows you to leverage your existing client/customer bases for referrals as well as making a splash to new prospects.
Build brands from the inside out
No we won’t give you a ‘makeover.’ The long term success of your business relies on your brand working for you and not the other way around. We engage all of the stakeholders but concentrate particularly with the management team ensuring the vision we communicate is one that they understand, believe in themselves and want to take forward. Otherwise, your new glossy communications will be neglected-or even worst – your actions will betray your message. The beginning of every project requires some real heavy lifting. We throw ourselves into this analytical part of the process as it is the most critical element for building a strong brand and long-term commercial success.
Turn up the volume
Once we’ve got the message, the vision and management buy-in. We turn the volume up to ten. Boldness is at the heart of our approach. Not boldness for its own sake but boldness to achieve differentiation and market success.
Relentless ‘Attention to detail.’
It’s all in the detail. The difference between ‘ordinary’ and ‘outstanding’ is usually the combination of hundreds of minor details. We always put that time in. Even when it gets hard (and with digital services and new trends like multi-browser compatibility,) it can get really, really hard. But we understand that this is where the real difference lies and why people choose to engage us.
The loft has two core specialisms; finance and premium brands.
Finance | The loft is one of the founding members of the Finance Gap, a specialist multi-disciplinary consultancy that assists companies in the finance sector with their marketing and communications. Along with our digital/marketing/creative partners we have specialist knowledge of the finance sector, its challenges and the best paths to growth during these times.
Premium Brands | The loft has a real interest and passion for premium brands. In a heavily saturated market, we see it as the only way to go commercially for most companies. A trend that will continue as the effects of globalisation and digitalisation become more profound. We shall be setting up a similar multi-disciplinary consultancy for the design and marketing of ‘premium brands.’
© 2010 The Loft | Webdesign Glasgow. All Rights Reserved
E-Mail: info@theloft.co | The Loft Creative Studios Ltd, 272 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4JR | Tel: +44 (0)141 552 5516