Being in the process of selling our house and looking for another one to buy, I am continually surprised at how influenced I am by the first impression I have of a house. Now, I think I’m a pretty open-minded person, and as a keen amateur interior-designer and obsessive decorator, I’m better than most at seeing through clutter and tatty decor. But even I struggle sometimes, and it has a lasting negative impact.

And it occurred to me that this lesson is one that we marketers should remember when presenting our products and services to market – sometimes, content must suffer at the expense of impact!

So get de-cluttering and make sure your potential customers have the visual space to see your most critical message – or they might just walk away without knowing exactly what you’ve got to offer.

Whether a symptom of today’s “economic downturn” and budget-busting business policy or not, forgetting the importance of great design in business communications is just not logical. More than ever, you now need to make an impact and get to the point before your competitors do, and make sure you leave a lasting impression of your brand.

As a B2B marketer making a budget stretch too far and needing to influence an often complex decision making unit, great design should be a fundamental element of your marketing strategy. So, next time you brief your agency for a comms project, leave them a bit of time to do the job you pay them for – creative design. It may require a bit of juggling of your budget, but it’s well worth the extra effort if you end up with something truly great.

And finally, be open-minded when the ideas come back! If you’re scared of the design suggestions, if it makes you feel a little uneasy, if it “doesn’t look like” the things you are used to... it probably means it’s great design.

I know, there are hundreds of e-zines, blogs, tweets and the like to keep up with nowadays, but finding something genuinely helpful for free is rare. Check this out:

www.imediaconnection.com

Yes, it can be a bit American every now and again, and you do have to subscribe and receive slightly too many emails, but that’s no bad thing when the content is well written, sometimes funny and prompts us marketers to remember our priorities. Some funny insight from the agency side too, which might help us become better clients!

A big congratulations at last goes out to Matt and Angie for the birth of baby James. This new addition to the family means that Matt is no longer out numbered and has someone to teach the wonders of Formula One racing, as Sophie and Emily just wanted him to play princess no matter how hard he tried!

Back from holiday for a few weeks now and it seems such a long time ago already! We had a fabulous time and would recommend it to anyone, especially Marrakech. If, like me, you've always wanted to be in an Indiana Jones film then this is the place, from the 90 degree heat to the cobra snakes in the market place moving to the hypnotic sound of the flute and the alley ways of the souk, a place I can only describe as something from the movie Labyrinth – a place you could easily get lost in for days!

Just wish I had taken the SLR, could have got some amazing shots.

Although we will enjoy not finding sunflower seeds basically everywhere, Julia was a fantastic addition to the team over the 3 years she worked with us and we all wish her the very best in her future career.

For any of our clients who normally dealt with Julia please liaise with Matt or Kirk on 020 7424 5555 or matt@gdc.uk.net or kirk@gdc.uk.net

The show is currently playing at the Aldwych Theatre just off the Strand, the theatre is quite small which in a way is nice because no matter where you sit you’re guaranteed a great view, the show itself was very well executed, with such minimal set changes it was really down to the performers to make the show what it was – and although I’ll get some stick for this in the studio, it was absolutely brilliant!

There's really no need for me to tell you the story because if you’re female and anything like my partner you know every single line to it anyway. Leanne, you rock!

Today is my first day as a Designer at GDC, my name is Tom Greenway and my background is in online and offline creative, I also bring to GDC experience in food and packaging design. One of my first tasks was to create a paragraph of copy about myself for my business card. As our cards provide a light-hearted but honest overview of each of us I had to draw on friends and ex-colleagues for some inspiration. To be honest I was a bit surprised by just how much inspiration I received, clearly I've saved one particular ex-colleague money on any future anger management or therapy sessions! I thought I might as well include the responses to let you get to know me a little quicker, so here they are:

Callooh Callay is a new bar in the heart of Shoreditch, it’s one you must visit even if it’s just once. Inspired by the nonsensical poem ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll, Callooh Callay originally featured as part of his novel ‘Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There'. The bar as you walk in is quite small but cosey with a lot going on, at the back of the bar is an old wardrobe which you walk through to get to the lounge (yes, just like in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe!) beyond this the place gets even stranger, with a crane holding up a chandler and toilet walls covered in old cassette tapes.

The signature ‘Mad Hatters Tiki Punchbowl’ is served in their exclusive gramophone punchbowl and is composed of Seven Tiki Rum, Crème de Peche, rhubarb and ginger juice with freshly squeezed lemon juice and plenty of Angostura and grapefruit bitters is a must if there is a group of you, and with beer that changes every week there is a varied range of drinks on offer.

Quite pricey, but how often do you go to a Mad Hatters Tea Party.

We appreciate bravery at GDC, one description for this lovely lady, she clearly doesn't fear any genre of music – she'll take the lot on!

('How Deep Is Your Love' is a personal fave)

www.wingmusic.co.nz

For about the first 3 or 4 years of living together my wife seemed to take great joy in finding me 'little jobs' around the house, I'm not sure why, I didn't express a desire for said jobs or communicate that I had lots of spare time that needed filling. I use up my creative juices at work so don't have much interest in DIY (OK apart from power tools, all men like power tools). I've now pretty much stamped out these little requests, I've done this using the same approach I have to holiday packing, do it really, really badly and one holiday sans hairdryer later they'll never ask again. However there is another good reason for me not to do DIY, I'm crap at it, and even if initially it seems to have gone well, we're days, if not hours away from a flood or blackout of some sort.

The same applies to most things in life, DIY can seem the best way, you don't charge yourself... however the reason you can't charge for your services is that you aren't that good.

I know what's the point? Here it comes, your brand or identity, whichever word you prefer has a value, if you calculate the investment over time it can quickly become tens of thousands if not hundreds. A few months of badly produced, positioned or worded marketing can unravel this investment, costing even more to re-establish at a later date.

Although I know with shrinking marketing budgets this can be unwelcome concept, but in a difficult climate it's vital that your business continues to market itself to current and potential clients. It's vital that when cautiously deciding where to place their business it's your brand that springs to mind. It's also never been more important to ensure that your messages and presentation are correct, your brand must communicate that you understand your clients' needs – an overly expensive gift can offend when they really wanted a reduction in your fees, as much as badly produced marketing sends a very negative message.

The moral of the story? Put the spanner down and call a Plumber.

We were commissioned yesterday to redesign Kopykat Printing's website. Based in the City of London they've been providing quality print services for over 20 years. They want their new site to better reflect recent achievements including two environmental accreditations.

A few projects recently have forced us to pick up a camera, try to remember where we put the lighting equipment and dig deep for those long lost photography skills – as it turns out it's been quite good fun! We've recently shot over 100 products for a client's new online store, taken the shots you'll see in our portfolio, new brochure and a few other client projects. This isn't the last of us using our professional suppliers, but being able to offer studio photography has certainly allowed us to keep one or two recent client budgets lower whilst producing some great images.

Anyone who's been on ski holidays would know that there can never be "too much snow". It's always the more the better, but last week snow boarding in St Anton, I actually found myself shouting skywards "stop snowing" pretty much every day.

Some days were complete white-outs (I couldn't even see the end of my board) but obviously that didn't stop me from heading up to the top of the mountain! Luckily, there are no broken bones to report, but a lot of sore muscles, a bruised bum, and of course, I managed to get a skier's tan on my face on the one and only day which was sunny! Kirk and Matt found this highly amusing on my first day back in the studio.

I’m going again on the 26th March for the weekend, note to self: bring sun block.

I was seated, as per usual, behind the tallest person in the audience! There were so many jokes packed into the show, a few of them I hope the five year old who was kicking my chair continuously did not understand, and a memorable “They are just shoes...” gag which had my sister (as well as all the women in the audience) in stitches. It was fairly expensive at up to £75 per ticket, although I would definitely go and see it again. Until then, I'll just have make do with the soundtrack!

It's been a busy few days. We were recently invited to take part in a rebranding tender for a large multi-national based in California. Initially we had to turn it down due to client commitments, however we got a second invite a few days before the presentation due to another agency pulling out. With the original client deadlines completed we decided why not and burnt the midnight oil for a few days to see what we could prepare. The other agency had the advantage of a few weeks more than us, we lost the pitch but I'm informed it was not an easy decision.

However, I'm very happy with the presentation we put together in just 4 days, it shows what we can do when fueled with ridiculous amounts of take-away food!

A few Fridays back we hit a new bar in town to see if the place is up to par, and I have to say – The Hoxton Pony didn’t disappoint!

The decor has a very contemporary feel to it – of course with a few features only a Shoreditch waterhole can pull off. Next to the ground floor bar is a full sized car – it’s parts dismantled, mono-painted and mounted on the wall. Behind the bar, encased in perspex boxes, are stuffed birds – their habitat painted on canvas behind them. You find yourself so fascinated with them, you almost forget to peruse the menu for your beverage! After a few pints and a "Rose Bath" (champagne with a rose petal in it – for Hayley, I must add) we headed downstairs to the second bar, which includes a dance floor and comfy red leather seating. A few of our friends ordered Sausage & Mash form the "East End Grub" menu. The music in the Pony is a mix of funky house through to the Rolling Stones, which broke the night up nicely and there was something for everyone to shake what their mumma gave them to!

But the thing you MUST try if you go is "The Hoxton Tea Party" The tea is almost 70% alcohol infused in a self-cooling decanter, a blend of alcohol and fruit cocktail that will have you doing the running man before you know it! The decanter has a little tap, and whenever you like just pop your bespoke, hand crafted cup and saucer underneath for a top-up. To compliment this, they have a menu of sandwiches and homemade biscuits served on an afternoon tea stand.
So if, like me, you’re on the look out for something more than the usual boring City bars on a Friday night, get down a try The Hoxton Pony on Curtain Road, I think you'll love it! :o)

We recently finished a website for Funds for Print, part of the City Fringe Partnership, FFP provides government funded assistance to local printers in helping them to communicate with print buyers in and around the City. The site includes some interesting features including a local printer directory that allows printers to list detailed information about their business and specialist services, it also includes a green rating system giving environmentally conscious print buyers basic information to narrow down search results, an idea that was researched and designed at GDC.

www.fundsforprint.org.uk

We recently won a pitch to redesign Giddings Design website, Giddings have been designing and installing interiors, windows and POS for the most prestigious names in the jewellery and watch industry for over 40 years. Some of there most recent projects include Nicholas James in Hatton Garden and various displays in Harrods. They're also responsible for the Breitling POS displays you'll find in jewellery store windows around the UK. We're busy building the new site now and will be taking product photography in the next few days.