Four creative lessons B2B designers can learn from B2C

B2C design is known for being fun, provocative and daring. B2B doesn’t have the same reputation – yet – but it does have the same potential.

Trendspotting: what’s caught our eye in technology

What’s new? What’s coming? And how are brands using these trends?

Let's talk about X

Twitter, as we knew it, is no more. There’s a famously fine line between genius and insanity. Which camp does Elon Musk’s latest move belong in?

Cut the jargon. The best B2B writing is plain and simple

Far from making you sound smarter, complex language makes things – well – complex. Stick to simple language to engage your audiences and stand out from the crowd.

Design lessons from the middle of the Atlantic

What do sailing across the Atlantic and a career as a Digital Designer have in common? Quite a lot actually. Fear, adaptability and teamwork all play a vital role in the success of both.

More than an afterthought: UX builds emotional connections

You can’t reverse-engineer emotional connection, so stop trying to cram UX into the end of your design process.

Trendspotting: what’s caught our eye in design

What’s new? What’s back? And how are these trends being used by brands?

No creator is an island

A developer, a designer, a strategist and a writer walk into a bar and... discuss how they collaborate to deliver creative magic for clients.

Print isn’t dead: The power of print in reshaping user experience

That new book smell – could it be your next piece of content?

Understanding ABM in five steps

Are you thinking about account-based marketing (ABM) but aren’t entirely sure what it is? Fear not. Whether you’re new to ABM or want to remind yourself of the method, we’ve got the basics for you.

100 years of the BBC… sort of

This year marked 100 years of the BBC. We thought we’d celebrate this giant of video and audio by looking at the one thing the BBC doesn’t do - advertising. 

Want to be more creative? You’ve got to get weird.

Too often, timelines and client demands can stop the most creative ideas from seeing the light of day. So, how can you deliver fresh ideas and keep clients happy? It’s time to embrace your weird.

Faking bad: why marketers need to maintain standards in a post-truth world

When does creativity become dishonesty? Can you lie ethically? Ultimately, it’s about striking the right balance between outright lies and creative authenticity.

Designing an authentic emotional connection

In conversation with Rose and David: it’s not just about creating an emotive campaign, the most successful brands are the ones that genuinely know their audience and can authentically reach them on an individual level.

Designing and developing web experiences for everyone

The web is continually evolving with new technical approaches and developments appearing every day. As developers, we must stay on top of these changes and make sure that inclusion is the key consideration when creating new experiences.

Telling authentic tales

As tempting as the latest marketing trends can be, brand authenticity is more important. That's not to say there's no room for creative storytelling, brands can still be bold and experimental while staying true to who they are.

Why bold design is good business

Design is a great differentiator. It can stop people in their tracks. Make them laugh. Bring them to tears. And even set your brand apart from the competition – if you dare to be bold.

International Women’s Day: A call to inspiration and creativity

Two of our Frameworkers were featured in articles written by Creative Boom founding editor Katy Cowan on International Women’s Day. Here’s what she had to say…

The importance of being curious

It may have killed the cat, but we need to embrace curiosity to unleash our creativity.

Creating connections through design

Audience interaction is vital for brands looking to improve engagement. Good design elevates storytelling by turning an idea into something people can relate to.

Reactive Marketing: Why timing is (still) everything

Unlikely associations between seemingly disparate brands can be a stroke of reactive marketing genius.

Match point: how we created an integrated campaign for Wimbledon and IBM in just two weeks

In the grand scheme of things, two weeks is a very short period of time. It can flash past in what feels like a second, leaving you scratching your head, wondering what you achieved or who you caught up with. But put your mind to it and you really can pack a lot in.

How to deliver cracking video content during lockdown

Just a few weeks ago, the thought that upcoming video shoots would have to be cancelled because of something as surreal as social distancing would have felt like – ahem – a sick joke. So much of the everyday reality of work has needed rethinking since then, but when you’re involved in creating content for brands, a lot of that being video, the need for new ways of working has been particularly pronounced.

All together now: how brands are lifting spirits in response to Covid-19

How things have changed in a matter of weeks. The seismic shift in, well, everything, has left us all grappling with a new reality. There’s no playbook for this new normal but there’s a heavy sense of grief for the things we took for granted.

Our five favourite ads from Super Bowl 2020

Sunday 2 February 2020 marked a pretty big day in the advertising (and sporting) calendar. As in previous years, this year’s Super Bowl mainly had us talking about the things that happened between key events on the field. With the cost of a 30-second TV ad reaching $5.6 million, the standard for creative output is notoriously high.

Too much story. Not enough telling.

A great deal of virtual ink has been expended over the past decade or so on the theme of storytelling in marketing. And it’s easy to see why the idea is so appealing.

Four ways designers can help save the world

Our planet is precious and many people are fighting to protect it. But sometimes I can fall into the trap of thinking “what impact can little old me really make?”.

Microinteractions (small but mighty)

Everyone has experienced microinteractions. Whether it’s when you’re asked to accept a cookie policy or when an online shop notifies that you've added something to your basket, microinteractions are everywhere.

Sell me your monsters

I hate to break it to you. It’s never about the magic of Christmas. It’s about the magic of marketing – or branding, to be precise (but I’m a sucker for a dollop of alliteration like I’m a sucker for a dollop of cream on my mince pies).

Tongue in tweet: how social media is changing language

One of the first essays I wrote at university – in the heady days of the early 2000s – was a study of the differences between email and letter writing styles. It all hinged on the shift to a more flexible, informal approach. It seems quaint to think about it, now that many of us spend more time bashing out social media posts and instant messages than we do crafting thoughtful emails. (And remind me, what is a letter?)

Free as a bird: a case for pursuing passion projects

You might think that when I close my laptop after a long day I simply switch off. But, as I’m sure is the case for many creatives, outside of work I often find myself thinking about ideas for side projects and not always devoting enough time to bringing them to life. But I think we owe it to ourselves to make time to express our creatively.

Maximising conversion: how B2B brands are seeing true value in sports sponsorship

Saturday saw England kick off their RBS 6 Nations campaign against France at Twickenham. I was lucky enough to be one of the 81,902 people in the crowd. I was even luckier that I was one of the 100-odd people attending as guests of Accenture, the Championship’s “Official Technology Partner”.

The girl and the daffodil: the importance of breaking down stereotypes

Last week, while walking to work, I passed a schoolgirl who had stopped by a patch of daffodils in a garden on her way to school. She bent down, reaching out to grab one – no doubt, I thought, wanting to rip it from its grassy home, fasten it to her backpack, place it in her hair or to give to a friend.

Can success be a four-letter word?

Recently Lou and I attended the Copywriting Conference 2015 and one of the sessions really stood out for me. It was all about swearing. And how we don’t do enough of it in our marketing. Interesting subject, I thought, because of the very fine line between being crass and being clever. Get it wrong and you cheapen your brand. But get it right and you can achieve real standout. This got me thinking about the value of swearing, why we do it, what we hope to achieve and its overall impact.

Writing the future: six tips for copywriters

It’s not often you find yourself in a room packed to the rafters with copywriters. So Lucy and I were pleased to find ourselves among the word nerds attending this year’s Copywriting Conference at London’s Haberdasher’s Hall on a sunny October day last week.

Keeping you on your toes: applying Agile to content creation

Standups, scrums, and sprints – some of the terms used in Agile methodology make it sound more like a competitive sport than a collection of software development principles. The term Agile (with a capital A) emerged in the mid 1990s and was cemented in 2011 with the creation of the Agile manifesto, where developers set out the principles that underpinned the way they thought software should be created.