Junior graphic designer 1-2 years experience

“I live and breathe design, typography is a daily inspiration. I dream of growing brands and worship print design. I can’t live without multimedia, Graphics is my life.”

Ok, this may be a little OTT… If you’re half as enthusiastic as this and you’ve got experience with print and web design with a keen interest in branding, send your CV and samples of work to jobs@beyondct.co.uk or post to 71 The High Street, Burnham, Bucks. Remember to be creative.

Deadline: 1st September 2010

Beyond Creative Thinking uses new colour research in design of books for children with dyslexia

Dancing Kites Creative Learning’s first book, My Dog Nick, features layout and typography based on two years of research, testing design concepts on focus groups made up of dyslexic children.

Corinna Shepherd, founder of Dancing Kites and author of My Dog Nick, appointed Buckinghamshire-based BCT in 2008, after meeting the group at a breakfast meeting run by Business Referral Exchange.

Shepherd, who teaches dyslexic children, tasked BCT with designing the books and creating a visual identity for the company. BCT managing director Emma Carter says, ’During research we found that type should be laid against a tinted background so that the letters don’t jump around because of the high contrast between black and white.

We found that pale yellow is the best colour.’ The kite logo is being used to colour-code the three levels of books in the series, and as an icon for the page numbers, Carter adds.

During the lengthy research period, BCT tested different tracking and leading for the Myriad Pro Regular typeface. Initially, BCT tried to procure Natascha Frensch’s Read Regular font, created in 2005 (DW 21 August 2003), but found it ’too hard to buy the font so had to give up’, says Carter.

Illustrator Phil Wood worked on My Dog Nick, while Ciaran Finnegan has been commissioned to illustrate the next two books in the series. MyDog Nick is aimed at children with a spelling age of four to eight years, Will the Wizard at those with a spelling age of eight to 12 and Through The Magic Window for those with a spelling age of 12-15.

’My goal is to build lots of titles in each of the three steps,’ says Shepherd, who has written all three books. My Dog Nick is available from this week, while the second two titles could be released in the next two months.

A website for the books, designed by Berkshire digital consultancy Clever Little Design, has gone live.

View the article in Design Week

Beyond CT brand the Wilson Drinks Report

Beyond CT have been mentioned by Design Week for their recent design work for Wilson Drinks Report. Beyond Creative Thinking won a contract to design a corporate identity to support the launch of a new research based report focused on the UK drinks industry. Beyond CT was invited to create a brand concept that would encompass print design and web design to support the marketing of a family of services linked to the Wilson Drinks Report (“WDR”).

Part of the branding process was the design of three logos to represent each one of three business services which sit together and share an overall brand identity. To ensure a consistent look and feel, different colours of one WDR image were used to represent the subtle but important differences.

Beyond CT were also challenged to design the Wilson Drinks Report as an A6, pocket-sized format to ensure ease of use and portability.

A photo shoot for WDR generated a library of images for use across web and print. Careful use of the pool of images will enable WDR to include a variety of new images in each quarterly report as well as on the website.

Tim Wilson, Managing Director of the Wilson Drinks Report, said today :
“I am delighted with the simple but effective logos we have created for WDR. We have some strong crossover between print and web and the website design allows us flexibility to adapt both content and focus as the business develops.”>

View the website

Beyond Creative Thinking Win 3 way pitch

Beyond Creative Thinking have recently been mentioned in Design Week, 19th November 2009 issue for winning a three way pitch to develop a marketing campaign for plumbing firm 1st Action.

Beyond CT are praised for Jack Wills catalogue and logo design by Design Week.

Beyond CT have been mentioned in volume 22 issue number 11 of design week for their brilliant design work for a 150 page catalogue for clothing brand Jack Wills. Jack Wills has a current chain of thirty-one stores throughout the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Beyond CT also designed their ‘in the alps’ logo for their winter range.

Beyond CT praised for film credits design for movie ‘Sick’ by Mike Rymer.

Beyond CT are mentioned in design week volume 22 issue number 15 on page 8 for their creative design work for opening titles and credits and branding for Sick a short film directed by Mike Rymer. The film has been entered in the Cannes,Edinburgh,Venice and Bafta film festivals for the short film category.

Beyond CT interviewed by the Slough Observer for an article on thriving businesses during the recession:

A design agency is flourishing thanks to the number of new small businesses that are starting up. Beyond Creative Thinking, in Stomp Road, Burnham, offers services such as web design,online advertising,marketing,exhibition stands and brochures. Emma Sealey worked in the design industry for several companies before deciding to go it alone five years ago. She said: ”I started off self-employed and went limited last year. We have seen increases in business every year. We now have 3 members of staff and its growing all the time, we’ve had large clients all over, including a company in Dubai.”
But Miss Sealey also offers packages for businesses with a smaller budget and believes the recession brought her more customers.
She said:

” There are a lot more people who have been made redundant and have decided to start their own businesses and we have a lot of these as clients. As a small firm with no large overheads we offer the best marketing & design campaigns to suit your budget during the recession.”
And as advice for new starters, she said:

”You have to be confident in what you are offering but you really have to have the drive to go out and get the business.”.