It would be difficult to start this newsletter without mentioning the Preston Guild and how deep we found ourselves engulfed in it when the time came. And for those who don’t know what it is... it’s a festival that happens every 20 years. We party hard here in the North West so it gives us time to recover for the next one.

We were already heavily involved with Blaze who were a big part of the final festival, but a chance meeting came about at an event up at Lancaster University, where Andy got introduced to Wayne Hemingway. Then we were off... in it up to our necks.

We first got asked by Wayne to ‘brand’ the Vintage Guild Weekend event he was holding. The brief was to give the event its own look and feel and it needed to represent local folk - so that’s exactly what we did.

We gathered a handful of volunteers from the local area and dragged some of our team into the studio screaming and kicking - then we all got vintage!

We then managed to get our friend Adrian Ray to take some pics mixed with a bit of Andy Walmsley Art Direction and added some graphic flair from our studio partner Loz Ives at Because Studio... and there we had it. A well received Vintage brand for the festival.

Back in January 2010 Andy and Tom went off to do a workshop with a great bunch of young people on the subject of branding - at the time this youth group where reinventing themselves. It then became Blaze. The ambitious youth-led cultural programme for Lancashire, Blackpool and the Fylde Coast that is part of WE PLAY, the North West cultural legacy programme for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

At the beginning of the summer Cancer Help came to us looking for support on their branding. It just so happened we had a couple of ideas up our sleeve, so being the charitable company we are, we put the ideas forward and they loved it. We roped in some help from Sean Conboy and Adrian Ray, once again on filming and photography respectively, and got on with producing a new look with a new logo and marketing material, a short film, a new website and some new photography.

We felt with many cancer charities, there is often too serious an angle taken and we felt that some may come across a little scary and with a negative vibe.

This is a charity that supports, we didn’t want to scare and with some of our team having been effected by cancer in some way, we wanted to put across a positive message and tell the positive stories that we were hearing from the charity.

The film was to get across the fact that most of the money donated to Cancer Help stays within the area and goes a long way in helping local people. An issue many people are concerned about.

www.cancerhelppreston.co.uk

Staying on a charitable theme, Wash recently got involved with Heartbeat. The North West's leading cardiac rehabilitation charity, providing services for over 500 people every week.

Our mission was to deliver a more attractive website, but also one that will engage more with its audience and be totally content managed by the organisation.

A slight refresh of the logo was required and new photography undertaken.

www.heartbeat-nwcc.org.uk

One of the oldest parts of Lancaster could be getting a new look by using the creativity of local people. The ‘Beyond the Castle’ project wants to create a high-quality public space around Lancaster’s historic castle and priory, down the hill and over the meadows to the quayside.

Andy from Wash is on the Proud programme that has been commissioned to design a set of tool kits to help with the first steps that invites everyone to imagine and design the possibilities for ‘Beyond the Castle’. Asking people of all ages to share their thoughts and big ideas in a series of events that have run over the summer and organised to take place this autumn. Together with a team of designers and volunteers, people will have the chance to develop the first plans, with the aim of revitalising this space. There’ll be a whole series of activity days to get people thinking about how they use the site at the moment and what they’d like to see there in the future.

imagination.lancs.ac.uk/activities/Beyond_Castle

Back in May, Wash got asked to produce a small branding project for the 'Business Innovation for Growth' seminar at Lancaster University.

Developed for Creative Lancashire in partnership with the Institute of Directors (IoD) the seminar was to showcase the latest thinking and excellence in innovation for design, technology and business processes. With current leading industry speakers from across the sectors involved with innovation, ideas and new approaches that will change the way we work.

The day was a great success with contributions from Wayne Hemingway Design, Design Council, Lancaster University, NHS, Work Foundation, BBC North plus leading industrialists and technologists.

Over the last few years Wash have slowly been building a strong track record working in the Education Sector. So it was a pleasant surprise when the local college asked us to tender for their work after they heard about us and what we’ve been achieving.

After a long process we won the business kicking off with an urgent requirement for Preston prospectus. With a very quick turnaround we produced a new, fresh-looking prospectus that was based on a series of interviews with pupils, staff and alumni telling a very real story of how, by working together, the college had changed lives for the better.

Conversations in Creativity was going strong over the Guild period with three events held in the Spiegeltent that was the jewel in the crown of the event.

This month's event presented a series of exclusive opportunities to get up close and personal with influential figures from the arts to discuss their life, work and inspirations. Our guests were Nick Park - Director and Producer, Lemm Sissay - Poet and Playwright and Jeanette Winterson - Author. The events were hosted by Dave Haslam - Journalist, Author and DJ.

Over the last few months our work for George Wilkinson has continued to grow with this new Nostalgia and Effortless Enamel range that is out in the supermarkets. Plus great news on the Great British Bakeware range that is going down a storm in Debenhams.

Please say a big hello to Joanne Hodson and Lewis Carey who have joined our team.

Joanne joined us in March this year to become our newest Account Executive who
handles much of the gritty day-to-day stuff that makes designers fall over and cry.

And Lewis who joined Wash in August and is now heading up our digital division with the title ‘Head of Digital’ – bringing a new perspective to the way we do things here at Wash and adds a new proposition as a creative company... and soon to be shouted about in more detail - Brand Integration.

...and finally, our charity support this month is Heartbeat. The North West's leading cardiac rehabilitation charity, providing services for over 500 people every week.

www.heartbeat-nwcc.org.uk