Tag: design

What’s in a name?

I often get asked about the name Bubblegum. “What’s the story?”, “How did you come up with it?”. The short answer is that I can’t entirely remember. Let me take you back a few years…

It was February 2005 and I was coming to the end of my employment as lead designer at a marketing agency in South Devon. An opportunity had presented itself which meant I had decided to go freelance, but these plans were in the early stages and still a bit of a pipe dream. However, I didn’t bank on my plans being thrust into action by said agency, who informed me they were closing the business unexpectedly, with immediate effect and I was being issued my four weeks’ notice, but that there was no further project work to complete. This was a Thursday afternoon.

Without hesitation, I calmly replied that if there was nothing for me to do, then why not just stop now and tomorrow will be my last day (you can tell this was before I had children!). They said yes. Wow. I was going out on my own the following week. Scary, exciting, and still no idea ‘who’ I would be.

The following day I was just finalising some print preparation for the large project we had been working on – a local business directory – when I got a call from the publisher. An advertiser had pulled out. There was a half page gap, did I want it?

Did I?!?!

If I did, I had to act quickly. I can’t quite remember how long I had… about two hours I think, to come up with a name, a logo, an advert and write 250 words about my business. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so fast.

Bubblegum was plucked out of the ether and approaching 12 years later, it kinda stuck. There’s been a few updates and incarnations over the years as you might expect, but deep down we still hold the same values I did when I started out. To provide a graphic design and brand development service to our clients that adds value, to continue to understand our clients’ needs and stay with them as they grow – but to do so having fun, building strong relationships with our clients and really getting to know them.

Now, I’m not advocating that anyone starting a business uses the name-out-of-a-hat method of branding their baby, but sometimes, deep down, you just know. If you want to talk to us about how we can help you discover what’s really at the core of your business and how best to transform that into your branding and design – give us a call on 01392 581 501 for your free design consultation.

Thanks for reading!
Gemma

106TobyGardenFestival160429Matt-Austin

Well that was a busy week!

We’ve just got back into the office after a lovely bank holiday weekend, and much needed rest after all the preparations for www.tobygardenfest.co.uk at Powderham Castle. The event was a resounding success and has improved on last year.

We are very much involved in getting this event to the table (or is that field?!). We started last autumn on updates to the website, creating the initial marketing literature and promoting ticket sales. Over the past few months our workload has gradually increased as we work on more adverts, continue developing the website and start preparing for the event itself.

The run up to an event like this is crucial – we have to manage an intense workload from one client – creating maps, programmes and signage for the festival – whilst still maintaining our usual service to all of our other clients. It’s a credit to the whole team at Bubblegum that we keep everything moving, keep everyone happy and produce design work that we are proud of!

We might take it easy for a day or two…if they let us!