Tag: expertise

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

16-AUG-Dev-Cover

Another one bites the dust

In case you’re not aware, one of our biggest clients is Country Gardener Magazines. We design and manage the production of all of their publications – which is currently six magazines, ten times per year.

It’s mammoth.

We generally run on a three week turnaround with this publication, with either one or two weeks’ gap in between. If you’ve ever asked us a question during print week and heard the words “we’re really up against it with another project at the moment and will get back to you as soon as we can”, then you now know why. Getting six magazines to press before the deadline, with all adverts and editorial content designed, proofed and corrected is something Bubblegum specialise in.

We have been working with Country Gardener since 2009 (when it was only four magazines, eight times a year – and Bubblegum was just little old me) so we have watched it grow and grown alongside it.

Every issue presents a new set of challenges and every issue we pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. If you fancy a read, or a little more insight into what we get up to, take a peek at the most recent Devon issue here.