Oak Creative has moved into the old stable block. Due to Oak’s ever growing success and the Inn being full, we have recently had an old part of the Royal Oak Building renovated and converted into a smart new studio.

It’s been a bit of upheaval, but we’re settling in nicely. Here at Oak Creative we believe change is a good thing, you have to move on and adapt. The studio space has made the Oak team come together and work more harmoniously. We feel that our creativity and ideas are better, this can only be a good thing for our clients.

In our studio we have exposed original beams with dark hard wood flooring. We’ve even had our own bar built because we loved the old bar in the Royal Oak so much. Steve Freeman from Creative Carpentry is responsible for the bar and it’s looks great. We think he’s done a fantastic job.

Come and see us in our new studio. Remember change is a good thing, maybe we can help you enhance and push your business in a new creative direction for 2010!

We’re here and lovin it!
The Oak Creative Team!

Our new studio - Happy New Year Oak Creative!

Oak have recently redesigned and rebuilt the Jenner Group’s site. Based in Folkestone, Kent, Jenner is a privately owned regional chartered building contractor that undertakes construction projects throughout Kent and East Sussex. Jenner wanted to showcase the range of projects they’ve been involved with, tell us about their rich history, as well as build their online reputation up to match the one they’d built with their clients over their long history.

After meeting with Jenner, we saw that we would need several key features on this website:

• Categorised Projects that could be added/updated by the team at Jenner
• Editable content via Wordpress
• A Jenner ‘Time line’
• A Flash slideshow on the homepage – nothing too tacky though!

Researching the number of projects Jenner had on it’s books would have been quite a daunting task – luckily Jenner had all this prepared for us, and provided it in a clear and concise way. This undoubtedly sped up the building process, allowing us to focus on the design and build of the site, with Jenner supplying all of the content to the site. The Jenner project was such a success mainly due to that working relationship.

One very interesting feature of the site was the inclusion of a time line, which detailed important occasions in Jenner’s history as a company, alongside historical events that happened elsewhere in the world. This is a great feature for the site, that not only provides compelling and interesting content, but also reassures the visitor that Jenner really know their stuff – they’re an established company with a long history and over 125 years of experience – great to know for potential customers. The look of the time line was also helped by some great images from over the years.

One other great feature of this website is the ‘Team’ page. Jenner hired a professional photographer to come in and take some great shots of the management team in black and white – this combined with a short paragraph or two about themselves made a really interesting and professional introduction to the Jenner Group team.

Jenner and Oak are very happy with the conclusion of this project, and the praise has started coming in from customers and people in the trade already. Have a look at the site for yourselves and see what can be achieved when interesting content and imagery is combined with clean, smart design: http://www.jenner-group.co.uk.

Brief: Re-design the London Dungeons website focusing on the cobbled streets of London with a post-murder ‘Jack the Ripper’ feeling. Other elements required included animation (Running rats and swinging signs), blood and an eerie fog to create a dark scary atmosphere.

The main navigation was to span the top showing the user the other countries and locations that they can visit ‘The Dungeons’. The navigation was to sit on an old beam in the entrance of an archway of a possible dungeons entrance. We introduced blue light and chains to create a creepy atmosphere. An animated rat was also to be included that would scurry across the beam.

The main idea was for the user to focus on a central area showing the booking engine for ‘The London Dungeons’ (To make reservations). Behind this would be the street scene of foggy London where Jack the ripper has just murdered another victim. The user would see a blooded knife near the murdered victim, the blood would then link to the Book now button, Introduction, Offers, News and Partners as all these buttons were in a blood-splattered style. Another subtle element in the main street scene is the sign saying ‘Pies’ linking the site to another infamous killer: ‘Sweeney Todd’.

The black background would bleed off on both sides where we could have a fixed sign and banner for additional advertising, this again would be in an old London style. If the user scrolled down on other pages they would actually go beneath the cobbled street into a real dungeon showing shackles, skulls and a drain where blood was trickling into.

The project was a creative dream come true. The strong logo with high contrast elements was great to work with and we thrived in the  creative freedom we had using Photoshop. Visually, the finished design was stunning and the user has a great experience. The nice touch of scrolling in to the dungeons was a particular triumph as too the the rat.

Take a look for yourself and visit ‘The Dungeons’ online at: http://www.thedungeons.com

Oak Creative is proud to have such a fantastic building to work in. When

The Royal Oak building was a pub the following text was on the back of the menu, it tells the history of the building from 1560.

This inn known by the name and sign of The Royal Oak was built in the 2nd year of Elizabeth 1, in 1560. Though much of this original structure having been altered and modified during the reign of George III, is now engulfed in the present day building.

When first built the property was a farm dwelling and dravers cottage, owned by the estate of one Thomas Finch of Canterbury, who possessed lands and properties in that city, and the parishes of Stanford, Lumpne, Hythe and Waltham. He possessed of this property as part of his estate with a farmer in occupation until his death in 1587, whereupon by the terms of his will, his estate passed to his son William, who possessed of the estate until his death in 1618, where after the property and his estate passed to his son Thomas. He in the year 1627 disposed of certain parts of his fathers estate, including this property to one Richard Flynn of Hythe.
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Star Waste/Demolition goes LIVE with the usual Oak 5 Star treatment.

Star of Ross Way, Folkestone are a well established local company. Wanting to combine their two interests Waste Management and Demolition in one shiny new website. Oak set about creating a seamless site combining the two businesses. The brief was to design and develop a simple clean site, giving the user quick access to multiple images galleries. These galleries would display several hundred images from Groundworks, Asbestos, Rail Demolition and Waste Disposal.

Star Demolition / Waste

Steve Walker from Star said;

” What we saw today is exactly what we asked for and I am sure will be liked by everyone. WELL DONE to all your team”.

To view the Star website please visit: – http://www.stardemolition.co.uk

We in Britain are finding that outsourcing based on price alone is usually shortsighted and unsustainable. When communication breaks down or things go wrong it is very reassuring to know a company is just down the road and has an interest in protecting its reputation. We at Oak find that people need some personal contact, a friendly voice at the end of the phone, somewhere to visit, someone to deliver, something tangeable not just an PO box, email/web address or a mobile phone number.

Word of mouth referrals and reputation are key to most business success. We all rely on recommendations and take heed of warnings. It is true that a customer remembers the service they receive long after they forget the price.

To sustain a business for any length of time, particularly in this economic climate, a company needs to create a good image and reputation in the local area and maintain it. When you support local companies you are more likely to be able to buy with confidence.  By supporting other local reputable businesses an environment is created that sustains itself, businesses recommend by other businesses to you and visa verca.  No business is an island.

The personal touch for Oaks business is paramount. Understanding our clients, their businesses, their location and their market is key to our success. To build and maintain a bond of trust is a major part of what we do. It is also very satisfying for us to see successful local companies displaying our designs around the area.  Visiting our clients at their vineyard on a beautiful spring day to design their wine labels, seeing their business go from strength to strength over many years, this is what we thrive on  http://www.biddendenvineyards.com/

There is something satisfying about local networking, sharing common interests and a shared future. So wether its buying cooking oil, oak buildings, kitchens or cider,  perhaps its time we all thought and bought a little closer to home.

Think Globally… buy locally

Working for Oak has it’s perks. The converted pub, the original bar, the relaxed atmosphere, the latest Apple Macs and let’s not forget the annual trip away.

Where have we been?
Let’s see New York City, Dublin oh and Seville. Allegedly the hottest city in Spain, not bad for a May adventure!
Just before the British summer kicks in he says, we all live in hope.

Alas, Caroline Butterfield owner and truly lovely boss chose Seville to be our destination. We stayed at the most amazing hotel called “Las Casas de la Juderia” which is a converted palace. The hotel is a wonder of Spanish court yards and gardens laced with flowers, art, sculpture, endless corridors with hidden tunnels and a roof top swimming pool. Not bad hey?

Well…we dined on Chorizo and red wine and it was often Ham’o time, not more red wine and Chorizo Andy cried! It was hard work slowly walking the cobbled streets gazing at the amazing architecture, gardens, art galleries and pretty squares full of Tapas bars, which soon meant more ham’o time. The flamenco evening was a highlight and a must see.
The Oak team had a great time helped along the way with the relaxed atmosphere that is Seville.

Thanks very much Caroline,
Love
Ewenxxx

Oak Creative has been commissioned to use it’s expertise in bringing the Best of British Dairy Ice Cream back to the attention of the public, starting with a Press Pack and Web Site. David Lavelle, Chief Executive Officer of Loseley Dairy Ice Cream Ltd., Loseley Park, Cwmbran wrote  “I am very happy with the work  – in fact delighted – I am using Oak because I know you would turn out the quality and feel that we are striving for”.

If you’re working on a massive campaign, that may involve TV, radio, press, web then the first thing that gets designed is … wait for it … the BILLBOARD. That’s because you have to get your message, product or service, benefits and call to action across in literally a couple of seconds as potential customers pass by. If you can manage to distill your proposition down to 2 seconds then the rest of the campaign is relatively easy.

“Can my logo go a bit bigger?” … “can my logo be more prominent?” … guess what, nobody cares!
Unless your a corporate giant or a global brand then it really doesn’t matter how much you shout about your logo. The average customer doesn’t care about you or your brand, they only care about themselves, their needs and whether you or your company can fulfill them.
Look at the really big players out there and how they use their logos. Usually very small, unobstrusive and never the main focus of their advertising.