The West of England Design Forum, chaired by Bob Mytton is hosting an evening exploring the success of Hotel Chocolat, one of the world's fastest growing independent brands. Fredrik Ahlin, creative director of the brand will be speaking on December 9th at the Arnolfini in Bristol.

Since Fredrik Ahlin joined Hotel Chocolat as Creative Director in 2006, the brand has noticeably changed: from a simple chocolate shop to a company that has more in common with the fashion industry.

This event is the next in the West of England Design Forum's popular series of thoughts and ideas from leading players in the creative industries. "It's going to be another fascinating evening," says Bob Mytton, "successful brand development is always thought-provoking. And when chocolate tasting is thrown in as well, what more could you want!" See you there.

Wednesday 9th December, 7pm

Arnolfini, Bristol

Box office: 0117 917 2300
Tickets £12 / Concessions £10

We've run out out of the popular Mytton Williams Book of No.s. Not to fear though, we've just received the second edition hot off the press.
The new, updated version will be dropping through letterboxes helping to spread the Mytton Williams philosophy shortly.

On the 25 November Bob Mytton, Creative Director, has been invited to give a lecture and some tutorials to undergraduate and postgraduate students at University College Falmouth. This follows on from a lecture to 2nd and 3rd year Undergrad students at the University of Gloucestershire on the 3 November. The lectures are based on the work of Mytton Williams, how they solve client's briefs, where they get their inspiration and ends with practical advice on finding work.

The most prestigious awards scheme in the world for the creative industries has just published its showcasing title. The 47th Annual of the D&AD Awards 2009 is out featuring all that is best in design, advertising and creative communication. The judges (from the design industry itself) select work they feel represents the best of the year. The Mytton Williams pencil calendar is on show as a winner in the graphic design section.

Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates is the design luminary giving the next West of England Design Forum lecture. We've done a suitably intriguing poster for what is going to be another inspirational evening for Forum members. The word on the street is get your tickets asap as it's going to be popular. See you at the Watershed on 21 October 2009 at 7pm.

Tickets available from Watershed Box office o117 927 5100

The Mivart Studios 2009 exhibition, ‘Fabricated', gets underway this weekend in Bristol. We've supported this group of artists for over 4 years now and have designed a cunning set of promotional materials for this year's exhibition. Needless to say, being part of the cash-strapped arts community, cost is an issue. So... we've designed just 1 A2 poster. But the clever bit is that this then morphs (perforations are the key) into a second A4 poster and exhibition signage. This one piece of material plus a flyer gives them in total, 4 promotional items.
Do go and see the exhibition (and our contribution in passing!)

3-4 October 2009
11am-5pm
Mivart Street Studios
Epstein Building
Mivart Street,
Easton, Bristol
BS5 6JL
www.mivartartists.co.uk

Mytton Williams are sponsoring a film at this year's Bath Film Festival - one of the country's best loved and longest-running film festivals. The Festival is now in its 20th year and has a class set of patrons and mentors including Ken Loach, Peter Gabriel, Stephen Woolley and Stephen Frears. We're sponsoring 'Cold Souls' starring Paul Giamatti, Emily Watson and David Strathairn. There's more about the film on our blog.
The Festival runs from Thursday 12 November to Saturday 21 November.

In July we created the identity for the new Milsom Apartments development on the site of the former postal museum in the centre of Bath. The philatelic identity imagery has been doing its job driving interest in the project via eye-catching hoardings, banners and the associated brochure. By the end of October all 10 apartments had been sold off-plan. Our clients Osborne Property Group are delighted with the swift result – and this in recessional times as well.

Our clients Bright event management wanted to produce their first ever brochure. And, being Bright, it had to be different. So we decided to utilise an oft overlooked design element... scale. Just launched, the new brochure is a whopping A3 size in 3 bold colours, black, grey and lime green (and on 100% recycled paper). We hear that Bright clients are wowed. We loved doing it, so everybody is happy.

"Throughout the creative process Mytton Williams challenged us and our brand, their professionalism and focussed approach gave us the confidence to be brave. They developed a design solution that captures our brand personality perfectly, differentiating us from our competition without alienating our customers. A new brand image that's opening doors and winning us new business." Alistair Paul, Director, Bright

The words 'boutique' and 'hotel' are not usually associated with this World Heritage city of ours.
But times are changing! We have created the brand for a new boutique hotel set to open in Bath next year. Our brief was to create a sharp, contemporary and fun identity catering for people who want the style and function of a luxury boutique hotel at affordable prices. The hotel website is launching at the end of September and the hotel will open in Spring 2010.

Mytton Williams has been appointed to the design framework of Forestry Commission Wales. We are delighted to be able to add another client from this sector to our portfolio which already includes the Environment Agency and the Coefficient Company. We look forward to helping them promote and deliver the sustainable management of woodlands to increase their value to society and the environment.

Mytton Williams have created the identity for a unique development on the site of the former Bath Postal Museum in the heart of the World Heritage city centre. It was from here that the first recorded posting of a Penny Black stamp took place in 1840. Mytton Williams clients, the Osborne Property Group unveiled their new development, Milsom Apartments, this week.

The central design concept is the Penny Black stamp and the first recorded posting. The identity features philatelic shapes suggesting postal history. To engage with the history of the location a copy line of 'Your place in history' adds aspirational drive. The colour palette of black, gold and white picks up on the concept origins but also works sympathetically with the World Heritage Georgian location.

The new Mytton Williams identity applied to the environmental graphics of hoardings and banners has been revealed to the public this week. A website and brochure is to follow plus associated print collateral.

Actress Emilia Fox and Prof Dr David Bellamy have opened the massive 27 million pound Butterfly World project. Phase 1, Future Gardens was officially opened to the public today on a 27 acre site near St Albans.

Mytton Williams have created the visual identity for Butterfly World. This identity will be applied to all the print and digital collateral, merchandising and interior requirements including signage as the vast project is rolled out.

"We are delighted to be working with this vast and inspirational project," says Bob Mytton, Creative Director "Sir David Attenborough maintains that Butterfly World 'is seeking to help reverse an environmental catastrophe'. To be part of an initiative with such a passionate heart and awe-inspiring goals is both rewarding and creatively demanding."

Mytton Williams have used a material made from recycled tyres to create the waterproof dust jacket on the latest publication from their client, the Environment Agency: Key to the Marine and Freshwater Fishes of Britain and Ireland.

The new 476 page guide needed to be practical and durable. Working with the Agency, Mytton Williams sourced waterproof material made from recycled tyres. This created not just a functional dust jacket but also enabled the organisation to highlight the growing environmental problem of what to do with used tyres. Legislation has ruled that landfilling tyres is now illegal.

Mytton Williams have worked with the Environment Agency for over 7 years and were re-appointed to the design roster earlier this year.

Mytton Williams have designed the publicity material for the latest event in the West of England Design Forum's series of inspirational talks. Mike Turner, from the Bloodhound Land Speed Record attempt design team, based in Bristol, will be telling all at the Watershed on 10 June 2009 at 7pm.

Tickets available from Watershed Box office 0119 275 100

The D&AD Awards offer the creative community the opportunity to be judged by its harshest critics - its peers. Judging for the D&AD Awards 2009 took place recently. The judges deliberated, pontificated, scrutinized and discussed, and voted for the best work of last year. The Mytton Williams pencil calendar has been selected to to appear in the D&AD Annual 2009, the definitive record of creativity for 2008. This year, only 7% of all entries were chosen to appear in the D&AD Annual 2009 so this is a tremendous achievement.

D&AD is an educational charity that represents the global creative, design and advertising communities. Since 1962, D&AD has set industry standards, educated and inspired the next generation and, more recently, has demonstrated the impact of creativity and innovation on enhancing business performance

Having just won 2 of the 2009 Media Innovation Awards we've now got another! The Howard Smith Paper Graphic Design and Print Awards have been announced and Mytton Williams has been 'highly commended' in the graphic design category. We love the Howard Smith Awards judging criteria – "Just jaw-dropping good design, and print that smells and feels as good as it looks."

MPC is a leading UK based investment and restructuring advisory firm. The Partners wanted to update the brand to reflect and communicate their standing in the market place. Therefore, our brief was to create a new identity capable of raising the profile of MPC in a market place of very big players eg, the big banks. And crucially, we had to deliver the results within 2 months to support the increasing workload the company is experiencing.
 
As a company operating in the complex financial services sector key messages to be communicated were professionalism, clarity of thinking, experience and problem solving capabilities. Our starting point was their no-nonsense approach – ‘Direct and to the point’, resulting in a simple, direct logo, typeface and colour palette. To add differentiation the new identity builds on this with a creative approach to illustrative material using symbols, graphic illustration and creative, snappy copy. Implementation has included all digital communications, print and advertising.

The 2010 Bath Spa University prospectus, designed by Mytton Williams, has just been released. It features 4 different covers to highlight and emphasise one of the University's key differentiators - that it is 'a community of individuals.'

"With fierce competition between universities to attract students, particularly in these economically trying times, being able to express a major feature on the prospectus cover is advantageous," says Bob Mytton, creative director of Mytton Williams. A day long photo-shoot at the university produced a raft of fascinating and fun images of student life. These were used both on the cover and editorially to add weight to the central concept. 'What the students say'... is the leading editorial feature in the prospectus again using the Mytton Williams student photography.

The small magazine format and four different covers, the relaxed and easily accessible editorial style and the exciting photography add up to a University prospectus with maximum ‘stand-out' appeal in a crowed market place.

The Bulldog Trust is a grant making charity established in 1983. The Trust commissioned Mytton Williams to create a visual identity to launch a major initiative. The new website and Bulldog Trust brochure have just been released.

“We are delighted,” says Mary Rose Jones, Chief Executive of the Bulldog Trust. “The identity Mytton Williams have created is an excellent visual representation of how we think of ourselves. They have managed to portray personality, vigour and excitement while maximising our established profile.”

Visit the website here

We were delighted to win two awards at the Media Innovation Awards last night. Work for the British Glass Biennale won the Branding category and our pencil calendar won Print Graphics. Comments from the judges included ‘Strong, modern, striking design’ for British Glass Biennale and ‘innovative use of print marketing’ for the calendar. The Pencil Calendar was printed by Opal Print (Bath) on paper supplied by James McNaughton Group.

We've just completed the  2010/2011 St Mary's University College, Twickenham prospectus. It features a short cover and therefore front cover access to all the courses on offer at the College. We hear that this direct communication is going down extremely well with the students.

We’ve worked with St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, for a number of years now, initially creating and then implementing their visual identity. The University College has just announced its sponsorship of Harlequins Rugby League . The MW identity on the new rugby shirts gets its first outing in the televised match this Saturday.

We have worked for the Environment Agency for the past 4 years. So, we were delighted when we were re-appointed to the new design roster last month. 141 design companies applied to go on the new roster. 8 have been selected including us!

A brilliant start to the new year.

Those nice people at McNaughton Paper have given us an award - Overall winner, South of England in the 2008 McNaughton Design Review Awards. They were wowed by our popular 2009 Pencil Calendar. As they say, ‘extraordinary design deserves extraordinary rewards', so we are off to Reykjavik to sample the delight of Iceland's cool capital.

By the way, the MW Pencil Calendar is still available to buy at £12 including p&p.

Mytton Williams have designed the latest series in the ever-growing Footprint range of travel guides. The first four titles in the new Footprint Italy series will be launched at the London Book Fair in April 2009. Mytton Williams, originally involved in the development of the brand in 1996 have worked with the international publishing company ever since.

The key elements of the design solution are the selection of a sumptuous, dark purple cover colour, strong, richly coloured imagery and a refining of the Footprint cover branding. Internally, the new editorial style has a more relaxed ‘magazine' approach. All of these elements plus the stand-alone map feature have resulted in a powerful and eye-catching new addition to the publisher's range of titles. "Yet again Mytton Williams have created a stunning new design for our latest series," commented Patrick Dawson, editorial director of Footprint. "We know that Mytton Williams will always drive us forward with their design solutions. We have a very successful and highly creative relationship with them."

Mytton Williams have created the visual identity for Butterfly World, a new £27m world-class visitor attraction and active conservation vehicle. Located on a 27-acre site near St Albans, the Butterfly World Project is supported by high profile patrons and trustees including Sir David Attenborough and Professor David Bellamy.

Butterfly World is the vision of award-winning Lepidopterist, Clive Farrell. It's his ‘passion' for conservation and specifically butterflies that helped inspire the initial creative thinking about the development of the new identity. Two hearts, communicating the passion at the centre of the project, configured in a butterfly shape make up the new mark. Speaking for the Butterfly World Project, Angela Harkness, Senior Commercial Director said, “We are so pleased…. the Mytton Williams concept for the identity perfectly and simply communicates the intensity of our commitment to this all important project.”

12 pencils, 365 days, infinite creative possibilities... The new calendar is available to buy from today. Consisting of 12 colour-coded pencils to indicate the seasonal temperature and the days of the year printed along the whole length of the pencil, allowing each day to be sharpened off. The minimal packaging is a traditional pencil box with a slide-out lid, so no further packaging is required for posting. This year our starting point was a 'back to basics' idea where we wanted to create something using the designer's most important tool, the pencil. Available to buy now for £12.00 including postage and packaging.