The Juice

matm does some sustainable award writing

Andy Comber — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:54:49 +0000

Congratulations to Sainsbury’s for winning Retail Development of the Year in the 2012 Sustain Magazine Awards. We were commissioned by construction company ISG to write the award entry for their development – Sainsibury’s new eco store at Dawlish in Devon.

Despite some stiff opposition from the likes of Marks and Spencer and Waitrose, the judges said Sainsbury’s Dawlish set a new benchmark against which future developments had to be judged. We’d like to think we played a part in making that clear.

Sustain Magazine Awards - winners celebrate at the end of the ceremony

Environmentally friendly invoices that arrive quicker – we’re loving that!

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:49:19 +0000

With postage prices going up today, matm now sends all of its invoices via PDF – this means our invoices arrive faster, and are cheaper to send as we no longer incur costs for paper, printing, envelopes and postage. Below are the key facts and figures about the price increases from April 30th 2012:

The price of a first-class stamp for a standard letter – 46p to 60p
A second-class stamp for a standard letter – 36p to 50p
A first-class stamp for a large letter weighing up to 100g – 75p to 90p
A large letter sent second-class will cost 69p, rather than 58p
Parcels, franked mail, recorded post, redirection services and PO Box use will also increase accordingly

But perhaps most importantly, we can now say we deliver our invoices in an environmentally friendly way – by eliminating paper, printing and freight, we have reduced our carbon footprint and save trees. We hope that other businesses can follow suit and switch to faster, greener invoicing too – the only down side is that bills arrive just that bit quicker, but still, we’re loving that!

We’re loving that! Custom Chalk Lettering

Neil Dicken — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:00:34 +0000

Aside from being a graphic designer, Brooklyn based artist Dana Tanamachi is becoming increasingly recognised as a custom chalk letterer. Dana has been commissioned by clients such as Rugby Ralph Lauren, Google and Adidas – and we think that her work is striking enough to warrant a ‘we’re loving that!’ So, see what you think – and if you want to see some more of her work, then visit www.danatanamachi.com

Banner for Kings County Jerky Co; drawn on chalk fabric.

The Wes Anderson, Brooklyn

Custom piece for a wedding reception

Wine label that Dana created for Nagging Doubt Wines; Art Direction by Bernie Hadley-Beauregard & Laurie Millotte of Brandever.

Awards just round the corner – let us do the writing!

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:10:56 +0000

Over the next few days we will put a blog post up about a client’s fantastic award win this week – and you guessed it, the submission was written my us!

But in the mean time so you don’t miss the boat, below are a handful of first class awards coming up that we can help you with:

Green Business Awards
Growing Business Awards
Sustainability Awards
National Sales Awards
First Women Awards
Personnel Today Awards

Winning business awards can be a very effective way to generate positive external exposure and to instil pride within your organisation. So to find out more about how we can help, please take a look at the matm award writing brochure: awards brochure

If you want to find out further information about the above awards, or would just like an informal chat then please do not hesitate to contact Andy Comber on email: ac@matm.co.uk or tel: 01952 883526.

QR codes boost for tourism – and for taking a walk to the pub

Andy Comber — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:00:45 +0000

Here’s an example of how a bit of technology that, a year ago, was hardly heard of, is now so mainstream that it’s being used to help support the villlage pub.

QR codes, which can be scanned using a mobile phone camera to bring up a link to a web page, are being used to boost rural pubs by promoting walks in the countryside.

The Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership has created 12 circular walks that have pubs on each route – and is promoting them using QR codes on posters and beer mats…obviously.

Tilt shift photography – we’re loving that!

Neil Dicken — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:20:15 +0000

‘Tilt-shift photography’ is a unique, almost playful type of photography in which a camera is manipulated so that the real, life-sized subject look like miniature-scale models.

The phrase describes the use of camera movements on small and medium format cameras and also sometimes refers to the use of tilt for selective focus.

Sometimes the term is used when a shallow depth of field is simulated with digital postprocessing; the name may derive from the tilt-shift lens normally required when the effect is produced optically.

Why not have a go yourself if you have an Iphone: Art&Mobile TiltShift Generator.

Below are a few of our favourite examples for you to have a look at. We’re loving that!

Creating mobile optimised templates in Coffeemail

Neil Dicken — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:00:15 +0000

With more and more emails being read via smart phones, it has never been more important to consider you mobile subscribers.

matm’s bespoke email/e-shot template, Coffeemail, now supports mobile browsing – allowing for more of your subscribers to enjoy your eshots just as you created them.

Below are examples of templates for a web based layout and a mobile layout:

Hit the ‘contact us’ button above with any questions!

We’re loving that – QR Codes at the Bike Show

Neil Dicken — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:00:26 +0000

The Motorcycle Live show took place at the LG Arena, Birmingham – and the qr codes were out in force! Pretty much every corner of the hall had companies getting on the qr code bandwagon, including manufacture stands, bike product spec stands, retail outlets and competition forms. Below are a few examples of the various ways qr codes were used on the day:

Here at matm we are able to quickly produce qr codes for you and have generated a number for clients’ business cards. As well as holding personal information such as website details, email address and phone number, qr codes are being used more and more for product/loyalty marketing, as above. Lots of companies are using qr codes, so if you are not yet ‘scannable’ then click on contact us and let us help!

Kia Facebook Like campaign – TV advert

Neil Dicken — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:39 +0000

Many Companies have started to show Facebook links from their adverts over the past year. A major Korean Car Manufacturer is using its latest television advert to display the Facebook ‘like’ button, ending with the slogan ‘Kia, inspired by what you like’.

Matm Graphic Designer, Neil, spotted the advert. He said: “The use of social media in business is continuing to gather pace and I am building an increasing number of Facebook pages for Shropshire businesses. My only disapointment with the Kia advert is that their facebook page is geared more towards Kia owners, and not a generic customer experience, but i’m still loving that advert!

An eye for design and the stomach for pizza!

Neil Dicken — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:29:24 +0000

Just a quick blog post especially for those of you feeling a little peckish!

We have just finished amending a menu we designed for Bridgnorth based ‘Peepo Pizza’. matm Designer, Neil Dicken updated the menu artwork to include the new dishes along with the new ‘Super 7 Pizzas’ offer.

So if you live in Shropshire, have an eye for design and the stomach for a pizza, click on the menu below and perpare to salivate!