Spencer Lavery

Therapy for Independence

Spencer Lavery — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:35:03 +0000

Skills

Website Design

Agency

Unbelievable Straplines

Spencer Lavery — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:53:39 +0000

You know those logos that you’ve seen, the ones that look so phallic it simply can’t be an accident. Or the domain names that actually read as something rude. The lack of forethought seems to have spread over onto straplines too, and these stand out more than you could possibly imagine on the back of a van.

I was driving back from a meeting in London when I found myself behind a Plumbase-branded transit van. Aside from the usual annoyance of not being able to see past a hi-top van on a windy country road, I was hit with the sudden urge to smack myself in the forehead. Ladies and gentleman I present to you the Plumbase strapline:

“Plumbase: You’ll keep coming back…”

How did the designer not notice this? How did the chap wrapping the van in vinyl not notice? How did the guy who picked up the vans not notice? How did the driver not notice? A quick google shows that I’m not the only other person that noticed!

Really? You don’t see what’s so bad about it? Let me break it down; if you sell parts or services that fix something, the last thing you want to tell your customers is that they’ll be back again! It stirs all sorts of mixed emotions like “Oh maybe what they sell me won’t fix it the first time” or “Maybe the part I buy there will break and I’ll need another” because honestly, why else would anyone need to keep coming back?

I’m going to type the first five ideas for straplines that pop into my head and I bet not one of them is that awful:

Supplying the industry since 1994
UK’s largest heating and plumbing merchants
The no. 1 choice for plumbers
Over 180 branches nationwide
We’re here when you need us

And I’m not a copywriter! So it got me thinking, why don’t small companies seem to hire copywriters? It seems to be thought of as an option for higher budgets, but in reality it’s a fundamental requirement of every piece of advertising you ever do. Just like design. You wouldn’t try to build your office by yourself, and you wouldn’t get your plumber to do it either. I’m a designer with a good grasp of what works and what doesn’t in copy but even I hire a copywriter (usually the superb Allday) whenever my client allows it.

Other funny straplines

Got any others you’ve found? Share them in the comments and I’ll add the best ones to this post. I feel a little unfair picking on Plumbase alone, there’s got to be more!

RAIN by Rina

Spencer Lavery — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:24:34 +0000

Skills

Branding
Website Design
HTML / CSS
Tumblr Theme CMS
Packaging
Photography
SEO

Brief

Experimental branding for up and coming jewellery designer. Target audience is 15-25 year old girls who use Tumblr. The pieces Rina makes are all hand-made, quite rare and very sought after so am featuring them in the designs as much as possible. Typography is a highly customised version of a font from my ‘free’ archives. All photos and patterns used are taken/made by me, main image features macro shots of amethyst. Included are some logo experiments and a customised Tumblr theme I created.

View

Note: main site is still being built.

Launch Tumblr
Launch Etsy

Hello Nottingham

Spencer Lavery — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:30:04 +0000

Another year, another city. At least it feels that way. This year it’s Nottingham and after just a couple of weeks I’ve already fallen in love with the place.

I’m fortunate enough to be living in the heart of Lace Market, a one minute stroll from the Nottingham Contemporary, the Galleries of Justice, the Lace Market Theatre and the Capital FM Arena, there really is no shortage of things to do or culture to take in. I also seem to be surrounded by design agencies, arts colleges and some awesome independent businesses, so it’s perfect for me to continue my career as a freelance designer and meet some new creative folk.

How long I’ll stay remains to be seen

I’m charmed by the attitude of everyone I meet, a complete contrast to London, and equally contrasting is the cost of living. I’m currently shelling out less than 25% living expenses compared to an identical apartment in the center of London. However, I do feel disconnected already. Be it because I’m yet to form a network here or yet to discover my new local, I find myself contemplating the two hour drive down to a friends’ in London most weekends, and much more than I’d anticipated.

Working from home

One of the things I love about being a freelance designer is being able to work from anywhere. I’m one of those people that can sit with a laptop and an internet connection on a busy train and still manage to focus completely on my work, but equally I appreciate the benefits of my office space in Chichester and am glad to have been able to set up a decently-sized home office in Nottingham as well.

I always find that clients tend to prefer working with people from the same local area, but more and more I’m struggling to understand why. I have a client 200 miles away that I see more often than most of my clients who were located less than a mile away, and with mobile phones, Skype, Twitter, email, Dropbox, BaseCamp, etc. There simply isn’t any need to be in the same town these days. I won’t usually even contemplate taking on a job until I’ve met the client in person, but that doesn’t mean we need to be from the same area at all, I regularly drive across the country to meet people and in all honesty I welcome it, I don’t get to see enough of this country outside of work.

I’m happy I’m here. That doesn’t mean I’ll be here forever, but in this day and age, why should it?

Rain Girl

Spencer Lavery — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:37:14 +0000

Skills

Website Design
HTML / CSS
WordPress CMS
Tumblr Theme

Spencer Lavery

Therapy for Independence

Skills

Agency

Unbelievable Straplines

“Plumbase: You’ll keep coming back…”

Other funny straplines

RAIN by Rina

Skills

Brief

View

Hello Nottingham

How long I’ll stay remains to be seen

Working from home

Rain Girl

Skills

View

AppleClean

Skills

Brief

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Bluesky Stone

Skills

Brief

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Expressions Hair

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Damn Trouble

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REC Global

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Actuated Solutions

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Parklife Photo

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Network Extreme

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Python Pro

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Marketing Teacher

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Juliet Wilson

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NewBrandGuru

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Skint

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Babylon

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Diamond Training

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Mobi Washer

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