Have you ever heard of the Games Workshop? How about Dungeons & Dragons? At Grain we are thrilled to be able to work with the co-founder of these iconic titles. A true pioneer of the UK games industry – Ian Livingstone CBE, one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry. Stereotypically the world … Read more

Our Grain Team at the evening reception at the Houses of Parliament (from left to right): Jacob, James, Sam, Christoph, Madelyn, Juli, Daisy & Kent Last Friday, the Grain team and clients attended TEDx Houses of Parliament. Our biggest take-home from this incredibly inspirational event is the passion for what we do, and believing in … Read more

From Fraser Brydon: After the completion of my GCSE’s at Dr Challoner’s, it was time for work experience and where better to enjoy a week of learning than at Grain. Although having learned about Grain for a brief day last summer, I decided it was time to renew my interest and learn more about the … Read more

Fraser Brydon, who is carrying out a work placement with us this week, has written about ‘The Importance of Branding’: • Branding establishes a relationship between the company and the customer through the product. Successful branding of a well-perceived product creates loyalty to the company. This means that the customer is more likely to pursue … Read more

We simply cannot stop talking about them. You already heard about Newland College when we announced the launch of its website. But now we are another step closer to the dream that kids from the age of 12 years upwards can enjoy this fantastic new school. Grain has created the identity, website, uniforms and now … Read more

Does London have enough coffee shops nowadays? Maybe. Does London have enough exquisite coffee shops? Certainly not. Competition is getting pretty tough though. This is why our friends Sarah and Charlie came to us to ask for some help to create their new coffee shop. Grain helped shaping the new brand experience and creating a … Read more

A recent article in The New Yorker has reminded us of how fragile brands are nowadays. Journalist James Surowiecki starts the article talking about the PR disaster of Lululemon Athletica. Once praised “They’re more than apparel. They’re a life style,” Lululemon Athletica’s reputation went downhill when people found out the quality of their products were … Read more

A year and a half ago we launched the shiny new website for Devotion, a New York based engagement jewellery brand, after creating the brand strategy, visual identity, packaging, print collateral and storefront design. The collaboration is still flourishing and our role has evolved into brand guardians, looking after Devotion’s social media — Facebook, Pinterest … Read more

Recently we asked a group of entrepreneurs what is most important to them. The results were interesting and also surprising — who would have guessed that money is last? Success at first place, on the other hand, is not a surprise at all. They also told us what they look for when working with a … Read more

We recently came across this thread on Reddit about building a brand, from the founder of Beardbrand. Beardbrand is a very distinctive business, which focuses on promoting and selling beard care products. Though it is a niche market, the advantages and disadvantages of brand building as set out by Beardbrand founder Eric Bandholz are universal … Read more

You may have come across our recent survey on entrepreneurs, what’s important to them and how they work with branding and design agencies. To thank people for completing the survey we had a prize draw for a £50 Amazon gift voucher. The lucky winner is Stephen McCue who founded and runs Dyslexia Pathways. An interesting … Read more

When we work with businesses, they often question the value of branding and ask for the numbers that prove their design investment will be paid off. Saying that we believe in the importance of great branding is an understatement: that’s what we dedicate most of our waking hours to here at Grain! We were thrilled … Read more

Peter Jones Enterprise Academy asked us to name and brand their Higher Apprenticeship in Business Innovation and Growth, Ignite, which has just been launched to coincide with National Apprenticeship Week 2014. This is a unique programme in the UK, offering a Level 5 apprenticeship to young people with the opportunity to earn while they learn … Read more

The one characteristic that unites all of our clients, across all sectors and all kinds of naming, branding and design we do for them, is entrepreneurial thinking. Though our client size ranges from SMEs to much larger corporates, their mindsets have common features: agility, innovation, authenticity, creativity and inspiration. Plus a powerful desire to grow … Read more

The beginning of February saw in the launch of Lucideon, the new name for Ceram, M+P Labs and CICS. We worked with the Lucideon team over the course of 2013 to create a new name, visual identity and global brand guidelines for the group which provides materials development, testing and assurance. Founded in 1920 in … Read more