The eagerly-awaited who’s who of the design industry has been revealed by Design Week, the magazine of choice for over 35,000 design professionals and marketers.

Derbyshire-based RJ Design Associates are celebrating 47 reasons to be cheerful after polling some impressive debut stats:

5th highest new entry, 8th place in the most bullish top 100 groups for predicted growth and 47th overall on the Top 100 design consultancy list.

Bearings manufacturer INA FAG (a part of the Schaeffler Group) came to RJDA for some ideas for a direct mail campaign. The objective being to raise awareness  to Maintenance Personnel and Financial Directors that preventative maintenance is worthy of investment to avoid catastrophic down time in the event of machinery breaking down.

The chosen concept was based around prevention is better than cure and took on a medical approach to the visual style. The direct mail was sent out in a prescription bag, which also contained a doctors surgery styled appointment card with a call to action to meet the Schaeffler Team on stand at the Maintec exhibition at the NEC.

Along with direct mail piece an e- shot was also designed and delivered, a dedicated micro-site created and hosted, trade advertising produced and animation developed which was used on both the micro-site and on the stand.

INA FAG got a very positive reaction from this marketing collateral, leaving them in rude health at the end of the exhibition.

View the INA FAG web case study

View all web case studies

Profile, personalise and profit.

Personalised content can significantly boost customer loyalty, sales conversions and return on investment. Your customers like it, your competitors are probably already doing it and your kids are definitely buying into it…in short personalisation works.

Personal by definition describes how relevant, connected, or applicable something is to a given matter and RJDA are perfectly geared up to respond to these same exacting requirements.

If you are looking to drive business and profit through the following channels, Web to print, DM, Personalised URL’s, E shots or Digital print make sure you speak to an RJDA Account Manager today – 01159 445 428.

3 months FREE trial offer

Ask about our 3 months trial offer for Marketing IP, THE next generation web to print portal that everyone is talking about.

Fortunately for RJDA their latest creative brief for Derbyshire County Council, entitled Smart Rider, did not end with the infamous Norman Tebbit colloquialism ‘On your bike!’.

Instead DCC’s Road Safety Team were a lot more glowing in their assessment of RJDA’s creative delivery, which featured a brand identity and hand drawn illustrations with a digital twist.

Improving road safety is a top priority for DCC and RJDA have certainly played an important role by project managing the design and digital print of a new suite of training literature to help shape the future of cycle proficiency in Derbyshire.

If you would like RJDA to review your company branding, illustration requirements, or simply explore print management opportunities why not get in touch with our creatives. Email studio@rj-da.co.uk

If you would like to find out more about Smart Rider email roadsafety@derbyshire.gov.uk or click on www.derbyshire.gov.uk

Luxury salon The Hairdressers proprietor Billie Ragosta approached RJDA to look for ideas of how to launch her new Beauty Salon.

When the builders started work on the premises on Castle Boulevard two boxes of letters were found under the floor boards. The correspondence dated back to the 1870′s and many were in Russian, and seemed to indicate a love affair that crossed between Nottingham, France and Russia. The letters and envelopes had an lovely aged patina to them and the handwriting was immaculate.

RJDA used visual elements from letters and rippled this across the new corporate branding to give a sophisticated and bespoke feel to all the marketing elements.

RJDA designed and printed a beautiful brochure with some special finishing techniques employed to give it very high quality feel, along with a new website, photography, copywriting and eshot campaigns.

View The Hairdressers & Beauty Salon website

RJDA are delighted to announce their recent success in a 3 way creative pitch to Warrington based Environmental Protection Group (EPG) for a new logo, corporate ID and content managed website.

The combination of a clean design, classic typeface, revitalised colour palette and a bit of web WOW formed the basis of RJDA’s pitch winning proposition. EPG’s corporate rebrand will be finalised with the launch of their new look website www.epg-ltd.co.uk, which goes live later this month complete with a content managed news section.

The pitch marks the second success in as many months for RJDA, following the East Midlands Agencies appointment to manage the marketing and PR activity for Carbon Composites Manufacturer Atlas Composites.

A recent visit to Sign UK in Birmingham turned out to be more of a shopping spree for RJDA
and this week back at HQ we installed the UK’s first HP FX600 Latex machine which has caused quite a stir!

Walk up close, and the first thing that will strike you is the outstanding image quality and the
rich, saturated colors. The print is every bit as durable and light-fast as you get from low solvent printers.

The second thing you’ll notice is that the prints have no odor. At least nothing beyond whatever faint
smell is inherent to the media. That’s because the prints emit extremely low levels of Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOC’s).

This is especially important for our clients that have signage where odor might be a concern such as food stores, restaurants, medical facilities, fitness centers etc.

The third fabulous fact is that HP Latex inks are water-based. They are free of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP’s) and require no special ventilation system to deal with printing emissions.

Furthermore, no cleaning fluids are required to maintain the printer and the waste from the printer is
also considered non-hazardous, plus it has recyclable consumables and components

This printer can produce signage for a diverse range of indoor and outdoor applications on a wide selection of flexible media. And has outdoor display permanence up to 3 years unlaminated

“We always strive to stay ahead of the game and as a company we are striving to be increasingly environmentally conscious so this machine is a perfect match for us and for our customers” said Rob Walker MD at RJDA, after taking delivery of the machine from Doug Gilbertson of City & West End Solutions.

After over half a year of sheer dedication RJDA are both proud and thrilled to finally get their hands on a finished copy of the first edition of Balfour Beatty Plant & Fleet Services Product Catalogue.

Lee Day, RJDA’s director who manages the Balfour Beatty account, is celebrating this momentous moment with a proud smile and admits a to small sigh of relief!

“A product catalogue can test the resources of any creative agency. With 308 pages covering 15 separate facets of the Balfour Beatty Plant & Fleet Services business it has been a monumental effort from everybody involved and a good testimony of RJDA’s design, print and production capabilities. The job has taken nearly seven months to come to fruition and the finished article is something Designers Chris Reynolds, Andy Gilmore and the rest of the team can be very proud of.”

For Lynne Shacklock, Balfour Beatty Plant & Fleet Services Head of Marketing and Communications, it’s an immense achievement.

“We always knew that this was going to be a huge assignment and would take some time and determined focus to create and produce. We were literally starting from scratch with a blank canvas, so were able to work very closely with RJDA on images, text and overall layout. Chris and the team have spent hours going through page after page with the finest attention to detail to ensure that everything is just as it should be. I would like to thank everyone at RJDA who has been involved for their help and support over the months. RJDA can be very proud of the final product, we certainly are and the catalogue is already proving an invaluable tool for our customers”

February 18th saw Nottingham’s East Midlands Conference Centre play host to Balfour Beatty Rail Safety Challenge Awards 2010.

The annual awards ceremony is a key date in the calendar for Balfour Beatty Rail Operating Companies in recognising and rewarding innovative and creative safety applications across its businesses. The Safety Challenge Awards form an integral part of a group wide goal to make safety personal and achieve Zero Harm by 2012 – values which are now firmly rooted in the mind of RJDA Director Lee Day.

Safety Challenge Awards Event Organisers Sue Sawyer & John Tidyman commented “RJDA have earned a much deserved reputation within Balfour Beatty Rail companies for delivering quality Zero Harm marketing collateral on time, every time, and perhaps more importantly by taking the time to understand the importance of our initiative and the valuable positive impact it is having on all Balfour Beatty stakeholders. RJDA’s work ethic is very much a combination of going the extra mile, taking the time in making things personal which is why RJDA continue to secure referrals and repeat business from key decision makers within Balfour Beatty Rail.”

“On behalf of Balfour Beatty Rail we would both like to say thank you to RJDA for all of their help, ideas, effort and support over the Safety Challenge Awards planning and preparation period. The attendees were extremely impressed with the Zero Harm pillars and overall branding of the conference and I would have no hesitation recommending RJDA.”

RJDA have teamed up with large format technology supplier City & West End Solutions in taking delivery of the UK’s first 42″ HP L25500 latex printer.

According to Production Manager Julian Oldham the L25500 is a reflection of RJDA’s drive towards a significantly cleaner, greener and more efficient print process and will sit alongside RJDA’s existing HP products the HP Z6100′s & Scitex FB7500.

In a dual appointment, RJDA’s creative team led by Account Manager Daran Zikic, will also take over the management of C&WE’s ongoing PR & marketing strategy for the next 12 months.

The so called ‘baby latex’ represents RJDA’s first case study opportunity to utilise their wealth of large format print experience in a marketing capacity.

With many of its staff familiar with large format kit, RJDA’s creative team are perfectly placed to deliver an innovative marketing mix of video, PR, eshots and web based solutions to drive C&WE’s sales over the coming months.

With combined industry experience of over 50 YEARS between them, the twin appointment of Daran Zikic to the position of Pre Press Manager and Ian Hornbuckle as Workflow Coordinator, should signal significant progression throughout all of RJDA’s workflow processes.

Daran brings with him proven Management experience, with over 25 years experience in the print trade, of which 13 years have been in management. His extensive knowledge of Litho, Digital and Pre Press systems has already seen him undertake the successful implementation of not only achieving, but more importantly maintaining, an ISO12647 consistent closed loop print standard on RJDA’s B2 Komori 5 colour litho press.

“Progression is always the key to success and my future within RJDA could precipitate an eventual move into a more hands on Business Development role. Using my print knowledge to help customers, both existing and new, to achieve the best possible end product in design and cost is ultimately where I see my RJDA career developing.” enthused Daran.

RJDA are delighted to unveil the latest addition to its portfolio of large format digital printing solutions – the HP Scitex FB950.

Hot on the heels of its debut at the Sign UK exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham -  – the recent acquisition is aimed at strengthening RJDA’s position as the leading provider of large format print solutions in the East Midlands.

The HP Scitex FB950 can print directly on to a wide variety of rigid media which include corrugated or compressed carton; foam board; plastics; or specialty material like glass, wood and aluminium as well as more traditional applications for events and exhibitions including posters, banners, signage, display boards, portable displays and floor graphics.

Capable of printing flatbed, sheetfed and rollfed at up to 80 m2/hr in fast mode the 2.5m UV printer will also print double-sided and edge-to-edge, utilising 6 colour UV-curable inks (C, M, Y, K, Lc, Lm).  Consistent print results are achieved thanks to 12 printheads with variable sized drops printing up to 1200 x 600 optimised dpi continually monitored by an onboard camera and spectrophotometer.

Coupled to the above, embedded software and a touchscreen control panel will help to deliver increased quality, productivity, value and versatility, as well as offering the ability to lower the environmental impact of RJDA’s printing.

Don’t just take our word for it – why not get a signage, exhibition or banner quote and see if we can save you money per square metre?