Design Archives - Bluestep Solutions

It’s not an understatement to say that last year the world was forced to adapt in ways we could never have imagined. Due to social distancing guidelines, we have all had to take our IRL activities online. (Another Zoom quiz, anyone?!)

Sadly, for charities, the cancellation of thousands of mass participation events resulted in a loss of billions in fundraising income. However, whilst it has been undeniably tough for many charities, we are nonetheless staggeringly impressed with how fast-reacting and innovative they have been with their virtual fundraising ideas.

Here’s our round-up of some of the best charity challenge ideas we’ve seen in the last 12 months:

Running a virtual marathon

As the official Virgin Money London Marathon couldn’t go ahead as normal this year (other than for elite athletes), organisers encouraged charities to ask their supporters to tackle the 26.2-mile mountain within 24 hours wherever they could and then submit their results.

More than 37,000 runners completed the race, raising over £16 million for charities.

Whilst the idea of sponsored running for charity isn’t new, we are impressed that such a world-renowned event still managed to find a way to go ahead, despite such unprecedented setbacks.

Get gaming

The mental health charity, Mind, tapped into the gaming phenomenon by establishing “the biggest fundraising gaming mission of all time”. As part of the event, ‘Switch Off, Game On’, the charity asked supporters to host and promote a sponsored stream or gaming event.

The campaign gets a thumbs up from us because not only did Mind take advantage of an emerging fundraising trend, but the concept was closely aligned to the charity’s purpose; connecting people.

P.S. We may also be influenced because Bluestep were involved in the fundraising event’s creative process. Find out more about that here.

Put on a show

With people unable to go out and celebs unable to film in a studio, Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need joined forces for the first time to present The Big Night In, an evening of virtual entertainment.

The telethon included performances from Miranda Hart, Sam Smith, a lockdown Vicar of Dibley sermon, a virtual EastEnders pub quiz and many more, all taking place remotely via video links. The event raised a whopping £74 million, proving that technology really can be our best friend.

Easy does it #TwoPointSixChallenge

Were you even listening in 2020 if you didn’t hear of the 2.6 challenge?! Such a simple concept and yet it stirred up a storm on the internet.

The only basis for the challenge was 26 or 2.6, meaning participants could do anything from running 2.6 miles, bench pressing 26kg, or taking part in a 26-minute workout, as long as they were raising money for charity.

The simplicity of the fundraising challenge clearly appealed because the campaign attracted plenty of celebrities including Jonny Wilkinson and Dame Kelly Holmes and has so far raised over £11 million for lots of different charities.

It’s virtual quiz time

While many of us now have sudden hair washing commitments when friends suggest a virtual quiz, there was a time when virtual quizzing really got us going.

Laura Jones, founder of Eventures, raised over £133,000 for NHS Charities Together by hosting a series of themed online quizzes.

She started out with a virtual F.R.I.E.N.D.S quiz at the very beginning of lockdown, which sparked over 130,000 people to join in from across the world! She followed this up with a successful Disney-themed virtual quiz.

The moral of the story? If in doubt, get quizzical!

Virtual walkies!

We’ve all considered how the pandemic has affected human lives, but have we considered the effects it’s had on our beloved doggies? Due to social distancing, it’s likely that a lot of four-legged friends have also missed out on regular playtime with their pals.

The World Big Dog Walk Challenge is a series of dog walks held across the UK, uniting owners and their furry friends, with money going towards different dog charities. Seeing as it couldn’t go ahead in person in 2020, the organisers made it virtual and encouraged people and pooches to clock up their pledged miles in their own time, aiming to hit a total of 40,075km; that’s the circumference of the Earth!

Online auction or raffle

While you don’t need a private virtual recording with Sting or a virtual cooking lesson with Heston Blumenthal up your sleeve, it certainly helps. This is what premier auction house, Sotheby’s, found when they raised money with a very prestigious online auction set up to raise money for the International Rescue Committee’s Covid-19 efforts.

If you don’t happen to have Sting on speed dial, we see no reason why other virtual auctions and raffles can’t make a real difference. Whether it’s a pledge to do the housework, or to bake a cake every month, charities can ask their supporters to contribute in all sorts of ways.

We all need a hero

Captain Tom Moore aimed to walk 100 laps of his garden ahead of his 100^th birthday to raise money for NHS Charities Together. Footage of Captain Tom, resplendent in his military medals, tackling his mammoth task clearly pulled at the heart strings of the nation as he raised over £30 million and became our 2020 hero.

We salute Captain Tom as we remember that, with good intentions and a bit of determination, anything is possible.

Good luck if you are considering a virtual fundraising event and if you need any support with design or merchandise, please get in touch.

10 tips on how to make your virtual fundraising event stand out and increase smash your donations targets.

You’ll probably never face a more challenging time for your charity that right now. Not surprisingly, there’s a huge amount of fear and anxiety among charities at the moment. You may have seen a big reduction in charitable donations and decreased participant sign ups due to your fundraising events being cancelled. Many of your key staff may have also been furloughed and your charity income may have been hit hard. It’s difficult to not be disheartened and worried about how it will all end.

This is why SO many charities are reacting and adapting by shifting their focus to virtual fundraising. As charity sector specialists we’ve helped to create events, their identities and merchandise for many successful charity events. We believe in sharing with our community and so we thought we’d put together our top tips on how to navigate the virtual fundraising landscape!

Follow these tips and you’ll learn what aspects underpin a successful virtual fundraising event & have every chance of not only surviving the crisis but coming out even stronger than before.

1. Define your target audience.

As with any event or piece of communication, it’s important to know who you are talking to. If you’re used to holding any type of event, mass participation or otherwise, you’ll know the type of person you attract to those events. You may want to target those same people, or use your online presence to reach a whole new audience. Either way, it’s best to know who you’re talking too, the more refined and pointed, the more accurately focused your event can be.

2. Set yourself a realistic fundraising target.

It may sound obvious but generally speaking, the more money you would like to raise, the more people you need to get involved. If your charity has a wide reach, you can set yourself a higher target. But be realistic too, a wide reach could be better served with several smaller events. The key is that you know your targets in order to know the shape and size of an event.

3. Set yourself a non-monetary objective too.

Your virtual fundraising event doesn’t have to be purely about raising lots of money this time around. You can use the event to increase awareness of a particular service that your charity provides or maybe you have demographic that you would like to be more involved in your charity. Your virtual fundraising event is a mini advertising campaign so maximise your investment… just don’t try and do too much.

4. Identify key dates.

The beauty of virtual fundraising events is that they can be done any time. But not setting a definite timeline or date can be detrimental to involving your fundraisers. Online events work best when they have a defined period. This not only makes them easier to manage, it also gives more clarity about when your fundraisers should take part. Whether it’s a day or a few weeks, setting that time makes everything a lot easier to plan around. You’ll be able to introduce the event, encourage participation and increase donations far more easily.

5. Have an idea. Or don’t.

Charity teams are full of creative people and you’ve been creating fundraising events for years. If you’ve got an idea that’s been dormant for years or you don’t know how to get it off the ground, give it a go as a virtual event, they’re much lower risk than those physical events that require space, property, insurance… (you know the drill). If you’re scratching your head, we can help.

6. Give your virtual fundraising event a clear identity.

With a crowded market, it is hard to stand out and with no clear identity it’s easy to be overlooked. Having a clear identity will make your event stand out from the crowd. A clear identity for your event will also ensure that people notice the event and not mistake it for any other comm’s you have out at the same time. Be clear with what your event is about and convey that through your identity.

7. Have assets to send to your fundraisers.

If you’re asking your fundraisers to do something online, ensure that they look good or have the tools to do what they need. Share assets that they can use on social platforms to make their space stand out from all their other content.

8. Have a plan for marketing your event.

It may look simple and easy but you need to give some consideration about how best to reach your audience. Ensure that your demographic will see your content where you intend to share it and consider where to use paid media in order to reach a wider demographic and new supporters. Acknowledge that you will need to be in front of your audience in a productive way throughout your events timeline.

9. Thank your supporters just as you would at a physical mass participation event.

You know that your fundraising supporters appreciate the thank you they receive across your events. For some they have achieved a lifetime goal, for others, it’s a chance to cement relationships and to feel part of a team. We know that merchandise continues to solidify relationships with supporters, receiving a medal recognising the achievement or a t-shirt that reminds the team of the camaraderie shared, is often an emotionally well received thank you.

10. Do you have existing resource to manage a fundraising event?

Do not underestimate an online (Virtual) event, it is important to give all aspects consideration and be able to support the online necessary platform. The good news is that they are easy to manage and a doddle to learn. But if you need any additional support, we can help.

Need Additional Support? Drop us a line to see how we can help you with your online, virtual fundraising events.

The sun was shining, the players were buzzing and the cider was flowing. What else could it be but the London Charity Softball League finals day?!

Bluestep were thrilled to sponsor this year’s games, which kicked off in May and resulted in a nail-biting final.

Each year, 80 charities take part in the softball games, which are played in Hyde Park, London, to compete for the prestigious Harris Hill Cup. Mind were the overall charity winners of the 2019 Cup, with The Foodfighters (Fair Share UK and ACF UK) winning the Bluestep Shield and Business in the Community winning the Harris Hill Plate. Well done guys!

It’s been a summer of trash talk, Twitter .gifs and Love Island giveaways and, most of all, laughs. Bluestep’s Charity Account Manager, Kendra Daly says “Each year we sponsor this awesome event and each year it’s all about having some fun with our fab charity clients.

It’s so nice be able to facilitate the event as we can be part of all the banter and camaraderie which is so important for everyone working in the charity sector.”

Bluestep sponsored the food and various competitions throughout the season as well as filming finals day so that the video can be used as a memento for all participants and hopefully it’ll build the buzz for teams next year! #PlayBall!

When keeping up with the ever-evolving market, brands often seek to refresh and rebrand themselves. Whether this is a minor tweak or a complete overhaul, as designers, we always get excited to see how agencies tasked with the job have brought a vision to life and the creative direction they have taken.

We asked the design team for their thoughts and opinions on some of the most recent rebrands and redesigns to hit the market.

John Lewis Partnership

Pentagram has recently given the iconic British company John Lewis Partnership, home to John Lewis and Waitrose, a revamp. Placing emphasis on their business model, whereby every employee (all 85,000 of them) have a stake in the company, ‘& Partners’ has been added to the names.

Inspired by the original pattern for the brand that was originally created in the 60’s, the parent brand, John Lewis and Waitrose are unified by the use of ‘brandlines’ – with a variety of weighted lines for each entity.

So, what do the Bluestep designers think?

“The new style has transferred well across the brand materials whether that be the logo to tote bags, using the same essence of their brand allows continuity, but keeps the different section of the companies fresh. By rebranding the companies together, it brings the two closer and more recognisable as a joint venture whilst still keeping their own personalities.”

“I particularly love the new typeface and linear font created for JL. This is used on the new bags that have the enlarged text bleeding off – a modern design element which you wouldn’t really expect from such a traditional brand. I like the use of lines – makes for a flexible identity which can be applied to a variety of applications and is a nice way to connect the two parts of the partnership by both using the parallel lines but in different orientations. However, it looks a lot like M&S in my opinion with a similar typeface and the use of black and green.”

Uber

The global ride-sharing and ride-hailing app Uber has revolutionised the way people get from A to B. Uber needed an identity that would work and translate universally across cultures, and so sought the help of Wolff Olins. The result is a stripped back, simple brand look.

Over to the Bluesteppers…

“I really like this – much simpler and cleaner than the old one, gives it a much-needed modern refresh! You can tell they’ve drawn inspiration from transportation icons in the arrows and rich blue colour that you see on road signs for easily legible text – a nice way to coherently transition the brand by using elements that are already commonly associated with the road/ transport/ travel.”

“I think the choice of a softer typeface and the move away from an all-caps lockup allows for a different tone of voice and universal brand message, this can only help with all the bad publicity that the brand has received in the past year. A more dignified and classier look will add a little more luxury when travelling and using the Uber brand where its seen to be a quick and cheap alternative to calling a taxi. This rebrand is a nice step forward from the rebrand that took place in 2015, which was highly criticised. “

Carlsberg

Bringing things closer to home, with their head office in good old Northampton, we couldn’t pass on talking about Carlsberg’s (albeit small) changes to their brand identity. This new look has been rolled out onto the bottles, cans and glassware, creating a unified new product family. This comes at a time where the brand is releasing revolutionary innovations, such as the ‘snap pack’ in a bid to reduce plastic waste.

Here’s what designer and part-time beer drinker Andrew has to say:

“The revamped logo has seen small but effective changes, with small tweaks to the typeface and enhanced colour pallet, it sees the brand become lifted and refreshed. With the introduction of a clean and crisp typeface to partner the elaborate logomark, it brings a whole new look and feel, which almost brings hipster vibes with the cleaver typesetting and brand colours. Carlsberg has stripped back all the extravagance and have allowed for the brand to speak for itself with flat colours and a signature mark of approval on every bottle.”

So, what do you think? Do you agree with what our designers have to say?

We have worked on a handful of great rebrands here at Bluestep, which you can find out more about over on our case studies page.
If you are looking to give your brand a little re-vamp, get in touch with us today!

Images in this post are courtesy of ‘Brand New’

In June, Bluestep took a trip to the Birmingham Design Festival. We learnt loads and it was a great place to get our creative juices flowing.

One thing we got to know more about is Variable Fonts and our Web Developer, Alex, is on hand to give us the low-down.

What are Variable Fonts?

Variable Fonts are a new technology that I learnt about at the Birmingham Design Festival in early June, thanks to a talk by Sahar Afshar. The main idea and benefit behind a Variable Font is that all the weight and italic options are included in a single font file, as opposed to regular fonts requiring separate files for each combination of weight and italics.

Take Proxima Nova, for instance, the font used by the Bluestep website. Typekit has 48 available fonts for Proxima Nova, which include every possible combination of 3 width options, 2 italic options and 8 weight options. These fonts range from Proxima Nova Thin to Proxima Nova Extra Condensed Black Italic (I think you can get one of these from Starbucks) and every other combination in-between. We only use 2 of these fonts on the website currently, but if we wanted to get a bit more adventurous and use more of those options, that’s an extra file that the website needs to load for each font that we decide to add.

However, if there was a Variable Proxima Nova font (which doesn’t exist sadly ☹) we’d be able to have all 48 options readily available with the website only needing to load a single font file. Additionally, due to the nature of Variable Fonts, we could go beyond that 48 and potentially have infinite possibilities.

Instead of multiple files for each combination of weight, width, italics etc., Variable Fonts utilise axes to manipulate these properties with more granularity.

Take the Variable Font Acumin Variable Concept for example. Acumin has 3 axes, Weight, Width and Slant, each of which can be changed independently of one another. The Weight axis ranges from 100-900, Width ranges from 50-115 and Slant range from 0-12. Even if these ranges are only looked at as going up in ones, that’s still 624,000 possible variations. Values can also be set as decimals in some cases, which technically allows infinite variations. Infinite options in 1 file versus Proxima Nova’s 48 options in 48 files.

As mentioned earlier, Variable Fonts are particularly interesting to me as a developer as it means that we only need to load one font that we can manipulate on the fly, as opposed to needing to pick and choose which weights are the most important. Ultimately, this means a lot more options for us as developers and a (slightly) faster website for the user.

Variable Fonts aren’t just restricted to web development. Adobe Creative Cloud 2018 released in October 2017, and with it came Variable Font support in both Illustrator and Photoshop, meaning even more possibilities for Graphic Designers.

The Future of Fonts

Soon, Variable Fonts will likely be used all over the web, whether it’s for the vast design possibilities or simply getting a boost to website speed.

There are already so many Variable Fonts out in the wild, wild web, some of my favourite sites for previewing them are V Fonts and Axis Praxis. You’ll notice that some offer less than 3 axes, while others offer a lot more. Some of which get really wacky.

What’s beyond Variable Fonts? Well, that would be Colour Fonts. We’re not quite at the point where Colour Fonts are ready to be widely used (Google Chrome doesn’t even support it yet!), but as with Variable Fonts, the prospects are very exciting!

We like to stay ahead of the game and pride ourselves in producing some great work. If you would like to chat design or digital, get in touch today!

Bluestep are delighted to have supported the Swedish lift manufacturer Aritco in the design, marketing and production of their latest exhibition stand at the Homebuilding & Renovating show 2018.

Aritco wanted to create an exhibition that stood out, attracting the high level of footfall at the event and draw people in to find out more about the brand and the product offering.

We were responsible for designing everything from the exhibit to all the printed literature, ensuring that the modern and premium style of the brand was communicated throughout the event.

The customisable characteristics of the Homelift product were the focal point for all our creative, allowing Aritco to easily communicate the number of different editable features available to the visitors. The stand theme ‘express your taste’ helped illustrate the elegance of Scandinavian style within interior design.

We had a great day at the exhibition. The Bluesteppers headed to Birmingham to see our work bought to life and ensure all the design elements were put together and ran smoothly. Our resident motion graphics designer and part-time photographer, Carl, packed his DSLR and was on hand to take some professional shots of the day.

As a result of our combined efforts before and during the event, the stand was visited by thousands of guests at the NEC arena and has already generated over 160 new sales leads for Aritco. It has been recognised as the most successful exhibition in the company’s history!

To further support the campaign, Bluestep initiated and assisted Aritco with the launch of the #MyAritcoHomeLift competition. An exciting opportunity that will give one lucky individual the chance to win their very own custom designed Homelift!

Our digital team also created a landing page and organised the promotion of the campaign via social media, using both organic and paid posts to create a buzz amongst the target audience, reaching people in the hundreds of thousands.

“By the Sunday afternoon, we had run out of brochures and competition forms. Every single detail came together so well. Bluestep really brought all the elements together for us both offline and online and as a result, we’ve had some great sales leads.”
Reshma Miller – Marketing Manager, Aritco UK.

Hot off the press!

We are delighted to share one of our latest projects with you. We were recently approached by the Royal Parks Trust to create a booklet for their calendar of events 2018, and we love the result!

Bluestep have worked with the fabulous Royal Parks team for the past couple of years now and have created the charity’s events booklet three years running, as well as posters and collection boxes.

The Royal Parks Trust looks after some of the beautiful landscapes within the hustle and bustle of the capital, including the famous Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and St James’s Park. The foundation exists to protect and conserve 5,000 acres of urban parkland. Here at Bluestep, we are pleased to create something that helps keep this alive and support the work they do.

Every year, the Royal Parks hold a variety of events the whole family can enjoy. From sensory learning experiences for little ones, to wilderness survival skills for those looking to release their inner Bear Grylls. What’s more, the parks give Londoners the opportunity to swap the busy life of the city, with yoga and wellness classes immersed in green and glorious surroundings.

We wanted to create something that reflects the great work they do, maintaining the spaces for everyone to enjoy for generations to come. We made the booklet light and full of pops of colour, as a nod the beautiful parks.

Easy to navigate, whether you are looking for family activities or fascinating walking tours, the booklet allows everyone to find out how they can make the most of the magical parks.

Next time you’re heading to the capital, be sure to check out the Royal Parks and their events, and keep your eyes peeled for our work whilst you’re there!

Bluestep are pleased to announce the launch of the ‘Community Living Well’ website, a brand new support service in West London.

Dedicated to mental health and social well-being, Community Living Well puts you in the centre.

With a range of professionals providing support that is tailored to the individual, whether it’s getting help with employment to psychological therapy, this is a valuable service with the community at the heart of what they do.

Bluestep were approached to build and design the website, and are delighted to be part of a service seeking to create positive change.

We spent time with focus groups and service users to ensure the design and website was a welcoming space that is also functional and easy to use, ensuring people find the support they need.

You can find the Community Living Well website here, and check out how the Bluestep healthcare team are making a difference with the exciting projects we have been working on across the country.

If you are interested in learning more about what we do, email us at healthcare@bluestepsolutions.com

It’s undoubtedly the biggest charity fundraiser in the UK and we’ve finally been able to debut our Macmillan charity fundraising pack! Plus, it gave us a good excuse to bake cakes…

We’ve been counting down the days until Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, as this year we had the pleasure of creating promotional products for their charity fundraising packs – one of our most exciting projects to date.

The order involved 1.7 million units including branded miniature cake bunting, mini cake flags, ‘Best Baker’ badges and a tablecloth printed and stored at our Bluestep warehouse facility. And we’re no strangers to orders of this size, just see our order for the FA Cup Final!

Not only did we want to use our fundraising pack and get our quintessentially British bunting up, but it also meant we could show off our second-best set of skills – baking.

We love an excuse to get our hands stuck in cake mixture (and our faces), and we like to think we’re pretty good bakers if we do say so ourselves – just see how our Bluestep bake-off turned out. We can categorically confirm that there were no soggy bottoms in the office on this day. Mary Berry would be proud.

Our freshly-baked goods selection included Mia’s deliciously delicate Viennese Whirls and creamy sandwich biscuits, Alice’s crumbly white chocolate and raspberry cookies and Yasmin’s tasty Oreo truffles.

After devouring the lot, it was up to us official “taste-testers” to see whose bakes were fit for the ‘Best Baker’ award. It wasn’t an easy decision, but after much deliberation, we chose Mia as the Best Baker for Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning!

We hope everyone across the UK had a successful World’s Biggest Coffee Morning and enjoyed their cake bunting as much as we did! We’re already looking forward to next year’s event, so stay tuned to see what we have planned…

The London Design Fair saw Bluestep head to hipster paradise Brick Lane to support Aritco at Alexander Lervik’s stand.

Us Bluesteppers know good design when we see it, which is why we couldn’t miss the opportunity to visit the prestigious London Design Fair at the Old Truman Brewery in sunny Shoreditch.

London is without a doubt the design capital of the World and this year’s event saw Alexander Lervik display his ‘Scandinavian Light Senses’ exhibition, featuring the Aritco HomeLift, which Lervik designed himself.

The Aritco-sponsored stand featured some of Alexander Lervik’s most iconic work, including his contemporary Scandi-style sofa designed for furniture manufacturer Adea, his mesmerising Light Swing designed for Swedish light designers Saas and the Artico HomeLift.

After a couple of tests in the swish HomeLift and a quick go on the Light Swing, we decided to venture into the abyss of the design fair and get lost in inspiration.

In what seemed like a maze of design stalls, we managed to soak up a load of ideas for future projects and discover some hidden gems…

WEAR SUNSCREEN as commanded by Baz Lurhmann, which always serves as a nice reminder for the few days of nice weather we have in the summer!

We’re big fans of stationery and greetings cards, with one of our very own Bluestep designers creating her own stationery website – Louie Prints!

A lot of stalls focused on interior design and the Scandi-style that’s popular within the industry right now. We’re trying to persuade Ben to let us have that light in the office.

There’s no escaping millennial pink at this year’s Design Fair which is safe to say we’re all a bit partial to. We are millennials after all?

We were pretty fascinated with these tiny ornamental vases, fit for a blade of grass! We had to be held back from buying the whole lot.

At the end of a long day getting lost in London Design Fair, we found a photo booth equipped with tropical-themed props! Spot the photobomber…

We’re proud to have been asked once again to sponsor the Cycle4Cynthia event for 2017!

With the massive success of last year’s event, the Cynthia Spencer Hospice have kindly asked us to sponsor them for their 2017 Cycle4Cynthia event, taking place in September.

We’re not the sort to ever turn down an opportunity to support such an amazing local charity. And with the values of Cynthia Spencer Hospice falling in line with our own values so closely, we couldn’t resist sponsoring them for their biggest fundraising event of the year.

Last year’s event saw over 1,100 cyclists take on Northampton’s finest country trails on the 5, 25 and 50-mile race, raising a whopping £76,000!

Each year the Saints Rugby team support the Cycle4Cynthia race, and this year we’ve managed to snag some snaps of them filling out Bluestep’s finest cycling jerseys, with 250 made especially for the event.

Our designers even made little back pockets to hold your shoes and water bottle (high fashion, we know).

This year’s Cycle4Cynthia event takes place on September 24th September at Northampton’s grand Lamport Hall and will be led by double Olympic silver medalist, Becky James. To get involved and fundraise for the Cynthia Spencer Hospice, simply head to their registration page. It doesn’t matter if you’re just a leisure rider, a business team or a serious cyclist – everyone’s invited!

In the meantime, if you work as part of a charity and are looking for fresh new jerseys or merchandise for your next fundraising event, give us a call or drop us a message. We’d love to chat over coffee about how we can help.

New kid on the block, Carl, brings a whole host of ideas and talent to the Bluestep design studio, and we’re already excited to see what kind of cool, quirky animations come jumping from his Mac.

Audio engineer, animator, musician, mushroom hater and website obsessive. Carl has many strings to his bow and we’re extremely privileged to take on another young, fun and super-talented Bluestepper!

Bulking up the design team’s endless talents as our animation designer, Carl’s creativity and tech- savvy knack mean he’ll be able to apply himself to a range of our existing projects and help take our clients to the next level.

Carl was first attracted to Bluestep because of its genuine desire to raise awareness of topics that matter in a unique and creative way, with a team that’s constantly bubbling with ideas!

A graduate from Southampton Solent, Carl made many international friends during his studies, which means he is now a regular jet-setter around Europe, exploring and touching base with old faces. Adventurous Carl is rarely seen without his headphones, and aside from being a talented creative, he also performs in two bands and shoots music videos. His relationship with the music industry takes up a lot of his spare time and most weekends he can be found gigging or behind the camera.

Welcome aboard, Carl!

The approaching new year symbolises a time to reflect, show gratitude, appreciation and make goals for the next year…
So to say our goodbyes to what has been a fantastic year, we’ve put together a list of the top ten memories from 2016.

1) London Charity Softball

Bluestep sponsored the London Charity Softball team and supported the event by providing the branded kits and marketing collateral ahead of the event. The Bluestep team showed an appearance with a fully stocked sandwich stall, helping to feed the hungry players post-match. On a hot summers day, we ended the night with a few bevvies together in Hyde Park. A great day which deserves to be up here as one of our top memories of 2016.

2) Bluestep Bake Off

Shockingly competitive, the Bluestep Bake off saw the team go head to head in a bid to become the Star Baker. Each week we saw three bakers slave away in the kitchen to create their culinary masterpiece. Chocolate, banana, coffee, shortbread, scones…we had it all. Despite all of the tasty treats, a sour taste was left in our mouths (not just from Ben’s coffee cake) when it became apparent someone had used shop-bought pastry which lead to a disqualification from the final!

3) New employees

Since the beginning of 2016, we’ve seen ten new starters walk through the doors of Bluestep. All to fill new roles which have been created as a result of our increased workload. Since the office is getting pretty cosy, we’ve decided to expand our office into the next unit to make room for even more Bluesteppers in the new year!

4) Bluestep Summer BBQ

It seems like a distant memory now, but remember that scorcher of a week we had back in July? The boys set up a disposable BBQ in the courtyard and we finished off the hottest week of the summer with burgers and some ice cold bevvies. Bring on #Summer2017

5) NHS Expo ‘16

Bluestep’s healthcare team took a road trip up to Manchester back in September to host our own stand at the NHS Innovation Expo ’16. Designed by the very talented Becca Tyler, the stand was a huge success. We shared insight and spoke to a whole host of NHS professionals and stakeholders, absorbing as much as we could from all the talks and events. It was full on, but our energetic team kept up by fuelling up on all the free sweets!

6) Bluestep’s 6th Birthday

Possibly one of the biggest milestones – our 6th birthday! Who’d have thought six years how Bluestep was comprised of Ben, his kitchen table, a landline phone and a stapler? Amazing how much you can achieve with sheer determination and ambition.

7) Redecorating

One late night for the team and a fresh new look for the office. Rather than pay for a painter, we thought it’d be a fun, team building activity to just chip in and do it ourselves! There were laughs, there were arguments and there were spillages, but we’re pretty proud of our lush new office.

8) Seminars

Ben started to identify everyone’s individual talents and realised that a lot of the team were bringing additional skills to their role and further improving the company. Although the team were dubious about presenting in front of their peers, Ben finally persuaded us to start giving monthly seminars which have actually proven to be a lot of fun! We’ve shared some of our knowledge in our blog ‘Bluestep Seminars’, if you fancy some insight.

9) Charity Brochure …hot off the press

The highly-anticipated charity brochure was one of our most chopped and changed internal projects! In a bid to ensure it was absolutely perfect, it was in and out of the studio more times than we can count. Ten final, final proofreads later and we were finally happy to send it to print. Hot off the press, it was better than we had envisaged and we hope our clients have found it a useful reference for all of our offerings!

10) Secret Santa

And finally, the most recent, festive highlight. Ben receives a giant German sausage for Secret Santa…don’t ask.