EYE ON DESIGN STUDIO INTERVIEW
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ADAM BUCHANAN
ENGAGE’S SENIOR DESIGNER TALKS US THROUGH THE WORK AND PLAY OF A TYPICAL DAY(marvelapp.com) is the favoured tool for sending
concept design work to clients. Slack (slack.com) is
a chat client that has replaced email for internal
communications, meaning that inboxes can be
dedicated to client conversations, which helps to
streamline workflow.
This seamless workflow is important when each
project is bespoke. Working from scratch means that
every new commission is a challenge – “It’s what
keeps us on our toes and allows us to innovate” – but
some stand out more than others. “Cricket is at the
heart of Yorkshire’s history and culture, so when
Yorkshire Tea approached us to develop a campaign
that could combine digital with their sponsorship of
The Ashes, we knew we could do something
special,” explains Tom Schofield. “The main
challenges for us were twofold: first we had to
develop a campaign with broad appeal, from cricket
fans who don’t necessarily drink Yorkshire Tea, to
hardened Yorkshire Tea fans with little cricket
know-how; and second, we needed to create an
interface that was intuitive and responsive so people
could play along at home, the office or even live at
The Ashes. We ended up creating an industry-
leading microsite with three very different, but
complementary mechanics.”09:00
FRIDAY MORNING BREAKFAST
A productive day can’t begin
without the right fuel! Every Friday we task
ourselves with scouting out a new cafe for our
infamous bacon run. With our sandwiches in hand,
we’ll catch up on the day ahead and have the
age-old debate: tomato ketchup or brown sauce?09:30
DESIGN BRIEF MEETING
With Friday being one of our
busiest days catering for several hospitality clients,
it’s crucial we ensure that any design needed for the
weekend’s promotions are in place. From
e-marketing to social media imagery and beyond,
we’ll sketch out our ideas before hitting Photoshop.10:00
ARTWORKING
Tool(bar)s are scattered
everywhere as we make a start on today’s
challenges. Between us we’ll take our
aforementioned sketches and wireframes and
begin powering through each client’s brief.Sticking within its hospitality sector niche, Engage
was also commissioned to work with Whitbread’s
Beefeater Grill to create an app for the restaurant
chain’s recent partnership with the Mr Men & Little
Miss brand. The app, Family Portraits, allowed users
to assign characters to create their very own family
portrait and save as their Facebook cover photo. The
project was a success and has been nominated for
ten industry accolades, winning three Big Chip
Awards (bigchipawards.com). It was also a firm
favourite with the team, says Schofield: “We
absolutely loved working with the Mr Men characters
and lucky for us we were given a fair amount of
creative freedom. By combining the iconic characters
with a stunning and minimalistic interface, the
application allowed users to get lost in the familiar
faces of yesteryear – all while having an excuse tocall their dads Mr Lazy.” Over half a million people
used the app and it’s being re-skinned for Halloween
and reformatted for a Christmas campaign.
Engage is not afraid to branch out and take on
more and more innovative projects, finding new
creative solutions to suit each client. This is key in the
future direction of the studio, says David Wrightson.
“Having evolved from a boutique creative to
full-service digital agency, the future for us will be
centred around two things: diversification and
innovation. We’ve always invested heavily in going
the extra mile and, with increased service offering
and expanding teams, we’ll aim to accelerate this to
the next level. We’ll continue to build on and expand
existing relationships, both in the hospitality sector
and beyond, and continue to stay at the forefront of
all things digital.”Photoshop is the single
most valuable piece ofsoftware we use. Not only
because of its across-the-board use, but also because
of (love it or hate it) Adobe’sdomination of the market
presence for a new coffee range that was Taylors Coffee: Engage created a digital
designed to be ‘complex, magical and packed full of serious character’