2020: Year in Review
In a year that forced disruption to business on global scale, it goes without saying that 2020 brought some unexpected challenges. Balancing work-life with home-life has become the norm for so many, and video calls from spare bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms with noisy children and entertaining pets in the background are now widely accepted as a professional environment.
As a business that was already well versed in remote working, we were able to continue working and delivering projects to both new and existing clients. There is much to be grateful for as we look back at 2020. Business-wise, it has been our best year to date by some margin and I think that’s thanks to the growing reputation and momentum we are building at Studio Optic.
It has been exciting and encouraging to see so many new brands and businesses forming – some slightly accelerated due to the nature of 2020 and some years in the making finally coming to fruition. We are proud to have designed branding projects for over 20 new and existing businesses this year, with many more in the making as we approach 2021.
In January, we began dialogue with Woodforde’s Brewery to produce a suite of online videos that would showcase the brand and highlight their new facilities. Due to the impact of the first national lockdown, the shoot was understandably put on hold. We used this time to adjust our narrative, enabling us to work around the restrictions in place and shoot within the permitted guidelines over the summer – the hottest week of the year, no less. Let’s just say that shooting from dawn ’til dusk in a steaming hot brewery during a heatwave was one experience we won’t forget in a hurry.
The films went on to receive such positive feedback that additional budget was granted and our attention soon turned to producing a TV advert for the brewery. This was a real milestone project for us as a business, with our video production capabilities being recognised and showcased on a national scale.
We enjoyed working with Gusto Homes to deliver their new branding ahead of their Collingham site launch. We work with a number of green energy, AI and smart tech-focused clients and it was fantastic to work in a related sector for a brand well known locally for their futuristic thinking and quality output.
Every year we produce annual report designs for a number of high-profile clients and this year was unique for a number of reasons. With so many people involved in generating content for each report, getting them all together at any one time can ordinarily prove challenging. Thanks to the forced nature of remote working this year, a more efficient process than ever before was achieved, ensuring our designs for clients such as Tideway were delivered ahead of schedule.
Building on this, we designed a range of investment campaigns for clients, using infographics to bring numbers and statistics to life. This has become a key area for us as a business, having now helped to raise over £10m for our clients through a visual and creative approach to investment. We are excited to build on this for 2021, working with these companies on their next chapter to maximise their early investments and bring their company visions to life.