News & blog
Latest
Brand strategy is not about reinvention for its own sake. It’s about understanding what truly matters, and building from there.
What makes a successful brand strategy? – Paul Ellis and Tom Hubbard reveal all
At Parker Design, magazine design has always been one of the disciplines where creativity and craft come together most powerfully. To explore what makes great editorial design truly work, we sat down with Peter McMonagle, one of our Art Directors.
Magazine design that connects with audiences – Insights from Peter McMonagle
At Parker Design, we bring every creative discipline together under one roof to help you achieve your goals. Here are the top ten reasons why choosing an integrated agency can transform your business and marketing efforts.
Why an integrated agency delivers way more for your business – Top 10 reasons
As 2025 wraps up, we’re taking a moment to look back on another varied year across the studio.
Another year of delivering Way More – A look back at our 2025 highlights
Few places combine tradition and innovation quite like Japan, making Kyoto a memorable setting for our latest project with PTC Therapeutics. For Simon Hallows, Agency Director and Exhibitions Lead at Parker Design, delivering their booth at ICIEM was not only a continuation of a trusted partnership – after Porto, Jerusalem, Perth and Prague – but also part of Parker’s wider experience as an international exhibitions agency, and an opportunity to embrace valuable cultural insights along the way.
Exhibition delivery in Japan – Reflections from Kyoto
We’ve been nominated at this year’s Prolific North Marketing Awards in the Best Brand Building Campaign category.
Breaking News – Parker Design Shortlisted for Best Brand Building Campaign
In a world of constant content, infographics cut through. Here are 10 ways our clients have used them to engage their audiences.
Infographic Design – 10 infographics to engage your audience
As we mark 30 years in business, we decided it was time to step back and reflect on who we are, what we stand for, and where we’re headed.
Introducing the new Parker – Delivering way more
We’re great believers in the strength and effectiveness of animation. Is it time to contemplate an animated logo?
Logo Design – Benefits of an animated logo
Have you considered digital corporate reporting? Were you aware of digital reports? An increasing number of organisations have already made the move, or offer it as an alternative.
Report Design – The power of digital corporate reporting
It was back in 1987 when the world first heard of PowerPoint (actually, it was launched as “Presenter”). But let’s leave recent history behind and concentrate on today: should you choose PowerPoint or Prezi?
Presentation Design – PowerPoint or Prezi: which one’s better?
Internal communications can make or break a successful and motivating company culture. Here are 5 creative ideas to communicate effectively with teams to add value and increase employee engagement.
Employee Engagement – 5 effective ways to engage employees
We know that embarking on a website project may seem daunting, regardless of the size of your business or your specific requirements, but it doesn’t have to be.
Website Design – Have you tried the workshop approach?
We had a chat with our Design Director Paul Ellis and Art Director Tom Hubbard to draw on their experience creating brochure design that is as striking as effective.
Brochure Design – 2 of our designers share 4 considerations
If after speaking to your Data and Legal teams, you’re no longer having nightmares about GDPR, you can reconsider email as one of the most powerful communications and marketing tools available to reach your audience, large or small, business or consumer.
Email Marketing Campaigns – To email or not to email?
As the strictest Covid restrictions gradually lift all over the world, and with appetite for in person events getting stronger, is it time to start considering exhibitions again? These 6 tried and tested exhibition design and experiential ideas will help you attract delegates to your stand.
Exhibition Design – How to attract visitors to your exhibition stand
As employees gradually return to the office, it’s now more important than ever to revitalise or even totally rethink your office space.
Workspace Design – Back to the office? Make your employees feel nurtured
The importance of branding in the Education sector cannot be underestimated: “Our rebranding raised the bar visually and has had a quite profound effect in the culture of the school”.
Brand Design – The importance of branding in the Education sector
Report design – pages of graphs and tables filled with B&W statistics? Perhaps not the most effective approach to engage your audience. To really bring your audience together around your efforts, your annual report design must be an engaging and accessible read, and celebrate your achievements.
Report Design – Make it count
Like every individual, each business is unique, so the brand that represents all that you are must also be unique to make a lasting impression. Here are just 5 examples of ways we’ve helped clients achieve a variety of goals.
Brand Design – 5 ways good brand design can help your business
When it comes to newsletter design, and other comms materials, there has been constant debate in the last few years on the pros and cons of print vs. digital. Is print still relevant?
Digital or Printed Newsletter Design? – Not complete opposites
Marketing materials or collateral is no longer just a sales brochure or a handful of leaflets…
Effective Marketing Materials – Not just a pile of brochures
Nobody wants to fail. Everybody wants to thrive, and often the space we’re surrounded by plays a vital role in the way we feel, behave, and perform.
Employee Engagement – Office environments to help staff thrive
“May your workforce be with you” – Internal Communications, Remote Working and Coronavirus. How do you inspire a sense of belonging amongst employees?
Internal Comms and Remote Working – May your workforce be with you!
Internal communications and Coronavirus – It’s key to have a solid foundation of staff who will remain engaged despite the circumstances. But the definition of ‘engaged employee’ has changed with the onset of Coronavirus, and then many countries going into lockdown…
Internal Comms Video – A conversational way to reach staff
With award season in full swing, the Exodus and Parker teams are celebrating at the Travel Marketing Awards again.
Pat on the Back – Runners up at the Travel Marketing Awards, again!
Here we look at how Covid-19 has crushed most marketing budgets, made a significant dent in the channel mix, and changed the way we think about language when speaking to audiences.
How has marketing changed during Covid-19? –
It’s now more important than ever to communicate with your employees, not just often, but also as meaningfully as you can, in ways that will keep staff engaged and involved, and motivation levels high.
Communicating with your Employees during the Coronavirus Crisis – 3 powerful and creative ways
With all of us spending more time at home, we’ve also been spending more time on social media, not just looking to pass the time, but also looking to social media to fill the void left by the reduced levels of interaction with other people…
Social Media Marketing and Coronavirus – Spike in traffic
Virtual events can be the solution to the multitude of in-person events that have already been cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. But is it a question of simply repurposing the content you planned to use for your cancelled event?
Virtual Events – How to make them a success
When done well, online video can very effective to build awareness, communicate an idea, demonstrate a product or establish a connection with your audience. When it isn’t, you can lose viewers very quickly. So, what is the optimal video length?
Content Marketing – How long should my online content be?
Including gamification as a key element in your employee engagement strategy could really boost engagement levels across businesses of any size. Read on to find out how…
Employee Engagement – Gamification: A winning strategy?
Benefits of brochure design – are there any? Isn’t print dead? Shouldn’t you allocate your budget to less traditional marketing channels? The answer may be ‘no’.
4 Benefits of Brochure Design –
Time for Tom to get on his bike, again!
Team News – Tom, on yer bike!
Well done to the “+1” team on their HR Brilliance Award!
Pat on the Back – Winning strategies to engage employees
“Keep it simple, and give your audience one thing to remember, not ten to forget”. That was the advice given by our Director Simon Hallows at a talk on exhibition design at ExCeL in London.
Exhibition Design – Simon Hallows is keeping it simple
Our Director in London, Seth Hawthorne, recently shared his insight on visual storytelling and how brands can use it to develop more compelling content.
Seth Hawthorne – The power of visual storytelling
Whether attracting traffic to your website is about improving your sales figures, generating brand awareness, or creating differentiation against your competitors, there are many different ways to achieve your goal.
Marketing Effectiveness – 3 ways to increase website traffic
Today we’re celebrating with our client Exodus after coming home with the 2nd Place Award in the Best Use of Content Marketing category and Runner Up for Best Brochure.
Pat on the Back – 2 Travel Marketing Awards!
One of our favourite events in the calendar – 6th Form students from The Grange School in Hartford, in the heart of Cheshire, are working with us again. The project? To respond to a creative design brief delivered by our Creative Director, Mark Bowers.
Nurturing Talent – The next generation answers a real brief
Another award nomination for the Parker Design team, this time for our work on a very successful customer retention marketing campaign for Thomson Reuters, which delivered historic results.
Pat on the Back – Nomination at The Drum Marketing Awards
Our team of designers and content marketing specialists are celebrating being shortlisted at the Travel Marketing Awards.
Pat on the Back – 2 Travel Marketing Awards nominations
I owe a lot to the team at Parker Design. Every one of them has taught me a great deal, always having the time to explain things to me or showing me tricks in software packages. I hope they’ll have me back one day…
Team News – Tom’s time at Parker
Mark Bowers and Tom Gaskell from Parker’s Cheshire team joined other top agencies in the North West to support the next generation of creative talent at a Behance Manchester event.
Nurturing Talent – Supporting creatives
It’s time to celebrate again after making it into The Drum’s Independent Agency Census 2017.
Pat on the Back – The Drum Independent Agency Top 100
Excitement has been building up at our Cheshire office this week as the Digital team look forward to attending the Northern Digital Awards ceremony on Thursday 28 January.
Pat on the Back – Best website
The team review their day at Manchester Animation Festival and stress the importance of narrative.
Out and About – Celebrating animation
To support and improve design education in the UK, Parker Design is committed to providing creative learning opportunities for the next generation of great designers.
Nurturing Talent – Design education goes down the toilet
Our Production Manager James Harwood is back from his trek up Machu Picchu, and he’s (almost) lost for words.
Team News – Jim goes global for a good cause
We’ve put together a list of website design and development FAQs you might find useful before choosing your digital agency.
Website Design – 8 FAQs
Parker Design has partnered with a leading industrial IT company for the rebrand and management of the Wonderware Next Generation Conference.
Event Management – Rebrand of Wonderware Conference
From an unexpected find in a charity shop to apps with emojis: the power of exploring ideas, no matter how strange.
Out and About – Stoking your creative fire
Two Designers is a feature in which two members of our creative team discuss a specific topic. This time, designers Tom Yarwood and Tom Hubbard review three companies that have chosen to move their brand forward by embracing their past: NatWest, Co-op and Kodak.
#TwoDesigners – Classic branding
23.6.16: the UK voted to leave the EU. Since then, businesses and employees have operated in an environment filled with uncertainty. How can you maximise your internal communications to turn that uncertainty into an opportunity to build trust and reassure your employees?
Internal Communications & Brexit – How to put employees’ minds at rest
How do you motivate a creative team to produce great work, even in difficult or stressful conditions?
Out and About – Creative leadership
Cycling 210 miles from our London office to our headquarters in Cheshire, the Tour21 team successfully kicked off Parker Design’s 21st anniversary in style, raising £14,000 for charity in the process.
Parker News – Celebrating our 21st and raising £14K
Websites come in all different shapes and sizes, and have varying roles depending on – amongst other factors – the company, industry and location. Unfortunately many people still underestimate the real value a well planned website can offer their business.
Website Design – 7 ways to improve your website
In this highly visual and communication-driven era external factors such as fashion trends and technological advances can affect how a logo appears to customers and the industry. Keeping a logo up to date and ahead of the game is more important than ever.
Logo Design – Adding value by updating your logo
“If it’s not pee, poo, paper, don’t flush it”. That’s what United Utilities were telling shoppers in Manchester recently…
Experiential Marketing – Shoppers confess at exhibition stand
210 miles, 2 wheels, a bit of brain surgery, raising money for charity, a 21st anniversary, and a walk up Machu Picchu…
Parker News – Jim and his peloton cross the country
A team of creatives and account handlers recently took advantage of one of the many benefits of being a D&AD member and dedicated a whole day to coming up with new ideas…
Out and About – Ideas, ideas, ideas!
Our Creative Director Mark Bowers on how the benefits of being a D&AD Member support his constant search for the best creative solutions…
Nurturing Talent – D&AD Membership
Andi Parker says well done to the whole team for great results in The Drum Design Census…
Pat on the Back – 3 Top 10s in The Drum Design Census
Merry Christmas from everyone here at Parker Design. This year, we’ve created the ultimate quiz to test your knowledge of twisted Christmas films.
Ho, Ho, Ho! – Our Christmas Quiz is back!
Parker Design recently ran an educational workshop at Mid Cheshire College to advertising, photography and graphic design students.
Nurturing Talent – Back to college
Parker Design and Manchester Airports Group (M.A.G), the country’s largest UK-owned airport operator, have launched a fresh and timely advertising campaign to break down misconceptions that airport parking is expensive.
Advertising – End misconceptions
Time for our Digital team to celebrate after being nominated in two categories at the RAR Digital Awards – the culmination of months of great innovative work…
Pat on the Back – RAR feedback for our Digital team
Managing Director, Andi Parker, discusses good design and the psychology of branding in Talk Business Magazine.
Branding – Andi Parker on good design and brand psychology
Parker Design is helping create opportunities for local students throughout Cheshire. Our Young Creative Professionals Programme challenges students to develop a strategy for a live client brief and offers an internship to top performers.
Nurturing Talent – Creating opportunities for students
Chester University Graduate, Jess Bennion, took first place in Parker Design’s 2014 ‘Get Your Santa Out’ competition. In addition to nabbing the top prize, she took home a GoPro Hero4 Black edition camera.
Ho, Ho, Ho – Well done to our #GetYourSantaOut winner!
Parker Design has ranked 32nd in RAR’s Top 100 Agencies Outside London – and our team is well and truly chuffed!
Pat on the Back – RAR Top 100 Agency
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone here at Parker Design! We’re challenging you to #getyoursantaout for a chance to win a GoPro Hero4 Black edition camera.
Ho, Ho, Ho – Our Christmas competition is back!
Graphic designer Tom Hubbard was recently invited to speak to University of Leeds design students about creativity and his ambitious plan to complete 1,000 one-minute creative briefs in 24 hours.
Nurturing Talent – Tom Hubbard and 1,000 briefs in 24 hours
Parker Design congratulates our client, AstraZeneca, on being shortlisted for the 2014 Melcrum Awards. Their ‘Return to Growth’ campaign – a project we worked on closely with their global communications team – was nominated in the ‘Digital Innovation’ category.
Pat on the Back – Good luck AstraZeneca at the Melcrum
Parker Design has been nominated for B2B Campaign of the Year, IT Telecoms and Technology Campaign of the Year and Professional and Financial Services Campaign of the Year at the Northern Marketing Awards.
Pat on the Back – The team pick up three nominations
Our Creative Director, Mark Bowers, recently embarked on a 2,000-mile charity ride, raising more than £5,600 for MND research over a period of 10 days.
Team News – Journey of 2,000 miles ends with hope
Parker Design’s Creative Director, Mark Bowers, embarks on a 2,000 mile Solo Motorcycle tour around Great Britain to support MND (Motor Neurone Disease) sufferers.
Team News – On your Mark… Get Set, Go!
Parker Design Consultants have just been named best UK agency for ‘Print Design’, at the annual national RAR Awards as well as being nominated for 5 other awards and named as a Top 100 Agency for the second year running.
Pat on the Back – RAR! We are tigers!
With such a variety of branding and marketing media available to businesses in the current market it is essential that a company’s corporate identity and brand style is consistent and professional.
Graphic Design – What is a Pantone?
We would like to extend our congratulations to the Internal Communications Team at The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) who have won Silver in the prestigious CIPR ‘PRide Awards’ North West for their quarterly publication ‘NICEtimes’.
Pat on the Back – Silver award for NICE publication
Parker Design Consultants are absolutely thrilled to announce that we are placed a lofty 57th on the annual RAR Top 100 Agencies Outside London, in this, our first year of entry.
Pat on the Back – RAR Top 100 Agency
On 10 September the Tour of Britain rolled through Cheshire for stage 2 and, as a self proclaimed cycling fan, it seemed only right I go and have a look.
Team News – Support for Wiggo
The RAR (Recommended Agency Register) gathers information from companies across the spectrum of marketing services, with details of key clients, resources and key staff, sector experience, case histories and company finances all captured.
Pat on the Back – RAR Recommended Agency Register
On 3rd June on a very wet, cold and miserable morning, Dom, Tom and Martin left Northwich heading for Manchester. The aim? To ride the 38 miles from Manchester to Liverpool in aid of the NSPCC in conjunction with ‘Bike Events’.
Team News – Team take on bike ride for NSPCC
Due to their lightweight structure and small fold-down size, pop-up stands are great for transporting to and from locations, and are really quick and easy to put up. This guide explains how to do just that.
Exhibition Design – How to put up a pop-up stand
There’s no room for R&R with Parker Design, and to prove it we decided to see what we were really made of, taking on the longest indoor karting circuit in the UK. An evening of high-speed bumper-to-bumper racing at Speed Karting in Warrington ensued – non-competitive of course….!
Team News – Petrol, sweat and tears for the boys
We are seeing QR codes everywhere today – on adverts, product packaging, billboards, buses, business cards, brochures – just about anywhere you can fit one. In this quick guide we explain the basics of what they are, how to use them and the benefits they can bring to your business.
Digital Marketing – Guide to QR codes
At Parker Design we like to play (nearly…) as hard as we work. And with Jon’s regular doughnut deliveries a few of us are feeling the need to get out and about for some fresh air and physical exertion.
Team News – We take to pedal power
With the extensive list of sports events and national celebrations in the UK this summer it’s not surprising that the amount of marketing and advertising featuring associations to such events has grown significantly. So do these events present a real opportunity for UK businesses?
Marketing – To theme or not to theme?
Let’s work together –
Interested? Let’s talk –
Location & Areas Served –
My design work varies widely from print layouts, such as stationery and brochures, to digital design for e-newsletters and websites.
A Day in the Life – Non Wood, designer
Mobile devices are quickly becoming the preferred medium to view websites – make sure your business is reaping the benefits of responsive website design.
Website Design – Benefits of responsive web design
Let's collaborate
Feel free to give us a call to start a conversation, our doors are always open.