Sometimes it's print that opens the door. Sometimes it's design. What matters is the service they receive after they walk through it.
Back in 2019, the team at RSPCA Sussex West's Mount Noddy Animal Centre first came to us through our sister company Chichester Print.
They weren't looking for a graphic designer. They already had artwork they'd created themselves in Canva and simply needed somebody to print it. And that was absolutely fine.
We helped them understand some of the slightly less exciting realities of designing for print – things like bleed, resolution, colour and how artwork needs to be supplied – and produced the finished items for them. That could quite easily have been the beginning and end of the relationship.
Seven years later, we're still working together.
Sometimes print opens the door
Mount Noddy still produces plenty of its own artwork in-house. Promotions for events such as Noddy Fest are a good example. They create it, send it over and we print it.
We've never had a problem with that. Not every piece of communication needs to involve a graphic designer. If a client has the ability and resources to create something themselves and it does the job, we're quite happy to help them turn it into a professionally printed finished product. But over the years our relationship with Mount Noddy has developed.
As we've got to know them and they've got to know us, they've increasingly trusted us with the design side too. Working within the new RSPCA branding, we've now designed and produced a growing range of material for them including letterheads, leaflets, postcards, folders and vinyl banners.
They haven't stopped coming to us for print. They've simply discovered another door.
Sometimes design opens the door
Of course, it works exactly the same way in reverse. Plenty of people first come to Wilson Design Associates because they need something designed. It might be a new identity, a brochure, a leaflet, an exhibition display or a piece of marketing material. We design it, they approve it and then comes the fairly obvious question:
"Can you get it printed as well?"
Yes!
For many of our clients, that's one of the advantages of working with us. They don't need to take finished artwork away and start finding printers, comparing specifications or trying to work out whether they need 300gsm silk, uncoated stock, lamination, spot UV or something else entirely. We can look after the whole thing.
So while Chichester Print and Wilson Design Associates have their own identities and websites, in reality there's a lot of crossover between the two. People just arrive through different doors.
It's what happens next that matters
I don't particularly mind which door somebody comes through. I'm equally happy if the first conversation is "Can you design this?" or "Can you print this?" Because the thing that turns an enquiry into a long-term client relationship isn't really design or print.
It's service.
It's answering the phone. Helping somebody when their artwork isn't quite right. Explaining something without making it unnecessarily complicated. Suggesting a better way of producing something when appropriate. Getting the job done when you said you would. And being there again when they need the next thing. Sometimes that next thing is completely different from the thing they originally came to you for.
Our relationship with Mount Noddy started with some artwork created in Canva and a request to print it. Seven years later, sometimes they still supply the artwork and we print it. Sometimes we design it and print it. We simply provide whichever combination makes sense for the job.
And I rather like that.
