Mapping out a company in one graphic?
So how do you explain what a company actually does in one simple graphic? – This was the challenge presented to the creative team at IT-OK from local Water & Energy Company, H2OK.
H2OK Water and Energy, based in Truro, Cornwall and offices in Bristol also are at the forefront of water, energy and waste water management in the UK. They provide a turnkey service from conception through to completion across a broad range of commercial sectors. Recent years has seen a growing expanse in the renewable energy market and the company are currently nearing completion of the first closed-loop food waste to energy anaerobic digestion system in the United Kingdom at Rogerstone Park in South Wales.
The concept, to present in a single simple graphic design the spectrum of services that the company provides and the industries and business sectors it provides these services to. The idea was born in answer to a child’s simple question, “what does your company do?” but when you ask yourself that question about your company, how easy is the answer?
Typically companies grow and develop their offerings over time, often a company is forged on a single idea but through growth and expansion of services that core idea can become lost in a haze of many other products and services to cater for a wide a spectrum of client as possible. Your website design, marketing and literature keeps having a bolt on effect, add a supplement of this, a page of that, a link to that and a download of this and before you know it you are providing your clients with a marketing package that is as complex as it all sounds and no matter how good it is all the design and branding, the information alone you are asking the client to process can dilute the simple solution you can offer!
Mapping it out!
After a few brainstorming sessions we kept coming back to a simple line sketch produced that was originally produced to explain the initial question and formed the basis of our approach. We striped back the existing promotional literature, highlighted and focussed on the 6 core service offerings that form the foundation of the business and created an illustrated map-like scene around them, where they sit in that companies world and how they interactive with their environment that surrounds them. Services were highlighted with a bold graphic label to enable quick and easy navigation from a viewer’s perspective.
The finished graphic describes in full colour each core service and the whole spectrum of industries they relate to, but the original concepts led on to further explain the actual mechanical processes in simple terms that not only highlighted the service but what the service actually provides and how they all interact with each other. The use of 3D labelled arrows help to provide flow and navigation around the illustrative map.
Concise and Condensed Marketing Approach
Before the service map production the company would arm a prospective client with a whole folder of literature and a ream of words to try and present the solution.
“With our new map the client can accurately position themselves within the scene, simply examine their surroundings and quickly see where H2OK Water and Energy are able to provide support to their problems”
states H2OK Commercial Director Simon Kearsley.
The map has been an invaluable aid in the company’s presentations and has been produced on a 3m x 2.2m exhibition in glorious high-res! The origination of the map has also led to a re-think of all the companies marketing and promotional literature both in print and web, so watch this space for developments!