When Creative Triangle received the brief for an arts and culture prospectus commissioned by Leicester City Council for the Art’s Council including content research, copywriting, design and artwork we knew we had to be involved in such an exciting and significant project. The project involved 16 local and very inspiring Arts Council’s National Portfolio Organisations (NPO’s) and a further 3 organisations who had also made a huge impact on Leicester’s culture scene. The 19 organisations in Leicester have been doing amazing things within the Art & Cultural sector and we could see that they were making a fantastic impact on the city through their work that needed to be celebrated – something we as a business, being based in Leicester city centre, felt very passionate about. 

We knew we could help the Council with their objective of creating a celebratory piece to showcase their remarkable work (with the hope of encouraging further investment, involvement and growth) – reaching out to businesses and consumers. We wanted, through our excellent customer service, experience and top design skills, to help the Council and many other public sector organisations and charities to really sell themselves, to grow the sector and in turn make our own positive influence on the sector and the excellent work they are doing within our diverse community.

Multiple stakeholder management: With so many stakeholders from a range of different companies including small charities involved, we knew we would need to work at building excellent relationships with all of the 19 organisations in order to iron out any potential issues / conflicts in opinion. We needed to make sure everyone involved was happy to work with us on very tight deadlines and that everyone was willingly to spend the time and effort involved in providing us with the detailed information we required about their organisations. 

The prospectus needed to showcase the cultural offering in Leicester including theatre, dance, visual arts, comedy, printmaking, museums, music, film and more. The aim was to highlight the city’s diverse strengths in arts and culture and ultimately encourage collaborations and investments to further grow the sector. Each of the organisations ranged dramatically in size and scope which would mean we would often be working with stakeholders with little design / marketing experience.

Account/project management process: Following a successful pitch, we received a written initial brief to digest before meeting with a steering group made up of members from 3 of the 19 different organisations to be involved in the prospectus plus the Council. We were able to formulate our initial response including a list of questions and initial thoughts / approaches before this meeting.

During the initial briefing meeting we asked lots of questions, listened to their requirements, discussed approaches, themes, objectives, measurables, user experience and distribution. We then went away and wrote a clarification document back to the Council with our understanding of their requirements. We developed a schedule with key milestones such as writing copy, design development, amendments, sign off all working towards the soft launch of the document. We had a second briefing meeting with the steering group to which we took our initial research and trend mood boards so we could work with the group to decipher which direction they wanted to go, likes and dislikes and preferred approaches. We also presented different imagery styling contact sheets and different approaches to typography.

Following on from the steering group meetings we were able to develop our 3 initial design concepts with confidence. Simultaneously we were collecting content and copywriting the prospectus. We offered copy samples at various points to ensure correct direction. We had various internal meetings to discuss the initial concepts before presenting them to the client with full rationale, so they were able to ‘buy-in’ to the design.

The initial briefing process was key in understanding their requirements and also in highlighting any potential issues – for this project in particular we were concerned with their lack of marketing plan and understanding of distribution so we were able to work with the client to help develop a plan which included a social media strategy. Please see ‘Appendix I – Account Management Process’ for our standard process chart.

Digital and print capabilities: We needed to create a design that complimented the different brands and highlighted their unique and individual offerings. We developed a design formula that allowed for their vibrant and varied imagery to partner their stories. We worked with each organisation to tease out unexpected surprises and tales along the way including international reach, nurturing talent, collaborations, laughter, lifechanging innovation and inclusion for all. We also gathered data from across the sector to show its collective strength and impact. We suggested and led 2 focus groups with all of the organisations during the initial design phases so that we could develop excellent working relationships with all organisations. They all met us face to face so that they all felt engaged with, listen to and were all on board with the concepts and objectives – this really helped the Council with the process highlighting any potential issues and making sure everyone of the organisations felt involved. 

Once the initial concept was chosen by the Council and the steering group, we were able to start the design development process – showing how the concept would work over several different spreads and front cover options. Once everyone was completely happy with the design and the copy and image selection had been approved by all 19 organisations, we were able to artwork the 64pp brochure. We then collected amendments and approval from all the stakeholders on their individual spreads as well as overall approval from the steering group.

We also challenged the initial brief by suggesting a collaborative film on top of the requested brochure to really help promote the prospectus digitally. The film acts as a snapshot of arts and culture in Leicester and will help to promote the prospectus and the organisations within it across social media and was used in the PR for this highly regarded celebrative piece. The project has helped to unify Leicester’s cultural sector which had never before been presented as a single, cohesive offer. It involved engaging with many stakeholders, working within a tight budget and timescales, working with multiple brands, reaching a broad audience and it had key measurable objectives.

Michaela Butter, Director of Attenborough Arts Centre says “We were delighted to work with Creative Triangle on the creation of the new Leicester Cultural Prospectus as part of the task group set up by Leicester City Council. This was an ambitious project that involved a complex network of large and small arts organisation and we were really impressed with the calm and focussed way Creative Triangle tackled the challenge! Right from the start of the process Creative Triangle demonstrated their ability to keep us focussed on the task, managing expectations (and egos!) with sensitivity, good humour and when needed a firm but diplomatic hand.  All the organisations involved have their own brand and identity with varying resources of staffing and quality imagery and yet Creative Triangle were able to negotiate a way forward to secure the quality of data and imagery they needed within the agreed timescale and budget. I really admired the fact that such a small company could demonstrate the highest level of customer service at all times, always replying to queries promptly, meeting every milestone and responding with tact and patience to every issue that arose.”

Mike Dalzell, Director of Tourism, Culture and Investment at Leicester City Council said “The task of herding cats might be considered easier than requiring 19 creative organisations to collaborate, share information and issue approvals in a timely manner but somehow Creative Triangle managed it! They have helped us all create a fantastic celebration of the world class arts and culture offer in our city through imaginative design, shrewd image selection and exciting text. The process has been fun, and they offered the right balance of expert advice and responsiveness whilst remaining properly focused on audience and purpose and being necessarily brutal when required. We would be very happy to work with them again.”

• Public sector / arms-length body / not for profit client 

• Design solutions both digital and print 

• Working with umbrella branding & multiple partner logos 

• Multiple complex stakeholder management 

• Flexible result 

• Engaging with local businesses 

• Encouraging action 

• Raising awareness 

• Varied audience 

• High quality of creativeness and innovation 

• Tight deadlines 

• Collaborative client / agency relationship 

• Similar client values 

• B2B, B2C and B2B2C experience – reaching other businesses, consumers, potential investors 

• Working with tight budgets and maximising the value of the project. 

We have since won further projects and new clients through our work on the prospectus including Curve Theatre (one of the 19 organisations), The City Classroom (a local cultural education partnership) and Leicestershire Music Education.