Sherwood Universal

15/01/2025

Our owner’s experience within schools drives our passion for all our dedicated school print

Our primary planners include bespoke pages unique to your school, such as diary pages to plan activities, subject pages to support learning and assist teaching, reading records, timetables, spelling pages and forward planning.

These are specifically designed to help primary pupils gain understanding and

https://www.sherwooduniversal.co.uk/school-print/

10/01/2025

As we step into 2025, the world of graphic design continues to evolve, blending cutting-edge technology with timeless creativity.

From AI-driven design tools to eco-conscious aesthetics, the trends shaping the visual realm are as diverse as they are inspiring.

AI-Driven Design Tools
Artificial intelligence will be embraced with greater understanding and practical emphasis in 2025. While a plethora of hype and practicality continues to strike a balance between the useful and the not, the pragmatic will find deeper use for increased productivity and more expansive creativity.

Leading with analysis, especially in larger businesses, platforms and widespread tools, data will continue to support the identification of trends, customer and user preferences and success factors. AI will become better at bringing this information through to tool use and graphic design.

Improved layouts, fonts and colours will show in higher-quality prototypes. Prototypes will be more creatively expansive and be closer to meeting specified requirements. Workflows will be quicker and more autonomous, eliminating more manual tasks.

Further improvement in the AI models may deliver higher-quality prompting output, setting the scene for end-to-end solutions harmonised with a set of criteria. Multi-modal prompting will become more advanced and complete, as will the outputs. Audio is an example of AI output that will feature more in the future.

Tools such as Photoshop are already using AI to increase enablement and flexibility. For instance, adding and removing elements of an image is far quicker than it used to; texture and pattern generation can take minutes or hours instead of days or weeks. We can expect more tools to adopt AI to lead in their respective fields.

The Human Element
Expect us humans to also feature prominently in 2025. With jobs at stake, capability enhancement on offer and new ways of producing, AI will continue to be a focal point. For some, a natural curiosity or performance need will embrace AI for graphic design.

As the tools get better, so will their use and output. Through augmented reality and virtual reality, people will be offered new experiences from which marketers and consumers will benefit.

For others, their values may dictate a different path. Insistence upon human-created designs and experiences may be more apparent to designers and even justify the formation of a human-only sector. Support for the human creative process is instilled in some people, and this will become more apparent. Furthermore, there are sustainability issues surrounding AI.

Their Large Language Models consume vast amounts of energy, and eco-conscious people may shy away from such construction methods or, at the very least, insist upon knowing how materials are used and artefacts produced.

Visual Trends

Bold and Colourful
2025 is stepping away from minimal palettes and embracing bold and colourful aesthetics. Expect to see more products promoted in vibrant colours like electric blue, neon pink, sunshine yellow, fiery orange and lime green.

Many designers will also look to pair these bright colours with sharp geometric patterns to create striking compositions for their client’s campaign, for it delivers on the modern and edgy vibe front that many brands are moving towards. Whether it’s posters, flyers or packaging, UV printing can give it a shiny finish, ensuring boldness is not just seen but felt, maximising visual attention.

Naturalism
As environmental awareness continues to influence creative trends, naturalism in graphic design will continue to take centre stage in 2025. Earthy tones like terracotta, forest greens and deep browns, organic shapes, recycling materials and nature-inspired textures such as wood grain, stone and foliage patterns will help create depth and evoke a sense of warmth and authenticity. This approach can influence mindfulness and a connection to nature, emphasising authenticity and simplicity.

Retro Vibes
Retro visuals from the 1970s, 80s and 90s are having their moment again in 2025. Merging nostalgic elements with a modern twist, designers can incorporate bold patterns with updated colour palettes and vintage fonts to give visual campaigns an old-school vibe.

High-quality printing ensures these designs remain striking and relevant in a contemporary context. Retro vibes can also be paired seamlessly with digital campaigns, helping to breathe new life into past design trends for a fresh, playful look.

Minimalistic
Though boldness is predicted to be popular in 2025, minimalism with clean lines, simple colour schemes, and negative space will continue to captivate. Designers will focus on functional aesthetics, ensuring every element serves a purpose to eliminate clutter that can be too visually distracting.

Typography will remain the main focal point, yet paired with monochromatic or neutral backdrops for a timeless look. This trend ultimately highlights the importance of balance and simplicity, delivering impactful designs in a crowded marketplace.

https://www.sherwooduniversal.co.uk/graphic-design-trends-2025/

23/12/2024

Wishing you all a wonderful festive time and a happy new year

11/12/2024

We specialise in print finishing. From folding and binding to a premium foil print we can make sure that your print is amazing quality.

We also produce custom packaging, bespoke boxes and striking shapes for any project, with our Die Cutting service.

Whatever you’re looking for, Sherwood Universal can bring your ideas to life

Contact us - [email protected]

06/12/2024

What do you think of Pantone's colour of the year?

Mocha Mousse is Pantone’s Colour of the Year 2025

Pantone has chosen a “flavourful” and “sensorial” hue rooted in food and earthiness in the hope of channelling comfort and quiet indulgence

Pantone is following up 2024’s ethereal Peach Fuzz with a similarly food-themed Colour of the Year for 2025: Mocha Mousse.

Though there are earthy, natural qualities associated with the hue, the choice seems to be more about responding to the idea that the world is in a state of permacrisis. According to Pantone, Mocha Mousse suggests “the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort”.

“For Pantone Colour of the Year 2025, we look to a colour that reaches into our desire for comfort and wellness, and the indulgence of simple pleasures that we can gift and share with others,” says Laurie Pressman, VP of the Pantone Color Institute.

Pantone has partnered with brands on a number of products showcasing Mocha Mousse, including Motorola, furniture maker Joybird and stationers Post-It. The colour will also appear on the London Eye for the first time for a custom light show.

Pantone has chosen a “flavourful” and “sensorial” hue rooted in food and earthiness in the hope of channelling comfort and quiet indulgence

29/11/2024

‘It has been a dream for 50 years’: Old Victorian reservoir opens as new £6.8m planetarium

An old Victorian reservoir in the west of Nottinghamshire has opened up as a new £6.8m planetarium in a bid to “inspire that next generation of scientists and engineers”.

Work at Sherwood Observatory, off Coxmoor Road in Sutton-in-Ashfield, began in August 2023.

The new 59-seat planetarium has been built on top of the old Coxmoor Reservoir, which was built in 1886 to help bring clean water to the area during a population boom.

A discovery centre, complete with several Rolls-Royce rocket engines on display, has also been built inside the old brick structure.

Mineral formations from the old reservoir – called stalactites – can still be seen clinging to the roof, acting as a visual reminder of the site’s history of storing water.

It opened to the public for the first time on Monday (November 25).

Dr Steve Wallace, chairman of the observatory, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This has been a dream for some of our members for getting on 50 years, and it has accelerated in the last few years with some of the funding we have got from various sources.

“To stand here today on the day it opens, and see members of the public coming in for the first time is fantastic.

“There were two big reasons for putting this here and two big reasons why we got the funding; that was because we needed a visitor attraction in this area to improve the visitor economy, and probably the most important reason was we wanted to get people excited about science, technology, and engineering.”

NewsTechnologyTop Story ‘It has been a dream for 50 years’: Old Victorian reservoir opens as new £6.8m planetarium By Joe Locker - Nov 25, 2024 Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest WhatsApp Sherwood Observatory (LDRS) By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter An old Victorian reservoir in the west ...

27/11/2024

Whether you’re a small business owner or part of a larger retail team, understanding how to create eye-catching displays can make all the difference in converting browsers into buyers.

What is Point-of-Sale?

Point-of-sale (POS) is where a shopper completes their purchasing transaction. This could occur at a checkout counter using a cash register or a digital payment terminal or online on an e-commerce checkout page.

These POS systems include hardware and software components that streamline sales, track inventory, manage customer data and efficiently process payments.

What is Point-of-Purchase?

Point-of-purchase (POP) is the final purchase stage, where shoppers go from browsing to buying. This is often caused by strategically placed eye-catching displays and appealing product offers along high-traffic pathways or in the queue section of the check-out area.

The Difference Between Point-Of-Sale and Point-Of-Purchase Displays

While both focus on encouraging sales, POS encourages last-minute purchases to maximise sales, while POP targets the decision to buy a product.

Point-of-sale displays will likely be more enticing and informative about a specific product, providing the information necessary for the customer to move to purchase. The point of purchase will concentrate on purchase completion and marketing, such as brand reinforcement and up-selling.

What Are the Future Predictions for In-Store Shopping?

While e-commerce will continue to grow, many brands will prioritise brick–and–mortar to enhance their customer relationships through in-store interaction and experiences. In the future, customers will be accustomed to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), enabling them to explore products in greater depth.

By scanning QR codes or interacting with immersive displays, they will access additional product details and discover rewards programs in a fun, engaging and interactive way. Additionally, while payment solutions, self-checkout systems and mobile apps will streamline the shopping process and reduce wait times, many staffed checkout counters will reopen to provide customers with personalised service and human interaction.

As retail evolves, stores that blend technology with personal touchpoints are set to thrive, offering customers immersive experiences that are engaging and memorable. In-store displays and artificial intelligence are all part of retail’s future.

Instore Sales vs Online Transactions
According to the Office of National Statistics, internet sales as a percentage of total retail sales have risen steadily yearly. At the end of 2007, internet sales constituted 3.4% of total retail sales, whereas in 2023, that figure reached 26.7%.

Unsurprisingly, during COVID-19, internet sales reached an all-time high closer to 31%, and although they dropped, more people have taken to the internet for their shopping. However, having only a quarter of all retail sales online may surprise many, with in-store and hybrid clearly relevant in today’s world.

Retail Trends

Pop-up stores
Pop-up stores have gained popularity in recent years, allowing brands to generate buzz and engage directly with consumers while maintaining a strong e-commerce presence. These temporary setups also help brands showcase their products and drive immediate sales without a traditional brick-and-mortar location, reducing long-term rental costs. This allows businesses to test new markets, gather customer feedback and build brand visibility while keeping their focus on digital channels.

Hybrid Shopping
Combining online and offline shopping provides shoppers with a seamless shopping experience. Consumers can now enjoy browsing products online, purchasing in-store or vice versa, creating a customised journey. To further enhance convenience, retailers offer click-and-collect services, which help save shipping costs and guarantee same-day or next-day delivery.

Experience-Driven Retail
With the help of data analytics and shopper insights, retailers are transforming their stores into destinations where customers can engage with the brand through interactive displays, personalised product promotions and recommendations. These unique interactions can help to drive loyalty, differentiate stores from competitors and encourage shoppers to visit more frequently.

Eye-catching Point of Sale Display Retail Trends

Snap-Worthy Displays
These snap-worthy setups are strategically designed to encourage shoppers to take photos and share them online. Placed close to the point of sale in a non-obstructive location, these displays can turn customers into brand ambassadors.

Eye-catching backdrops, interactive social walls showcasing hashtags and vibrant visual display stands are crucial to attracting consumers and getting them to snap selfies. Retailers can boost this type of engagement with selfie props and frames, including CAD photo cutout boards of the brand’s mascot.

Investing in Instagrammable displays attracts foot traffic and generates organic, user-driven promotions that can extend beyond the physical location, maximising reach to a broader digital audience.

Create a Seasonal Wonderland
Whether it’s a winter wonderland for winter festivities, an Easter garden for Spring, a beach holiday theme for Summer or a haunted house set-up for Halloween, themed displays evoke emotional connections that inspire purchases.

Retailers can incorporate digital point-of-sale displays, festive lighting, decorative props and immersive scents to engage multiple senses and make the shopping experience memorable. Decorated promotions are less intrusive, helping retailers boost impulse sales and brand loyalty as customers seek out these immersive experiences year-round.

Whimsical Themed Interactive Space
Whimsical designs with vibrant colours, playful patterns, imaginative shapes and unexpected elements naturally attract curiosity, encouraging customers to explore and spend more time looking around point-of-sale displays.

This strategy appeals to children and adults alike, providing an excellent opportunity for storytelling and encouraging them to engage directly with your products through interactive elements like touch screens, motion sensors, or even augmented reality (AR) features. This leads to a more memorable shopping experience and boosts the likelihood of multiple purchases.

Promoting with Window Graphics
Window graphics are versatile, cost-effective and easy to update, making them an effective way to keep displays fresh and aligned with current retail trends. They are a powerful tool in retail, for they can enhance brand visibility, communicate promotions and set the tone for the shopping experience.

As point-of-sale displays, bold, high-contrast colours and large, clear fonts that are easily readable from a distance can maximise impact while incorporating seasonal themes and dynamic designs.

https://www.sherwooduniversal.co.uk/how-to-create-eye-catching-point-of-sale-displays/

20/11/2024

What are your thoughts on the new Jaguar logo?

Creative Review has a perplexed opinion ...

Jaguar mystifies with ‘reimagined’ brand identity

The luxury carmaker has ditched its technical, steely visual language as part of a perplexing design update

“Jaguar has its roots in originality. Sir William Lyons, our founder, believed that a Jaguar should be a copy of nothing,” says the British car brand’s CCO Gerry McGovern. “Our vision for Jaguar today is informed by this philosophy.”

Guided by the ‘Copy Nothing’ ethos, the brand’s new identity promises to be ‘unique’ and ‘fearless’, which in fairness, as far as its competitors go, it has managed to achieve. However, it seems to have gone so far off piste as far as luxury car branding is concerned that it has accidentally wandered into the visual language of a 2010s high street clothing brand instead.

At the centre of the new branding, which was created by the in-house design team at Jaguar Land Rover, is a wordmark that does away with Jaguar’s previous squat, technical letterforms and replaces them with a new mixed-case version that’s all smooth, rounded edges.

This isn’t strictly offensive in and of itself. However, the lifestyle imagery it has chosen to launch the identity with has done it no favours. Paired with oddly cult-like photos of models in colour block clothing, and language that’s wafty even by car brands’ standards (‘delete ordinary’, ‘create exuberance’), it feels painfully muddled.

The identity is said to be underpinned by ‘exuberant modernism’, however any links with modernist graphic design or typography seem to be in name only. Yes, the wordmark’s form may be simple – but what is the all-important function?

Elsewhere the Jaguar logo has been flipped 180 degrees to face right and appear as part of what the brand calls a ‘strikethrough’ graphic, which essentially means stripes surrounding the jaguar. The identity also includes a monogram comprising two ‘J’ letterforms that blend into the roundel.

The new identity was revealed during a briefing that appears to have been just as mystifying as the end product. How – or indeed whether – it will appear on the cars themselves remains to be seen.

A new ‘design vision concept’ will be revealed during Miami Art Week at the beginning of December, though this seems unlikely to shed light on how the designs will be integrated into car models and instead is linked to an art installation. In the meantime, perhaps we would be wise to do as the brand says and Copy Nothing.

The luxury carmaker has ditched its technical, steely design language as part of a perplexing brand update

13/11/2024

Direct mail marketing can be a powerful tool for capturing customer attention and driving sales. Unlike digital email campaigns, personalised direct mail offers a tangible, tailored experience that can provide stronger connections with your audience.

This article will explore innovative ideas for elevating businesses’ direct mail strategies to engage customers and boost sales.

What Are The Benefits of Using Direct Mail Marketing?

Direct mail offers businesses a tangible and memorable way to engage with customers, allowing them to interact physically with the materials sent.

Businesses can tailor direct mail campaigns using data-driven insights to match their customers’ preferences, past interactions and interests. This approach benefits businesses in several ways, including:

High Engagement

Unlike digital ads, which can be easily ignored or deleted, direct mail captures immediate attention and remains visible, often leading to increased response rates and stronger customer connections.

Boosts Brand Loyalty

Personalising messages and offers gives customers a sense of appreciation and trust, encouraging repeat purchases and long-term brand commitment.

Improves Revenue

Direct mail campaigns can drive significant revenue by targeting the correct audience with compelling offers.

Studies show that consumers are more likely to respond to direct mail, resulting in higher conversion rates. This leads to increased sales and a strong return on investment for businesses.

Standing Out From Competitors

Direct mail helps brands stand out in a digital-heavy environment. With fewer companies using traditional mail, businesses can differentiate themselves by delivering unique, creative mail pieces. This approach can capture customer attention and leave a lasting impression, making the brand more memorable in a competitive market.

Personalised Direct Mail Marketing Ideas

Leaflets and Flyers
Leaflets and flyers can be personalised by tailoring them to feature images of promotional products that reflect a customer’s interests. For instance, a make-up brand may send bold, vibrant, double-sided flyers featuring personalised offers on their new collection assigned to a customer’s previous purchase.

A QR code could also be added to the flyer, linking to a personalised landing page that addresses the customer by name, making the experience more engaging.

Birthday Discounts
Sending out exclusive birthday offers, such as a discount or a gift with a purchase, is a great way to make customers feel valued and appreciated on their special day.

To personalise the gesture, consider presenting the offer inside a beautifully designed birthday card or a birthday-themed postcard incorporating bright colours, celebratory imagery and a heartfelt hand-written message alongside the promotion.

Including a time-sensitive element to the offer, like an expiry date on the discount, can create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to take action for a special birthday treat.

Seasonal Greeting Cards
Seasonal greeting cards can be perfect for connecting with customers during Halloween, Christmas, New Year, Easter and Summer. Customising the design and message with personalised print, such as pop-ups or folded greeting cards featuring handwritten notes, can embody the spirit of giving during the season.

For instance, a home decor store could send a festive-themed card offering a particular discount or gift suggestion. This would reflect the season’s generosity and make the customer feel appreciated and connected to the brand.

Letters
Personalised letters in direct mail marketing can effectively communicate messages that require a more formal tone. They can help businesses connect with their customers, build trust and establish a deeper relationship. For instance, they can be used to welcome a new customer, express appreciation or update loyalty programs.

Customer Milestone Recognition
Businesses can make customers feel valued and appreciated by celebrating essential milestones like their first purchase anniversary or reaching a specific number of orders.

Customised certificates on thick, textured paper or cardstock can formally recognise the customer’s milestone, giving them something tangible to cherish.

This thoughtful approach shows customers that they are more than just a transaction, which can lead to increased engagement, brand loyalty and, ultimately, higher lifetime value.

Contact Us

Tel - 0115 967 55 55
E mail - [email protected]

29/10/2024

Send memorable gifts with personalised print. We can manage the entire process from design to delivery 🥳

23/10/2024

Our Christmas Elves have already been busy creating personalised gift boxes for a very special event.

We are ready for all your festive print, pack and delivery needs

17/10/2024

Now is the time to get planning for Christmas gifts to wow your customers.

We can organise the print and distribution for your business promotions.

Contact us on 0115 967 55 55

Or email [email protected]