We’re a small creative studio with over twenty years of experience working in the F&B and hospitality industry, offering creative services that push brands forward. With every project, we look past the creative brief to find the business problem beneath, and then design against that. Our studio is built on human relationships that last, and several of our clients have been with us for over a decade.
Design is more than aesthetics, it’s how meaning takes form
We’re a creative studio focused on brand identity, web design and graphic design for businesses that want to stand apart for the right reasons. We work with businesses that want more than their own success, they want to do right by the people they serve. That’s the kind of ambition we want to be part of.
Most of that work is in food, drink and hospitality, the industry we know best and return to happily. But the belief travels further than any one sector. Wherever a business, in any industry, is trying to leave things better than it found them, that’s where we want to be.
Our studio is small by choice. Having fewer people between you and the work means that the ones you deal with are the ones actually involved in the creative process. We assign specific members to your business depending on what it needs, but everyone in the studio learns about your business goals, challenges and philosophy, so you don’t have to explain things twice. We’d rather work with fewer clients and get to know each one properly, than treat the work like tickets in a queue.
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We kick off every project by understanding where a business actually is, and where it’s trying to go. That gap is different for every client. For some it lives in the brand or in the website. For others it lives in the day to day design work that never really stops.
We work with you to find that gap and then we design what closes it. Sometimes it’s a one-off project with a clear goal, but in most cases it’s an ongoing relationship where the design needs of the business are handled as they arise. Whatever the goal, strategy comes before aesthetics, which means brand strategy, content strategy and design thinking all come before anyone opens a design file. Design that starts with the looks tends to need replacing when the business evolves. Business led design tends to move with it.
That’s why we work this way. When a business communicates clearly, everything around it works better. Every project we take on, whatever the size, is in service of that clarity. The looks matter to us, and we care about it deeply, but it doesn’t lead the work. It answers to your business goals, and to the people your business serves.
Services
Four principles that hold across every project, no matter the size.
Every project starts with questions, and the answers shape the work in more ways than any style preference could. Asking takes a little longer to get started, but it also means that our efforts go where it matters.
You know your business better than we ever will. We know design, and we know your industry, so the best work happens when we both sit at the same table, with no hierarchy limiting the work.
We believe agreeing with you on everything is a disservice. When we see a stronger route than the one that’s on the table, we’ll tell you, and bring you something worth discussing rather than a quiet yes.
Behind every project is someone who’ll never sit in a meeting with us, and we design with them in mind whether or not the brief asks for it. When the consumer understands your brand quickly, your business feels it.
Every project follows the same process. Depth might change with scope, but the thinking stays the same.
We start by understanding where your business actually is. We look at how it communicates, who it’s speaking to, what’s working and what’s challenging you. A creative brief tells us about the business goals, but it rarely tells us what the business is trying to fix. With an in-depth discovery session we try to get to the root cause of the business challenges, so we can design accordingly. Sometimes the brief is exactly right and we move straight on, but sometimes what’s on the table might not be the right way forward, and we say so early, with an alternative worth discussing.
Once we know what business challenge we’re solving, we design with that purpose in mind. The strategy and the structure come first and all of the messaging, visuals and decisions that hold everything together build on that. This is where the results of the discovery become something tangible. From this point, a brand, a website or any collateral around the results are made to close the gap between where your business is and where it wants to go. We design to solve, not to decorate.
Design isn’t finished when the file is saved that final time. We handle all of the necessary steps that take the work from approved to live, and we stay active as the point of contact while it happens. Before a website goes online, we go through rigorous testing first. If a brand is launched, we make sure all of the assets are built and print-ready. If there is production that’s handled by any third-party, we coordinate with them directly, so you’re never stuck in the process wondering what happens next.
Some projects end when the work is done, and that’s completely fine. Other projects turn into longer relationships, where we handle the day to day design needs as they come up. It means our studio already knows your business, so there’s no extensive re-briefing for every single project or asset, speeding up design delivery. Either way, the pace is yours to set. We happily keep our door open, and nothing forces you to walk through it.
We’re a small team by design, so the people you meet are the people who do the work.
Founder & Creative Director
Hi there, my name is Marc, and I’m the founder of Concept43. I’ve dedicated my career to the success of businesses that aren’t here just for the money, but to leave the world in better shape than they found it. I love good design, and I love putting it to good use.
In my off-time, I enjoy the wonderful Canary Island beaches and mountains. I usually take a camera with me, aimed at the scenery or at the odd stranger who catches my eye. And above all, I’m a dad. I love my family and it’s the part I’d never trade.
Senior designer
Accounts manager & designer
Administration & operations