Work Archives - Minx Creative: London Graphic Designers and Design Studio

What running our own retail brand has taught us

MC Team — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:46:24 +0000

In 2020, during the first lockdown, we started building a brand from scratch. Not for a client — for ourselves. Storigraphic began as an idea conceived by our studio founders: a sustainable brand rooted in good design, UK manufacturing, and a genuine commitment to giving something back.

Five years later, it has had over 250 retail stockists including: many independents, Somerset House, Royal Academy, Selfridges, Barbican, Getty Museum, Papersmiths, Museum of the Home, National Galleries Scotland; it has sold to thousands of direct-to-consumer customers, recognised in industry awards, exhibited at international trade shows; and has had over 250 press features across titles such as Observer Magazine, Architectural Digest, The Independent, House Beautiful, Evening Standard, Financial Times, Prima, Metro, Home & Interiors, Good Homes, English Home, Good Housekeeping and Ideal Home.

The learning exceeded our expectations.

As designers, we have always understood brand. We understood how to build an identity that holds together across different media, how to write copy that sounds like a real person rather than a committee, how to design packaging that works at scale. What we had to learn — and learn quickly — was everything that has to work seamlessly in between: product development and manufacturing (sustainably in the UK), how a retail buyer and merchandiser actually decides what to stock, what a trade show stand needs to do in the first three seconds, what a Shopify product page genuinely needs to convert, how to price for wholesale margins without collapsing a DTC business, and what it takes to approach a retailer directly without sounding like you’ve sent the same email to many others.

Some of this knowledge exists in books and courses. Most of it, in our experience, you acquire firsthand by doing it — by packing your first trade show stand at all hours and being present at the event itself (from build to breakdown), by listening to your customers’ feedback, by reading a buyer’s rejection email carefully and understanding what it’s actually telling you, by analysing your metrics and realising that the product page you were proudest of has a thirty per cent bounce rate. And so much more.

We are not suggesting that every design studio should go and run its own brand. That can be a particular kind of expensive education. But we are saying that having done it has changed how we work with every brand client we take on.

We’ve formalised this into a service, Brand to Market, which is designed specifically for independent product brands who need more from a creative studio partner. If that sounds like it might be relevant to where you are, we’d be very happy to have a conversation.

In the meantime: if you’re building a product brand and have a question we might be able to help with, just ask. With five years dedicated experience of doing this means we have probably encountered it, and can help with your unique journey.

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Photography: Billie Scheepers for Superdrug’s ‘The Edit’ Magazine — featuring Storigraphic wrapping papers: Sweetpea, Lovebug, Bountiful Festive Bloom, Candy Hearts, Boho Red 3, Symphony 2 and 6.

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Corporate identity and visual language

MC Team — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 15:48:57 +0000

Recently completed: corporate identity, visual language, UI/UX design and implementation for a specialist law firm.

Read our full work study here.

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Comprehensive brand identity refresh and positioning

MC Team — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:14:32 +0000

Recently completed: comprehensive brand identity refresh and positioning programme for a not-for-profit that fights for writers’ rights.

Refreshing and repositioning a much-respected membership organisation.

Read our full work study here.

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Meeting predictable needs online toolkit

MC Team — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:39:36 +0000

Recently completed: designing and building the Camden Meeting Predictable Needs Toolkit.

We were approached by the London Borough of Camden to design and develop their Meeting Predictable Needs School Age Toolkit. An online resource to serve a diverse audience: parents, carers, educators, and support professionals, many of whom rely on assistive technologies. Our brief was to create an online resource that was usable by everyone, meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA standard.

The Design Challenge

Designing for accessibility from the outset means rethinking some conventional UI patterns. We focused on:

Creating a clear, logical heading structure that would make sense to screen reader users navigating the content
Ensuring sufficient colour contrast whilst maintaining Camden’s brand identity
Designing responsive layouts that worked across devices without compromising accessibility features
Building navigation that was keyboard-friendly and clearly signposted

A priority challenge was balancing the client’s initial aspirations for WCAG 2.2 Level AAA compliance against practical implementation. Whilst AAA is admirable, it’s often unachievable for all content types. We worked collaboratively to identify where AAA enhancements could be implemented and where Level AA provided appropriate, compliant accessibility.

Development and Testing

The technical build required meticulous attention to semantic HTML structure, ARIA labels, and ensuring all interactive elements were accessible via keyboard navigation. We implemented responsive design principles that maintained accessibility across all breakpoints.

Testing was iterative and comprehensive. We worked with Camden to catch common issues like colour contrast and missing alt text, but the real work came from manual testing with screen readers. This revealed nuances that automated tools miss — such as headings that appeared correct visually but were announced awkwardly or out of sequence by assistive technology.

Working with Stakeholders

Close collaboration with Camden’s team was essential throughout the project. Their subject matter expertise and understanding of their users’ needs informed every design decision. We worked together to:

Prioritise content hierarchy based on how families and professionals would actually use the toolkit
Review and refine accessibility features based on the team’s feedback and testing
Navigate the balance between regulatory compliance and practical usability
Address specific technical challenges as they emerged during development

This collaborative approach meant we could make informed decisions quickly, ensuring the project stayed on track whilst maintaining the high accessibility standards required.