Updates & perspectives from the studio

25.06.25

Illuminating new realities of the world’s fastest GTM platform

Apollo is a comprehensive, AI-powered sales platform designed to help businesses find and engage leads, automate outreach, manage deals and enhance data – all within a single system. With a B2B database of over 210 million contacts and 35 million companies, Apollo enables organisations of all sizes to realise their market potential with clarity and precision.

We partnered with Apollo across identity and product. This included brand positioning, identity and the articulation of a suite of product identities – supported by a unified design system, motion principles and illustration language.

17.05.25

Setting the standards for workforce data with Chicago Northwestern School of Law

We recently completed a programme of work for the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, to help standardise human capital reporting in the workplace.

Whilst still in its infancy, the Workforce Reporting Consortium (WorRC) is collaborating with global businesses across the US with the aim of establishing a consistent, equitable framework for workforce disclosure. Our involvement spanned naming, brand development, and the implementation of the first standardised workforce reporting principles.

27.03.25

15.09.24

Belong here: A new vision for Prestwich

Training Ground Guru launches new identity at TGG Live

After multiple rounds of consultation, our work supporting Muse and Bury Council for the regeneration of Prestwich Village has received approval, with the first phase of development set to begin shortly. Initiated in early 2022, the project centred around ‘Your Prestwich’ – a community-led consultation programme that celebrated the area’s vibrant character and gave local voices a meaningful role in shaping the future of the village.

We recently completed the first phase of work covering brand and website refresh and for Training Ground Guru. This was launched at the annual TGG Live conference, which brings together some of the leading figures in elite football for two days of insights and networking.



13.02.25

Activating campus life at Republic through two new social hubs

At Republic Education Campus, we created two spin-off identities to support and activate new social spaces at the heart of their campus offer.

The Common Room was designed as an open, inclusive space – a place for connection between students, staff and the wider community. Alongside it, The Canteen introduced a rolling programme of street food popups, which was expressed through a bold, direct DIY aesthetic.

25.05.25

Colony launches seventh site in Spring Gardens

We have been working with Colony to develop the look and feel for their seventh site in Manchester. Colony was our first client in 2017, when it was a sole site and a singular proposition. A lot has changed from that point, and we have continually developed and refined their core identity and sub-site identities through another period of growth and transformation. An eighth site will be joining later in 2025.

28.08.24

13.06.24

Revitalising Blackjack from the ground up through strange tales and fine ales 

Introducing Junction, a new cafe, bar and restaurant at Manchester Central

Rooted firmly in Manchester, Ensemble and Blackjack have joined forces to uncover the untold tales of lost neighbourhood Angel Meadow, through a distinctive rebrand. 

A firm favourite amongst the traditional Manchester scene, Blackjack needed a brand that aligned with their strengths, sitting perfectly between the traditional world of CAMRA pubs, with floral pump clips and metal tankards, and the increasingly saturated world of progressive craft beer. 

Having worked with Manchester Central for a number of years, we were tasked to define a concept, name, and visual aesthetic for Junction, a new café, bar, restaurant, and social workspace housed under the iconic arch of the former railways station.

15.05.24

Working with Solana to establish a decentralised voice

Solana is one of the most powerful and performant layer one blockchains – fast, scalable, and developer-led. But with hyper growth came a challenge: how to bring consistency to the way the foundation presents the impact of the chain, without affecting the decentralisation that defines it.

We were invited by the Solana Foundation to help decipher their strategic vision and define a unifying proposition, a sentiment that could be celebrated by the very people that were forging the success of the network.

Through conversations with founders, engineers, and builders, we shaped a shared narrative that gave Labs, Foundation, and the wider network a collective lexicon. A framework that made space for difference – but moved everything forward, faster.

10.05.24

The New Republic: Working with Trilogy Property to shape a new type of education campus

We have been working with Republic as they shape the next era of education, helping evolve their visual and verbal tone across the physical campus and in print, digital, and campaign.

21.06.25

07.01.25

Summer campaign for The Great Northern Warehouse launches

Blackjack typeface featured in Brand New’s ‘Best in Type 2024’

We recently delivered a summer campaign for Great Northern Warehouse – promoting the melting pot of venues where you skate, play, bowl, axe-throw, eat and drink. It’s the latest in an ongoing programme of work for the destination, following earlier activation on Deansgate Mews, updated wayfinding across the Warehouse, and ongoing consultation and social value input as the site begins a new phase of regeneration.

Our bespoke typeface for Blackjack named ‘Meadows’ was featured in Brand New’s ‘Best type in 2024’. It’s great to see our Manchester inspired typeface sat amongst others from the likes of OMSE, Koto, Collins and Gretel.

15.09.24

Aimo, harnessing AI to enable a deeper human understanding

We recently partnered with the team behind Aimo, a new kind of market research platform across naming and brand creation.

Aimo conducts qualitative research at scale, turning the results into structured, searchable data. The result is a tool that helps organisations listen more carefully, learn more quickly, and make decisions with greater confidence.

01.06.25

Everyone loves a character: Typefaces from the studio

Creating bespoke type is something inherent to the studio – whether it’s built for a client, driven by a project that needs a tailored approach, or simply to scratch a self-initiated itch. A few of the ones that made it to the finish line are available to download, free for non-commercial use.

10.10.24

22.04.25

Firing off to space: Longshot’s new brand is live

Alex Priestly Talent launches new identity and website

Longshot Space Technology Company are creating a ‘very simple’ solution for a very difficult question: how do we deliver materials and machinery that we need to enable human life in outer space?

The solution: a hypersonic space gun that fires payloads into the outer atmosphere using nothing but air pressure.

The brand needed to speak to the future, whilst not overpromising a world of tomorrow. Instead, we needed to bring to life the industrial element of their plans, celebrating the roadside Americana aesthetic that their CEO loved so much. The result: a brand to represent ‘good old fashioned aerospace’

Alex Priestley Talent’s new brand and website launches after several months’ work, giving them a platform to celebrate the great talent that they represent and the host of mainstream programmes and shows they’re part of.

04.09.24

Don’t chase overdue payments, let us Duit

Introducing Duit, a new champion for small business, enabling them to keep track of their finances and chase anything overdue. Standing besides them, supporting them so they can focus on what’s important.

It’s very early days for Duit as they head out into the woods looking for investment, but keep your head on the swivel for what’s next.

18.12.24

1–24: A collection of images from our last twenty four projects

To close 2024, we brought together twenty four of our most recent projects from that year. We still have a few available, so if you are interested to see what we do in newsprint format, get in touch and we will post you one out.

18.12.24

Branding the esoteric for Totke, a new wellness platform

Totke is a new wellness app that uses AI to do something as old as time: help people make sense of their lives. We partnered with the team to create the name and brand – something grounded in the esoteric world of tarot, but reimagined through a calm, contemporary lens.

Built around a central presence known as ‘the guide’, the app offers users AI-driven tarot sessions, mood tracking, dream interpretation and daily insights – all delivered through a conversational interface that evolves as it learns. The identity is designed to appear mystical and other worldly whilst pulling on the visual cues of new-wave wellness.