September monthly roundup

This month we began working with ISEAL to turn their new five-year strategy into clear, engaging communications for members, founders and wider stakeholders. The work will include a designed strategy document and an interactive digital experience, both built around the same clear narrative. The interesting challenge is making a complex and ambitious strategy easy to understand without losing any of its substance. For us, that means getting the story, structure and language right before design begins, then using design and interaction to help different audiences find what matters to them.

This month we have been developing JERA Nex’s visual identity into a practical set of tools its team can use day to day, including a PowerPoint template, LinkedIn templates in Canva and supporting guidelines.

It is a useful reminder that identity work does not stop when a concept is approved. It has to work consistently in presentations, social content and everyday communications, while still giving the people using it enough flexibility to make it their own. That’s where a considered creative strategy becomes genuinely useful.

We’re very pleased that our senior designer, Lorna, has agreed to join Salad’s Employee Voice Group, taking over from Nicole.

Our EVG gives the team a formal voice in how the business is run, creating space for employee-owners to raise ideas, questions and concerns. Lorna joined Salad summer 2025 so she also brings a valuable newer perspective to the group.

In September, Cloudflare changed the way websites control access for search engines and AI bots. The slightly alarming bit is that Google, Bing and Apple sometimes use the same crawlers for search and AI training. Block the wrong thing and a website could accidentally disappear from search results.

We have been checking the settings across the websites we manage and reviewing what the change means for clients. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s a good example of why websites need active technical care long after launch.

We have recently completed a refreshed identity for Aspire Adoption, designed to feel warm, positive and approachable while giving the organisation a clear and consistent presence.

The new identity has now been developed into brand guidelines and practical assets for use across events and communications. We are looking forward to seeing it continue to come to life as the team rolls it out.

Once a quarter where the whole team steps away from day-to-day delivery to discuss Salad’s direction and the bigger picture.

This month the agenda covered four meaty topics, including revisiting our newly updated vision, innovation and collaboration, flexibility, and financial freedom milestone, which we hope to achieve in around 18 months’ time.

We’re delighted to be working with Enhanced, an employee-owned IT and technology company helping businesses get more from their IT through managed services, cyber security, cloud solutions and business software.

Our work together so far has included marketing strategy, creative campaign support for Enhanced’s co-managed IT service, SEO content and location landing pages, and PPC activity. We’re looking forward to continuing the relationship and helping the team shape the next stage of their marketing.

On 2nd September, we launched the new website for Thistle Consulting (formerly Thistle Initiatives). This project followed a rebrand led by rbl, who developed the new brand identity from the ground up. Building on that foundation, our team took the lead on the website design, translating the new visual identity into a clean online experience.

The site was built using Elementor, giving Thistle Consulting a flexible platform that reflects their refreshed brand while remaining easy to manage going forward. We’re delighted with how the project has come together and look forward to seeing the new site support Thistle Consulting’s continued growth.

This month Matt has been developing our own time-tracking platform, designed around how the Salad team genuinely works rather than every possible feature a software company can think of.

The aim is to replace the system we currently use, Harvest, completely by the end of the year. It’s also becoming a useful example of how we’re using AI-assisted development to solve a real operational problem, while keeping human judgement firmly involved in deciding what the tool should actually do.

We also recently completed a full CMS rebuild for Hayes McKenzie. After years of running on a legacy platform, it was time for an upgrade, so we rebuilt the site on a more modern CMS, giving the team a much more flexible and secure foundation to work from.

The new site retains the look and feel Hayes McKenzie’s visitors are familiar with, while significantly improving performance, security, and ease of content management behind the scenes. It’s a great example of how a CMS migration doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch.

We’ve been working with Chubb Bulleid, a South West law firm with deep local roots, as it prepared to launch an evolved brand and new website.

Our work has included a refreshed tone of voice, website copy and a campaign to build interest around the launch, alongside event communications and supporting campaign materials.

The new brand and website were unveiled at Chubb Bulleid’s launch event at The Bishop’s Palace in Wells on 30th September. We’re delighted to have played a part in bringing it all together.