Journal

Every website starts life as an answer to a brief. So does every identity, every brochure, every deck. Someone described what the business needed; a team built the thing that met that brief. Whilst whatever was built fitted the brief on launch day, the problem is what happens next. That brief holds for a while, but then gaps open up between what was built and what is needed as the weeks, months, and years roll by.

September has been a month of launches, new identities, strategic thinking and some very practical experimentation. We have taken a major website live, helped clients turn complex ideas into clearer communications, and continued exploring how technology can make the work better without losing the human judgement behind it. Here’s an update on the things we’ve been working on.

Many businesses believe they know how their customers move through their website. It’s easy to get wrong, but not because the business doesn't understand its customers. Rather, navigation gets built from the inside out: from what the business wants to say, not what the visitor is trying to do. The two rarely match, and the mismatch is where most navigation problems start.

With the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games weeks away, we reflect on nearly a decade of building, iterating and evolving alongside one of British sport's most beloved organisations.

Writing a brief requires a business to have done considerable internal work first: a problem identified, a case made, a budget secured. Often, by the time an agency is involved, a conclusion has usually been reached.

A reflection on our latest South Coast EO Networking Event, co-hosted with Coda

This month, Salad marks five years as an Employee Owned Trust (EOT). Five years. It's a number that feels significant - not just as a milestone on paper, but because of what it represents. We are no longer a business that recently became employee-owned. We are an established employee-owned business. And that feels rather wonderful.

As teams grow, channels multiply, and work speeds up, identity stops being something people refer to occasionally and starts becoming something they rely on every day. It moves from expression to infrastructure.

Much digital work is judged at the wrong moment. We tend to assess websites and platforms when they first appear; at launch, in presentations and often in screenshots. But that is rarely when digital work succeeds or fails.

We’ve started running an exercise we call “Five in Fifteen”. It’s a staggeringly simple idea: you just ask five carefully chosen questions, with fifteen minutes to answer them. No preparation, no polishing, just a little instinct and honesty.

TL;DR: The planning stage isn't just paperwork - it's the strategic foundation that prevents scope creep, guides every creative decision, and ensures your digital project actually meets its goals. Skip it, and you risk joining the growing list of expensive digital failures.

The hype around AI feels all-consuming. Every conference, every LinkedIn post, all promising transformation at varying degrees. But beneath the noise, there's a quieter, more important conversation happening about what AI actually means for brand work.

March 2020. The phone call that changed everything.

"I'm sorry, but we're going to have to pause all projects indefinitely."

And then another. And another. Within 48 hours, we'd lost 60% of our business overnight. Covid had arrived with a brutal efficiency that left no room for the gradual adaptation most businesses pray for during challenging times.

Whether it’s crafting a memorable, distinctive brand, designing and implementing a resonant identity, or designing an intuitive digital experience, it’s strategy that provides the essential framework that aligns every decision and detail.

From our roots on the South Coast to our growing presence in the capital, Salad Creative has spent 25+ years working across two of the UK's most distinct creative environments. Most agencies tell you where they are, but we'd rather tell you what that means for how we work.

In your busy day-to-day, it's easy to focus on deadlines, goals, and personal priorities. Yet one vital element can elevate both relationships and projects: empathy.

This month, we celebrate our fourth anniversary of being employee-owned, having transitioned to an Employee Owned Trust in 2021. In what has become a semi-regular annual tradition our MD, Bella, has been pondering the changes we've experienced and lessons learned along the way.

Becoming employee-owned is a significant step for any business. For many, it marks the start of a new chapter, one rooted in shared purpose, long-term thinking and the ambition to build a deeper, more inclusive culture. But the structural transition is only the beginning, part of an ongoing evolution which needs care and attention, alignment and engagement to succeed.

When a business transitions to employee ownership, it marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter. But, while the shift to employee ownership creates tremendous potential, it's important to recognise that structure alone won’t automatically enhance company culture, strengthen market position or boost engagement.

In tech, trust often stands between a brilliant product and real-world impact. Whether you’re onboarding investors, scaling client acquisition, or recruiting top talent, your brand plays a pivotal role in conveying credibility and ambition.

In manufacturing, technical expertise is rarely in short supply. The challenge when it comes to growing business and securing sales lies in how that expertise is communicated.

Professional services firms often grow from strong personal relationships and niche expertise. But as they expand, those strengths need to be translated into a clear, differentiated brand, especially in a market where expertise can sound interchangeable and digital experience sets the tone.

2024 has been a great year for Salad. One year further on in our journey of employee ownership, as a team we're celebrating a significant new hire and significant milestones.

Founded as an employee-owned business, Loadhog have always taken the views of their employees seriously. So, when they asked us to help them develop a new purposeful framework to help deliver their plans for growth, we knew we needed to engage as many people as possible.

I’m thrilled to announce my return to Salad as Head of Client Services! After 18 years in various agencies, I can genuinely say there’s no place quite like Salad. The warmth and camaraderie of this team have made my return feel like reuniting with old friends.

Since 2023 we’ve been hosting an ever-growing group of employee-owned businesses at our studio in Poole. Sharing stories and strategies, helping to define (or refine) roles and responsibilities and comparing notes on what’s worked and what hasn’t has been the name of the game.

Many businesses struggle to articulate their values. So, in choosing words with little meaning, or not enough meaning, you may be doing your organisation an operational disservice. In this blog, our Strategy & Creative Director, Harry, argues for values that are actually valuable, authentic and usable.

Celebrating the unique characteristics of any brand is a powerful way to communicate difference and create a sense of distinctiveness in the market. In this blog, Head of Design Jon celebrates what makes him distinct and how it influences the way he approaches the work of identity.

Since transitioning to employee ownership in 2021, we’ve seen more businesses in the South West joining the movement. Giving employees a stake and a say in the business they work for has been proven to lead to better engagement, productivity and job-satisfaction.

After transitioning to employee ownership, The Industry Club's Founder and MD, Melissa Smith found she needed support to align and engage her team before crafting the communications announcing to the world they'd made the move.

For over three years, Salad has been investing in quarterly Vision days, bringing the entire team together to discuss the agency’s direction and the bigger picture. Our Vision days are not a one-size-fits-all affair; each gathering is unique, tackling diverse topics and challenges that shape our collective journey.

Our transition to employee-ownership inspired us to start hosting South Coast Employee Ownership networking events. Connecting businesses, sharing insights, and building a supportive community.

As we mark the milestone of three years employee-owned, we reflect on our journey so far as a team, and how this transition has evolved life at Salad.

Integrating new tools in our workflow is something we’ve become very used to. What was once the exclusive toolset of the practicing graphic designer, tools like Canva have made marketing teams more efficient and independent. Most recently we’ve embraced an evolution of the standard fixed brand guidelines document to empower out clients with more collaborative flexibility and productivity.

Since transitioning to employee ownership in 2021, we’ve been quietly (or not so quietly) on a journey to empower our team members and elevate our employer brand through personal brand building.

When I’m asked what I do for a living, or introduced to a new client, I’m guilty of giving a bit of a generic response – something along the lines of “I manage projects” or “I keep timings and budgets on track”. But, each time I hear myself give a default response like this, I cringe!

It's not far off 20 years I've been working in design but dealing with the pre-match nerves before a presentation (big or small) is still very real. I had hoped it would be much easier by now and although practise does help, there's an art to channelling the inevitable surge of adrenaline that I'm still learning to master but here are a few tips I've learned along the way...

We are operating in a candidate-driven market. The rise of purpose as a means to attract customers is now being matched on the candidate side. This shift represents an opportunity for brands to align their customer & employer brand and ensure that they become talent attractors and retainers.

Earlier this month I read a statistic which stated that 98% of mothers want to return to work after having children, but 87% find it impossible to balance full-time work and childcare*. This really shocked me. In fact, it compelled me (a non-writer) to share my experience!

Crafting a successful digital marketing strategy requires a delicate blend of art and science.

One of my favourite adages about business finance includes the phrase “Cash is King”, but I wonder if from a broader corporate perspective, maybe “culture is king”.

Neatly fitting into ten points, here’s a round up of my learnings as we pass our two and a half year anniversary of being employee owned.

By embracing the artistry of design, storytelling, and user experience, you can create a digital masterpiece that not only ranks high in search results but also captures the hearts and minds of your audience.

All businesses change over time: markets shift, new products get launched, businesses grow and, sometimes, they pivot. There's no one-size-fits-all approach to reflect these changes in your business, but asking why the change needs to happen is the first step to determining how to represent it

Sophie shares how our Beautifully Effective® approach translates into the role of accounting, and ensures that everything and everyone is working together in harmony.

In this installment of our Beautifully Effective® journals, Greg shares insights on simplicity and subtlety, an optimised approach to development, and how the collective mantra infuses everything we do as a team.

I was recently invited to share my experience of Salad becoming employee owned with a team who are looking to start their EO journey. With plenty of interesting questions raised by this aspiring group, it felt like they might not be the only ones with these queries.

As designers, our role can be incredibly complex. For Natalie, our senior designer, it's only through a deep understanding of the challenge that our work be truly Beautifully Effective®. Find out how discovery and designing with purpose helps us elevate creativity whilst solving the real problem.

How do you communicate the adoption of employee ownership as a positive move? How do you use your organisation's vision and culture to align and empower your teams? How will you unlock the potential of employee ownership to accelerate growth and the sustainability of your organisation?

Continuing our series, Harry (our Strategy & Creative Director) shares his slightly uncomfortable history with Beautifully Effective®, and how it has come to represent the responsibility we all share when handling our client's most precious asset – their brand.

Fresh off the back of a triumphant home games in Birmingham last year, where Team England secured a record-breaking haul of 176 medals, including 57 gold, a 58-strong contingent of young competitors head to Trinidad and Tobago to take part in the Trinbago 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games.

As part of our Beautifully Effective® series our Founder & MD, Bella, shares her thoughts on how empathy and collaboration create the perfect environment for delivering Beautifully Effective work through great relationships and cultural connections.

ARM Recruitment specialise in recruitment across some of the most demanding and competitive sectors in the world. They needed a candidate focused, fully integrated website to communicate their unique offer, house their candidate applicant system and raise the profile of the business.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) - an unrequested yet endlessly helpful pal.

Beautifully Effective® is a mindset we apply to everything we do, so it can be tricky to define. In this blog, part of our ongoing series of articles on Beautifully Effective, Nicole, our Head of Delivery shares 5 ways we’ve been effective, beautifully.

Continuing our Beautifully Effective® series, our Head of Digital, Matt shares his insights into how a Beautifully Effective approach to digital services and development can help brands better achieve their goals.

In the first instalment of our Beautifully Effective® series Jon, our Head of Design, gives his view on how Beautifully Effective® helps anchor creative work by highlighting the problem that needs to be solved and establishing the boundaries to work within and push against.

Changing our identity after some twenty years was a daunting exercise, but something we were ready for.

Strategy – a word we throw around these days. A word that has come to mean a bunch of different things. Misunderstanding strategy’s value to our process often contributes to an assumption that it’s a luxury. We view it as a necessary tool that helps underpin many of the most fundamental choices we make with our clients.

What are the benefits of using one agency for three highly specialised disciplines: brand strategy, visual identity, and digital?

A little while ago, our founder and MD, Bella, shared her thoughts as an ex-owner as we transitioned into Employee Ownership. Now, the baton has been passed to me to share the view of this transition from the other (employee) side, and with the benefit of some hindsight.

What is it about the photography of your people that creates a powerful brand connection?

Our MD, Bella shares her thoughts on how becoming employee owned has impacted ways of working, our culture and how we’re working together as a team, more than ever, to shape our future.

Team bonding at its best: a brilliant Copenhagen jaunt to celebrate a year of being employee owned. We couldn’t have been more blessed with the weather and we’ve come back rewired, inspired, and full of gratitude for the brilliant few days spent together in one of the design capitals of the world 🇩🇰

Brand launch campaigns can be tough, you need to consider your messaging, the channels you use and the timing to ensure it’s successful and can evolve.

Web accessibility is essentially making website or app experiences more accessible to a wider audience, regardless of disability type or impairments.

Teamwork makes the dream work: we are proud to announce our move to employee ownership

Empowering expert lighting designers to meet the needs of a rapidly-changing world through beautifully effective digital transformation.

We sat down Simon Coley, co-founder of Karma Cola, to find out more about the brand’s “good karma” ethos, iconic packaging and the origin of the famous cola taste.

We developed an engaging website to demonstrate thinkBeyond’s poignant sports initiatives and work with global communities.

To top off another fantastic year we escaped to the wintery Dorset countryside for a 1920s inspired Christmas Party, followed by a day of festive fun.

This year we reached the grand old age of 18. To celebrate our 'coming of age' we hosted a birthday bash in the studio and invited some fabulous people to party with us.

To celebrate the start of summer the team wandered over to Studland for a hearty pub lunch, an afternoon of beach games and a quick dip in the sea.

Sarah Brown, founder of Pai Skincare, discusses the significance of authenticity for the sensitive skin experts and their customers.

Informed by comprehensive SEO research, we designed and built a user-friendly brochure website to house Russell Play’s extensive portfolio and help the trusted playground seller stand out in a crowded marketplace.

We evolved DNA’s existing brand identity and designed a new website to reflect their growth and position in the construction industry.

Developing a new brand identity is an exciting journey. But how do you share the vision with your team and ultimately create internal brand ambassadors? Here are our top tips for crafting a memorable internal campaign.

It’s important to learn from experiences and here is how Salad do it.

As part of a successful digital marketing strategy, we implemented PPC and paid social advertising to drive enquiries about Breeze Volkswagen’s latest car offers.

What better way to celebrate another year of teamwork than a night in one of the UK’s most picturesque cities.

Campaign recently reported that the toughest brief for any agency is creating the company Christmas card. We agree.

Topping off a successful year, Salad picked up the award for Best PR Campaign with the Christmas Party recruitment campaign, “Britain's Best Boss”.

Head of Marketing & Communications, Fleurie Forbes-Martin, has opened a satellite office in Soho as part of Salad's strategy to nurture and grow relationships.

Facing the problem of unsatisfactory levels of interest in their chef vacancies, we developed an intelligent, actionable digital marketing strategy for Brunning & Price’s in-house team to implement.

Dorset Business Award judges crown Team England’s new digital platform as a “game-changer”.

The data-driven website for Commonwealth Games England surpassed the likes of Nike and the EFL to claim the title of ‘Sports Website of the Year’.

As an agency with a reputation and heritage rooted in beautiful design and years of expertise, we thought we’d share a few thoughts about the value of product packaging.

WE ARE BAR were opening a flagship self-titled bar with plans for several more to follow. They required a practical social media strategy to engage followers and bring their distinctive brand personality to life.

Abigail Hayhoe, Head of Marketing and Communications for the world’s longest serving jeweller, shares the story of Garrard's devotion to craft.

With the sun shining brightly, the team took a trip to the Dancing Ledge in Swanage for a delicious picnic and a dip in the sea, followed by a cider at the Square & Compass.

Working closely with in-house content producers, our Digital Marketing and Strategy teams are helping The Accountancy Cloud climb search rankings and generate leads through an intelligent approach to SEO.

Lizzie Bartholomew, marketing director at Peppersmith, explores the power of ambition and explains how it’s shaping the sugar free confectionery brand.

Katharine Schäfli, global head of brand at Clipper Race, tells us how ambition continues to play a pivotal role in the brand’s success.

Joe Benn, co-founder of the fruit-infused sparkling water brand, tells us how ambition is helping Ugly shake up the drinks industry.

10 techniques we’ve adopted to ensure our digital work is Beautifully Effective® in design and SEO

As an agency we often ask for client testimonials in order to gather an honest insight into the work we do. But this Valentine's, we've turned the tables to offer a few kind words about our clients, partners and friends…

For many companies, sending Christmas cards can feel like a chore. But for us, it’s a wonderful opportunity to embrace craftsmanship and produce something special for our clients, colleagues and friends.

Salad’s annual Christmas party is always a little more special than the average company do. And this year was no exception. On December 1st, our merry team took to the skies and travelled to the beautiful city of Madrid for a 3-day adventure.

Since founding Salad 16 years ago, I’ve watched our business grow from strength to strength. And after a prosperous 2017, we decided it was time to celebrate in style with a Christmas party to remember.

We delivered a professional new identity and an SEO optimised, easy-to-use website for a leading provider of online cloud backup solutions. The result? Improved perceptions and an influx of new business.

Having been through all sorts of different pitching processes in my time, I wanted to have an honest conversation about how to make good choices.

For sales people, life on the road (or train) can be considered a complete pain. That is, unless you have a first-in-class, arabica-bean tasting trail already mapped out.

Having identified a demand for high-end prescription goggles in the UK, we promoted their offering with PPC to rapidly increase Swans’ online revenue.

Working with the stakeholders to understand the specific needs of the group, we created a bespoke web-based intranet.

Bella shares why beauty can give you the advantage with top tips for building a beautiful business…

To celebrate one of the busiest years in our 16-year history, we threw our hat into the ‘awards’ ring for the third year running.

To improve SEO, drive engagement and create a buzz around their Charities seminars, video was the perfect vehicle.

For those unfamiliar with our industry, agencies are low margin businesses and the only thing we have to sell is our time.

Making the most of the beautiful coastal sunshine, the team spent an afternoon across the water enjoying a picnic and a little beach-side exploring.

Taken from my regular class at the General Assembly, here’s a handful of my top tips to help you increase your email marketing open rates.

Most days in an agency you will hear someone bemoan ‘they are a nightmare’, followed by a frustrated ‘why can’t they just X..’. They are talking about a client and in this sentence, X equals ‘behave like we want them to’.

With a strong understanding of their requirements, we optimised key on-site elements to adhere to Google’s best practice guidelines and delivered stunning results.

International Women's Day feels like a good time to share a few thoughts about my own experience as a female principal.

Having got ‘up close and personal’ with Mulberry’s inner-workings, our FD Andy Brown contemplates the outlook for the future in the last of this 4-part instalment.

Having got ‘up close and personal’ with Mulberry’s inner-workings, our FD Andy contemplates the highs and lows of the brand’s well-publicised journey and the outlook for the future in a 4-part instalment.

Having got ‘up close and personal’ with Mulberry’s inner-workings, Financial Director Andy Brown contemplates the highs and lows of the brand’s well-publicised journey in a 4-part instalment.

Typography is an art, purposed with arranging type to make written language legible and appealing for its readers.

E-Cigarette Direct were one of the first businesses to establish themselves in the vaping industry in 2008. Their Halo products were producing mediocre sales figures and we identified that their branding and packaging was a major contributing factor.

Following the article we wrote for The Drum recently, here we distill the 12 points it takes to write a cracking creative brief for your marketing agency or team.

Hayes McKenzie required a website that would not only give them credibility but would also give them the best chance of gaining more website traffic from search engines.

To celebrate the end to a busy year on the blog, we offer you Sophie’s most popular seasonal recipe. Yule love it.

For those not in the know, Salad are a collective of food lovers. This week, Fleurie explains why our foody rituals are about more than a full stomach.

Attracting, engaging and gaining new students is the lifeblood for AECC and we worked hard to drive effectiveness of their digital marketing spend.

We’re proud to announce that our Founder and MD Bella, won the award for Digital Media and Online Business at the Dorset Venus awards at the BIC last night.

There is no single colour system that is suitable for all design projects. The following guide sheds some light on a subject that effects almost every job that passes through our studio.

Walking into the studio for the first time as the ‘intern’, I instantly felt relaxed and I knew straight from the very start that I was going to have a good time at Salad.

After all our hard work so far this year, and with some fresh, new recruits in tow, it was time for the Salad team to undertake their next outdoor adventure. This time we chose to take to the open water sea kayaking and foraging around Studland Bay.

Using Virtual Reality to inspire potential crew to sign up for one of the most challenging adventures imaginable.

Salad Creative have been named as a finalist for not one, but two different categories in the 2016 DADI awards.

Salad are thrilled to have been featured alongside a section of Dorset agencies in the recently published For the Record, a book which contains a section of the finest creative and digital talent on the South Coast.

We are extremely pleased to have been named as finalists for two Wirehive 100 awards.

We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for our first BIMA award.

With so much competition and tighter marketing budgets, today’s businesses are under tremendous amounts of pressure to demonstrate results. But are you measuring successes in the right way?

There is a lack of women in creative and digital industries and the statistics aren’t good.

A moving intro for a leading dance course.

The Stag and Hen Experience are nationally recognised party organisers. Offering over 80 destinations worldwide, with hundreds of activity and accommodation variations, the business is operated solely online, making the effectiveness of their website of vital importance.

There are around 700,000 people in the UK who live with autism. Thanks to charities like Autism Wessex, they have a network of much needed support.

Think Logic is a specialist Lenovo reseller with a strong emphasis on quality of service and customer support.

The planning that goes into a photoshoot is arguably the most important part of the shoot. You’ve defined the brief, the desired outcome and the budget, so now it’s time to start planning.

Charles Nobel is a family-run jewellers based in New Milton which sits on the edge of The New Forest. The business was established in 1972 and specialises in diamond jewellery.

The Salad studio is transformed into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory for an afternoon.

It’s my favourite time of year - the decorations are up, Christmas songs are playing on the radio and Christmas jumpers are out in full force. So it can only mean one thing… time to bake some Mince Pies!

“What a result — over 90 cars sold from an £8000 marketing investment.”

With the tricky work of judging entries out of the way, all that remained was for Bella to sit back and enjoy the 2015 DADI Awards evening.

There is no strict set of rules for project management, but here are a few tips we live by.

We are delighted to announce that not one, but two of our websites have been recognised by The Lovie Awards.

Our website for the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race scoops gold.

Following the launch of our new website, we have also updated how we communicate offline.

An insight into creating an industry first, responsive race viewer for the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

The type of binding you choose should be determined by three factors: function, aesthetic and budget. This guide will give you an insight into each binding technique, the cost, and suggest the best uses for each method.

We take cake seriously.

Drum roll, please! Bells, whistles and flashing rights at the ready!

How one word could change your future. The importance of selecting the right name for your business.

In the interest of making the transition to agency life easier for the fresh crop of design graduates, I’ve decided to share some of these lessons with you, so listen up.

Scamping allows us to visually explore ideas that creatively solve problems

The folks at The Live Coffee Company are fanatical about the magical drink. Each of their blends have been carefully selected from beans grown all over the world, and the resulting flavours are rich, distinctive and aimed squarely at the real coffee lover.