Navyblue to open second office in England
Navyblue is to open an office in Leeds, with one of Leeds University’s senior lecturers in design heading up the office.
Brian Minards, who will join the office when it opens in April, has 22 years of experience in the design industry. Prior to Leeds University, he was a director of BDG McColl, WPP’s design arm, and has also run his own successful design practice.
Douglas Alexander, joint managing director of Navyblue and one of the agency’s founders, confirmed the opening at the Roundhouse Business Park.
He said: “We’ve been looking at that area for a long time, first to service our clients, and secondly because it’s one of those lovely accidents.
“I’d worked with Brian before and he was my counterpart in Manchester [when he worked for BDG McColl]. He’s already got his first client and I’m really excited about what we’re going to do down there. It will be done with the same passion, in the same pragmatic way as the Scottish office. I think this is the right way to do it.”
Navyblue set up in Edinburgh in 1994 and opened a London office – headed by the agency’s other founding partner, Geoff Nichol – in 1998. The company employs more than 60 people and has a turnover of £8million. It has also won a raft of awards, including Scottish Design Consultancy of the Year 2002.
Its clients include Boots, Ellesse, Hilton Group and Miller Homes.
Navyblue shot into the design news in June 2004 when it was chosen following a five-way pitch for the London 2012 Olympic Bid project, reputed to be worth more than £500,000.
The company had previously worked on Pyeongchang’s Winter Games bid and Scotland and Ireland’s 2004 bid to host the 2008 European Championships.
The bid document succeeded in convincing the Olympic Committee to let London host the games.
The design company has since been asked to consult on several other bid documents and is involved with Soccerex, the specialist sports B2B network.