a brand new CDS training hits the road

Specialists in automotive and transport training, CDS wanted a complete rebrand and came to us. And Sue Race in consultation with CDS has developed an identity that drivers can recognise and instantly identify with. Says Sue, “I wanted something badgey, strong, bold and that conveyed the idea of reliability. That if you hit it with a truck it wouldn’t fall over. That’s my impression of the company.”

We suggested a resonant sector-related colour scheme and having discussed this and got agreement, Sue then followed the identity design through into publicity and course information materials. Working within a limited budget she still wanted to give the company a face, so sourced some generic images for them in order to convey the human element in the training.

There were challenges; “We had to keep on the ball with the images. They were inexpensive generics that came from the US, because I was trying to keep the costs down. So then we had to flip them round so that the vehicles were travelling on the right side of the road for the UK! I tried to find images that looked a bit like the Aston Freeway but then had to comb through to make sure there were no anomalous traffic signs.”

This was a real collaboration between Matt and Sue here in the studio as we also provided the client with a new web site. Again with cost in mind we used a customised open source solution. The client wanted to be able to add, take down and edit pages as well as adding attachments and images. They also wanted a news tool, a testimonials tool on the home page that could change and be updated and a form-filling function for users to select courses.

“We wanted to give them a more user-friendly site than they had previously, which was also up to date in terms of accessibility” says Matt, “So it was a balance between keeping costs down and giving them the functionality of a bespoke system. For instance with the form page Sue designed it in Fireworks and then I transferred it into the open source content management system. It was important too that Sue take technical issues into account in her design.”

We were working to a tight deadline for the client’s needs so Sue and Matt were doing design and coding at the same time – a real team effort that has paid off. And of course the site uses the key graphic elements from identity and publicity so it looks strong and maintains consistency.

See what you think. Check out www.cdstraining.co.uk and if you’re looking for brand support contact Brian Homer on 0121 551 5544 or email us today.