Elegant new brochure design for lifestyle management business Thadeus

How best to convey a sense of exclusivity? Whenever designers face the challenge of creating something that stands out, the best way is to define the brand in a distinctive way. That’s great but in a world of aspiration, the fundamental question is… how? Devising the brochure design for lifestyle management business Thadeus, we quickly realised that they work in a very distinctive way. So designing for them could follow this lead.

A simple way of describing this difference is to say that Thadeus are as likely to be sourcing a pair of limited edition trainers as an Hermès handbag. There’s a combination of thoroughness with informality and they apply the same vigour to both searches.

Our brochure design for lifestyle management business Thadeus

Understanding ‘lifestyle management’ – and designing for that industry

This notion of a thorough but low-key approach to working with the kind of people who use a concierge or lifestyle manager quickly pervaded every aspect of our work for Thadeus. Operating from discreet offices in the heart of retail Knightsbridge, the team work with an innate certainty of how they approach every different client and task they’re set. It’s fascinating to observe and quickly influenced our design work.

For instance, their logo appears on the cover of our brochure – but with a blind emboss. Our idea here was to express the brand but maintain the discretion they apply to their clients.

Then there’s the sense of their being a global business. Thadeus work all around the world with offices in Macau and London. To represent this and the interconnecting nature of their work we created a pattern of curved lines which wrap around the cover. The brochure is also bound with a hand-sewn finish which echoes the way the business works with individuals one to one.

Every aspect of this project was carefully specified from the choice of paper through to the imagery. These photos also echo the formal/informal blend that’s at the core of the brand. You can see everything from waves crashing on tropical islands, minimal Japanese interiors and Rolex watches through to the contrast of comfy denim, fashion jewellery and Yeezy trainers.

Finding the sweet spot at the heart of the brand has proven a fascinating exercise in really getting under the skin of a business. By definition this means we get to know (albeit in an abstract sense) who their customers are. This way of working ensures the delivery of a finished design piece that truly works in every way from creative concept to printed brochure.

Our brochure design for lifestyle management business Thadeus

Making printed brochures useful and effective in 2019

We’ve noticed in recent years that printed brochures have rather gone out of fashion. In a way it’s little wonder. Our clients have got rather disenchanted with the idea of boxes of brochures gathering dust in the corner of their offices. Inevitably only a handful are truly impactful and translate into new business. So as a result these days we tend to define the ‘brochure’ as something that is created solely electronically and emailed around.

But – this is such a shame. I love a beautiful piece of print and this beautiful brochure for Thadeus is a great example of why. There’s such a potency in a carefully considered physical piece of print, particularly one that has been hand-finished.

So how to get around the issue of economies of scale and printing several hundred (sometimes thousand) booklets which get out of date and simply just don’t work hard enough? Well… by just not printing as many all at once. Printing technology has moved on a great deal in recent years and our brochure for Thadeus was printed on an A2 HP Indigo Press by PurePrint in Sussex. We can ensure an incredibly high quality finish without having to fire up a litho press.

Our first delivery? Just 200 copies. When they’re ready for more we will tweak the design and copy for a specific niche audience (for instance their Macau office or a Middle Eastern clientele) and do a fresh run.

Naturally Thadeus operate in a sophisticated digital way. So this same design was transferred to a smartphone layout – in portrait format – to be sent to prospective clients as an instantly-delivered attachment via WhatsApp messenger. While we design all our websites for all formats, this was the first time we have designed a brochure specifically to be sent as a text message.

As we finished the WhatsApp version, it struck me how this goes to the heart of everything we’ve done for Thadeus – professional, efficient but with a refreshing informality.

Our brochure design for lifestyle management business Thadeus applied as an attachment for WhatsApp Messenger

More about our design for lifestyle management business

In the past couple of years we’ve worked extensively for lifestyle management and concierge businesses. Not all of this work is available for viewing on our site for privacy reasons, but has included branding and website design for the firms themselves. In addition we’ve also completed special one-off projects for their clientele working directly with concierge and end client.

We’re always open to this way of working – and if this sounds like something we could help you with please call us on 020 7351 4083.

Our full portfolio of the Thadeus brochure project