The year 2020 has been an eventful one so far as we recently celebrated our 5th birthday not long after coming out of a worldwide pandemic lockdown. What a unique experience for everyone in New Zealand including our design studio! We have spent a bit of time reflecting on the highs and lows of our creative journey, especially over the past 6 months. So, we thought we would put our thoughts on COVID-19 in writing so they can act as a time capsule for this hopefully once in a lifetime situation and what better way to mark 5 years of business — aside from a cheeky bit of cake and a coffee!
One thing we now know is so much can change in the space of 48 hours. The information on COVID-19 was coming in thick and fast and we were tuned in at our desks listening to PM Jacinda Ardern, as a majority of the country would have been, when lockdown was announced. It was all go in the studio once the announcement was made, preparing our clients and ourselves for the new normal. We loaded up our cars with the home office gear and said goodbye for what was to be over a month of lockdown. Then the country went into the alert level 4 lockdown at 11.59pm on Wednesday, 25 March.
Our focus for lockdown was ensuring our clients design needs were always looked after. An open line of communication was our weapon and we enjoyed many conversations over the phone, as for a time it was the only contact we could have with someone outside of our immediate bubble! These phone calls and video meetings in sweats became our new normal. Not to mention the increase in caffeine consumption, if that was even possible! But the biggest things for us as creatives in general was seeing the impact that COVID-19 had on the design industry.
The word being thrown around a lot in the design community during lockdown was digital. Businesses that were not active on digital platforms when lockdown came into effect suddenly went into a frenzy trying to go digital so they could remain visible in their customers lives. A majority of newspapers stopped printing and started publishing an online newspaper even now, some may be looking to keep it running primarily on a digital platform.
Social media became another legitimate tool for businesses to stay relevant and keep people up to date. The key to social media is to push for consistency. Regular posting is a must and although it can be a very time-consuming process it’s one of the easiest ways to get your business out there. To make it even better social medias, such as Facebook, allow you to target specific audiences and they even track how your advertisements perform.
Silver linings we have taken away from the lockdown include a number of things from ways to maintain creativity to the ability to work in some very flexible environments – have you ever tried working in a room with a sleeping baby? Takes a lot of stealthy skills and quiet typing! It became a time to re-group, re-build, re-purpose and re-think the way we do things. Taking advantage of being able to take the dogs for long daily walks and explore our neighbourhoods looking for poppies or Easter eggs during what would have been holidays. We found unique ways to help maintain our creativity from painting eggs with the family to listening to podcasts.
Our team kept working from their home offices through level 4 and 3 as we wanted to do every bit we could to reduce the risk of transmission. Although this meant the occasional team meeting at the end of a driveway in level 3 it was a unique experience we can now look back and laugh at!
A big lesson we have learned in 2020 is that the only certainty is uncertainty. So, at the moment we are just rolling with the punches, hustling hard and making sure we are always there when our clients need us!
