We laughed, we crashed and most importantly, we had the best time ever!Â
It felt so good to say goodbye to that gloomy Covid-19 era of isolation and separation. We knew this’d be fun, but how fun it actually became was wonderfully surprising. From crashes, competitive bumps (even though that was not permitted) to trading tactics, the day certainly brought us closer as a team – and no doubt made our new starter Matt feel more at home.
Hopeful is a creative studio who works with disrupters, social enterprises and charities to cultivate brands and provide digital growth. During my internship at Hopeful I worked with the design and web development team to design a digital platform, produce artwork and develop a brand identity.
Being at Hopeful has given me insight on how a design studio works and has enabled me to develop my design skills and proficiency in Adobe XD software. I have also refined my teamwork, communication, problem solving and presentation skills through collaborative working, design development and internal presentations.
I have enjoyed my time interning as a designer at Hopeful and would recommend them as a studio to work with as both an intern and a client.
Imogen Sandbach
Liverpool is a city full of hope.
Back in 2017, I founded a creative agency whilst hot desking in the Business District, which was known as Design Integrity. We couldn’t have wished for a better start to a business, and the place in which we decided to launch it definitely had something to do with that.
This city is compassionate. We are quick at learning what others need, and we’re good at meeting that need with relevance and empathy. I think, this continuous connectivity inspires a real sense of social dynamism. It’s an energy that allows you to feel included, be-friended and championed. You don’t always tend to find this elsewhere.
And what’s even better is that when you do succeed here, word gets around. In fact, our business community are having a noticeable moment in the spotlight as they put Liverpool on the UK map with the brilliant work that they are doing nationwide. Firms that are developing their national portfolios, expanding into new areas or finally launching their lockdown ideas and turning them into fruition.
And that includes us.
We’ve grown at an average rate of +35% year on year, after our initial 300% growth from year 1 to year 2. So, with that in mind, we recently decided to slow down, take a breather and ask why? Why are we growing? With 76% of our overall workload being social enterprises and charities five years after establishing we started to notice a pattern. We consistently and organically built amazing relationships with good causes, and the brands that invested in us were brands willing enough to disrupt their market and contribute a sense of change in the world around us. That’s why we recently rebranded to Hopeful.
A name inspired by the people, places and powerful work that happens right on our doorstep. Now based in the Baltic Triangle, Hopeful speaks for itself, with its core purpose being to help brands help people. Our passion is to cultivate brand and digital growth for disrupters, social enterprises and charities. Brands that know where the need truly lies within our society, and are blazing the way in bridging that gap, both practically and experientially. Not just within the local community, but also nationally. Just recently, we’ve started working in other cities like Birmingham, London and even Sweden and we’re proud not just for us as a team, but for Liverpool and where our business culture found its form.
We’ve all had a tough few years but it’s fantastic to see how firms have navigated their way out of a pandemic and that they now have more hope than ever for what’s to come.
What started life as a graphic design studio for a variety of business’, is now an exciting brand and digital consultancy for disrupter brands, social enterprises and charities.
In the beginning, the mission was to simply help organisations be authentic. The name Design Integrity came from my passion to remove irrelevant design choices and copy cat branding initiatives from business’ communications pack. Instead DI would help the business retain its visual and tonal integrity through challenging them to be brave, and be themselves.
Over time, a pattern occurred. We’d consistently and organically build amazing relationships with charities and social enterprises. And the brands that invested in us were brands willing enough to disrupt their market and contribute a sense of change in their market and in the world around us.
For this reason we felt it was time to change our name. Design Integrity has served a great purpose, and we endeavour to retain our sense of integrity, in both design and how we conduct our work. But every business needs a market to target, has a problem they solve and a message that flagships their passion. For us this is Hopeful. Our hope is that we can truly contribute to your organisation making the world better. It’s our mandate is to help brands help people.