Supporters Direct

design.coop is the creative website of Calverts, the communications co-operative.

We design and produce integrated print and web based media. Our studio teams deliver effective and striking visual identities, outdoor visuals and exhibitions, marketing campaigns, websites and high quality, sustainable, cost effective print.

+44 (0)20 7739 1474
info@calverts.coop
9-10 The Oval
Bethnal Green
London E2 9DT

our approach

Design for the real world

What kind of designers are we? Sensitive, creative, expert, attentive and absolutely professional, say clients.

When you work with Calverts, you're not buying a Calverts house style. You're tapping into a flexible resource of experience, creativity and project management know how which will deliver your visuals, campaigns, publications, websites and marketing collateral on time, on budget and on brand.

Designing for the real world means developing solutions that are not just beautiful and engaging, but also mindful of resources and people. We work with our clients to deliver printed and electronic communications that are financially and environmentaly sustainable. To us, this means no wasted words, no wasted materials and no wasted effort; or, as someone once said, designing on the principle that 'less is more'.

we like this

Little Press

Take some cast metal type, add parts of a radio cassette player, a wooden block, some assorted rods, a little copper, and a large helping of creative nous to get this fantastic little letterpress machine. Click here to see a short video on the project or here for more detail.

Publications design

Client: Supporters Direct
Project: Briefing Papers

Supporters Direct promotes sustainable spectator sports clubs, based on supporters' involvement and community ownership. Its members are, in the main, grass roots supporters' trusts in football and rugby clubs.

We've just designed and printed the first two in a series of four heavyweight papers aimed at influencing policy thinkers and government. The first paper was 'Developing Public Policy to Encourage Supporter Community Ownership in Football'. Written by Substance, and with involvement from co-operative law specialists Cobbetts LLP plus research input from three universities, these publications will take SD to a new level of influence and respect as an advocate for co-operative ownership and control of sports clubs.

SD Chief Executive Dave Boyle gave us a succinct brief: we needed to create cool but lively, readable pages. Visual style: make it German. As fans of German magazine design ourselves, we thought we knew what he meant. The other requirement was to come up with an unusual format which would be cost effective in production terms.

The Calverts design team proposed the classic 'journal' format 240mm x 170mm portrait (sometimes known as B5) and specified an unusual, German-made recycled paper called Redeem, which is exclusive to Fenner Paper in the UK - it's a bulky, unbleached uncoated with a slightly greenish natural shade. Pages were set at an average 300 words, using indented pull quotes in subtle blocks of pastel colour to create visual rhythm.

The two reports, at 44pp and 52pp, were designed, laid out, proofed, amended, printed and delivered in record time, hours before a House of Commons launch on May 10th - which went really well, by all accounts. One MP commented to our client on the high production values, saying that to him it looked and felt ... quite German.

You can download a complete PDF or order a copy of either report from the Supporters Direct website.