This is Photolink

T’was only two sleeps before Christmas and Santa’s most excited fans gathered in Photolink’s creative grotto to eat their body weight in cake and chocolate, spread the joy of sticky fingers on walls and compare notes on extensive Christmas wish lists.

Oh, and their kids came in too!

From everyone at Photolink Creative Group – elves, imps, gremlins, scallywags and fairies alike – we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

News, Photographic

A week ago Friday sixty BA (Hons) Fashion students from the University of Salford were packed into the gallery and briefed by Group Creative Director John Whalley to design and create a fashion garment to promote Photolink and in-house brands Little Black Dress and HT&E to the outside world. Last Friday they came back with their work and we have to say we were taken aback by what they had to offer.

The groups presented their work, and the ideas behind them, to Photolink founder David Walter, as well as Little Black Dress editor Nathalie Gibbins, Charlie Haworth and Sophie Needham. The diversity of creative ideas the students employed in their designs was staggering and demonstrated the wealth of talent the university has enrolled on its courses. We were very impressed.

From T-shirts to knitwear, bags to dresses, the designs incorporated elements and values from each brand and took them to a whole new level, exceeding even our own high expectations.

To see for yourself the great work the students did for the project, have a look at the BA (Hons) Fashion Presentations gallery on our Flickr account.

Creative, News, Other

Hot off the presses is the latest piece of creative artwork from Photolink; the 2012 Promotional Gifts catalogue for SPS.

Produced by Photolink's artwork, photographic and production departments, and lead by senior designer Brian Bent and Ben Carter, the product features four fantastic alternate covers and 184-pages of sleek creative.

We not only designed and created the entire catalogue but shot some of the still product photography within too. Have a look for yourself in the photo gallery above.

Artwork, Creative, Design, News, Production

Last week the halls of Photolink HQ were buzzing more than usual during a visit from a sixty-strong group of final-year fashion students from the University of Salford. They were invited to take a brief from group creative director John Whalley as part of their degree and showed just the kind of enthusiasm we like around here.

As part of an on-going collaboration between ourselves and the university, the Fashion Design and Fashion Styling & Image Making students completing the BA (Hons) Fashion degree were also given a chance to see first-hand the kind of work we do on a daily basis, and, specifically, what it takes to produce multichannel ad campaigns from start to finish.

So they came, they saw, and they left with a hefty brief which called upon them to design three different garments representing Photolink as a whole and the in-house brands Little Black Dress and HT&E (more about this one very soon...). The idea behind the creation of these tees was to develop a unique way in which to communicate our work and where we work to the outside world.

This regular and rewarding creative exchange between the University and ourselves began in earnest over a year ago, but our strong links to the institution go back even further. We've already employed some of their finest graduates across a range of courses who now fill a variety of different roles within the company, from client services to design, including Charlotte Bradley, Rachel Bolton, Kylie Gore and Amy Eltringham.

We're expecting the students back in Photolink on Friday to showcase their work and we're incredibly excited to see what they've come up with. We'll put up images of the results once they do.

Creative, News, Other