55 Years Building Brands That Last

This year marks Designhouse’s 55th anniversary. More than half a century partnering with organisations to create brand work that drives business performance.

Origin Story

We started in 1970, when brand design meant typesetting, paste-up boards, and physical craftsmanship.

Through five decades, we’ve navigated every major shift in how brands are built and delivered; from desktop publishing in the 80s to digital transformation in the 2000s to AI-enabled design today.

But technology has never been the point. The point is what survives the technology changes.

 

Built to Last

Fuller’s Brewery still uses the brand identity we created in the early 1990s, thirty-something years ago. Not because we predicted design trends, but because we built it on strategic foundations that transcend fashion. When Michael, the man who commissioned that work, recently retired, the brand was still going strong. That’s what happens when you invest in design built on business strategy rather than commercial trends.

We’ve seen agencies chase every new tool and trend. Watched big-name studios prioritise principal celebrity over client outcomes. Seen consultancies deliver strategy decks that never get implemented.

Designhouse is an experienced brand design agency. We have always taken a different path: understand the business problem first, apply 55 years of tested experience, deliver work that performs in real markets with real stakeholders.

This longevity isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about earning trust through consistency. With clients like Vodafone, Shell, Centrica, EMCOR UK, and Springer Nature who return because the work delivers measurable value.

 

Future Proof

As we enter our sixth decade, the questions remain the same: Does this brand support business objectives? Will it work under competitive pressure? Can sales actually use it? Does it command the pricing power you need?

The tools change. The wisdom doesn’t.

Here’s to 55 years of brands built to perform, not just to impress.

 


Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 50 years, delivering strategic brand consultancy that creates measurable competitive advantage. If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’d be glad to talk.

Contact us

Senior Designer Invited to King’s Garden Party

Our Senior Designer, Al Connolly, was nominated to represent Creative Youth Charity at the King’s Garden Party hosted at Buckingham Palace.

The prestigious honour was bestowed for outstanding work in the community of South West London, showing incredible integrity and strong moral fibre from one of our key creatives in the team.

We are so proud to have one of our own recognised for contributions to support those with a tougher start than most, raising important funds to create outlets for young people to express themselves through the arts and challenging them to discover their passion and purpose through collaboration and expression.

Flowers Exhibition Saatchi Gallery

Finding Inspiration In Nature

Last week, the Designhouse team took a break from the studio. We were celebrating CEO Lavinia Culverhouse’s birthday with a visit to the Flowers exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in Sloane Square.

With over 500 works spanning everything from botanical roots to the intersection of flowers and fashion, it was a rich and genuinely surprising day.

      

It is easy to underestimate how much time away from a screen can sharpen your thinking. Exhibitions like this one are a reminder that the strongest visual language often comes from nature. Form, shapes, colour – all  things that nature designed long before brands existed. For those of us working in strategic brand design, that kind of reference point matters.

   

The best brand work does not emerge from a brief alone. It comes from people who are curious, who look broadly, and who bring a wider frame of reference to the table. Days like this are part of how Designhouse stays sharp.

Happy birthday, Lavinia, you deserve all the flowers.

It was a bloomin’ marvellous day!

 

 

 


 

Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 50 years, delivering strategic brand consultancy that creates measurable competitive advantage. If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’d be glad to talk.

Contact us