Twenty years in. Here’s what comes next.
We started in a spare bedroom in Leicester in 2006. Two founders, enormous Apple Macs, and the kind of stubborn belief that probably should have been embarrassing but turned out to be exactly what we needed. Want to see the full journey? Check out our Two Decades of Design timeline!
Two decades later, we are a team of 15. We have worked with brands as diverse as IKEA, Samsung, Virgin, MTV and Leicester City Football Club. We have helped start-ups find their feet, supported charities doing genuinely important work, and delivered campaigns that we are still proud to show people. And now, as we turn 20, we are doing something we have never done before: we are going again. Bigger, bolder, and with a clearer sense of purpose than we have ever had.
So. New brand. New website. New chapter. Let us walk you through it.
A better world, by design.
This is not just a tagline. It is the thing that has actually been driving us for years; we just finally found the words for it.
Everything we do has always been in service of something larger than a deliverable. The brands we build are meant to connect with people. The campaigns we run are meant to move them. The community projects we lead are meant to matter. “A better world, by design” pulls all of that together into a single, honest statement of intent. It is who we are and, more importantly, it is what we hold ourselves to. This all links back to The Arch Way. Read more about each of our values to learn more.
Bloom. Our biggest idea yet.
The most exciting thing we are launching alongside the rebrand is Bloom – our proprietary growth programme for ambitious organisations.
Bloom is what happens when you combine serious creative firepower with performance marketing that actually performs. It is built for organisations that are ready to grow and want a partner who can take them there, not just make things look good along the way. Start-ups and charities access Bloom at preferential rates, because we have always believed that purpose-driven organisations deserve the same quality of thinking as anyone else.
This is what positions us as a growth agency, not just a creative one. It is a distinction that matters to us, and we think it will matter to the right clients too.
Twenty years of getting stuck in.
We have weathered a lot in two decades. The financial crisis. Brexit. A global pandemic that no one saw coming and none of us will forget. Each one forced us to adapt, to stay close to our people and our clients, and to come out the other side with a clearer sense of what we are actually for.
In that time, we have worked across Health and Wellbeing, Tech and Finance, Arts and Culture, and Consumer and Lifestyle. We have done brand identity, digital, social, motion, performance marketing and strategic consultancy. And through all of it, the work that has meant the most to us has almost always been the work with the biggest stakes, the brief that mattered to someone, the campaign that had to land.
Community is not a side project.
Arch Community has been one of the most important things we have built, even if it has not always had its own spotlight.
Street Stories brought untold narratives to life through an immersive animated art campaign across the city. BrewBeat became a genuinely beloved local music festival. Our exhibitions celebrating subculture and social history gave Leicester stories that deserved to be seen. We work closely with community interest companies and charities because we think creativity is one of the most powerful tools a community has, and we want to be the studio that helps wield it well.
Most recently, we have been working with sight loss charity Vista on accessible design. In partnership with Social Gallery CIC and the University of Leicester, we will be opening an accessible exhibition at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery later this year. More details coming very soon, and we are genuinely excited about this one.
Accessibility is not an afterthought here.
We have been designing inclusively for years. Offline and online, we build things that work for everyone, not because it is a box to tick, but because design that excludes people is design that has failed at the first hurdle. It is central to our approach and, frankly, it always should be.
What Luke and Joe say about all of this.
Joe Nixon, Co-Founder:
“Twenty years ago, we started with belief, ambition and huge Apple Macs in a spare bedroom. Today, we are a team of 15 with the experience, talent and energy to help organisations grow. We want businesses to bloom and we want communities to connect. We are now 20 years in, but with our new momentum, we feel like we are just getting started.”
Luke Harrison, Co-Founder:
“In 20 years, we have weathered the financial crisis, Brexit, a global pandemic and plenty of uncertainty in between. Each challenge forced us to adapt, and stay close to what really matters – our people and our clients. We have come through stronger every time. Now, with a clear vision behind us, we are focused on building something even more impactful for the next decade and beyond.”