This is week 08: 14th – 18th May 2012.

Monday

Just about all of us have had to fight some kind of cold off this week… Thankfully we’re all fit and well again!

Tuesday

Congratulations to Mark Doras, Director of CIC China, on the arrival of a new baby boy! Seen here with his older brother Ruairi.

Wednesday

A new toy for the studio! Capable of all sorts, we can’t wait to put it to good use!

Thursday

Last print samples before production… Looking slick with a spot UV varnish and embossing to the products!

Friday

Happy Birthday to PJH! Celebrating 40 years of making a difference!

This is week 07: 8th – 11th May 2012.

Tuesday

A place for everything and everything in it’s place. Just how Nicola likes to keep her Desk!

Wednesday

In-store POS review? Who you gonna call?

Thursday

Cheer up Daz! It’s only a production meeting!

Friday

Pete beats Dave 10-9 for an all Pete final on the Football table.

The trip to the Chinese studio this April was the most productive in a long time. our current studio was starting to get a little small for our needs and with the increasing workload we needed to find somewhere bigger. As you can see from the plans above and image below we’ve found a great location in a new build office block.

It will give us 3 times our current space and the freedom to create a layout and workflow to suit our ever increasing CGI output.

This is week 06: 30th April – 4th May 2012.

Monday

Easy Tiger! MD Rob made a roaring return to the office this Monday after a trip to China – clutching two White Tigers under his arms. He tells us they were top of the gift wish-list for his two daughters, although it it’s hard to imagine they will be as excited about them as he appears to be!

Tuesday

Steve calls Steve. Just one of the many outposts of CIC is all the way out west in Cardiff, where CGI Modeller Steve is based (check out the Welsh flag waving majestically behind him just to prove it!).

Wednesday

Stepping away from the Mac, Bobby dusts off the trusty old layout pad, sharpens his pencil and begins sketching out a storyboard for an exciting new video project… stay tuned for more!

Thursday

Loadsa Money! Very lucky secretary Adele is off to the States for a whole two weeks on Saturday, here she is clutching a big stash of spending money.

Friday

May The Fourth Be With You! The most important day of the year for any Star Wars fan is honoured by Dave W, he’s even sporting a Star Wars T-shirt.

This is week 05: 23rd – 27th April 2012.

Monday

Just another manic Monday. This week’s workload for the CGI team was so large it required an extension to be added to the flipchart easel. Sometimes the work behind the scenes can take longer than producing the image itself.

Tuesday

Speaking of the CGI team, here is two of the guys – Pete & Matt – still looking remarkably perky considering the above!

Wednesday

A humble shoe under the spotlight. Getting the perfect image, no matter what the product, requires more kit than you might first think!

Thursday

A catalogue of catalogues. With a new catalogue for a client in the pipeline, we began eyeing up the competition to find out what’s hot and what’s not.

Friday

Seems like no week in pictures is complete without beer and this week is no exception. With the Manchester derby coming up this weekend (ok, monday night), Dave W supplied us all with a bottle of this rather aptly named beer. Will the Man U fans amongst us be drowning their sorrows or savouring the sweet taste of victory?!

This is week 04: 16th – 20th April 2012.

Monday

MD Rob has been in China for a few days now (on business, of course!), over the weekend he sent us some photos of his travels so far. Here’s a pic of the main event on his itinerary – the Canton Fair.

Tuesday

If you had to name one thing that everybody learned at school, it’d be don’t lean back on your chair!
Pete forgot about this handy snippet of advice, which resulted in this chair becoming just a tiny bit broken.

Wednesday

Rob was in contact again, only this time it was using this knock-off Chinese mobile, after his iPhone suddenly stopped working.

Thursday

Thursday lunch time conversation was all about ‘teddy bear rolls’. Most of us had no idea what they were, which led to a less than perfect (but highly amusing) demonstration by Adele and Dave E.

Friday

Another lunch time shot. After a long week, some of the guys treated themselves to a Frankie & Bennys.

Another short week, and another look behind the scenes of CIC.
This is week 03: 10nd- 13th April 2012.

Tuesday

Morph was so scared of the massive shoe, he hid in Dave’s Brew!

Wednesday

More beer! an unexpected mix up left us with unexpected beer… Don’t tell anyone…

Thursday

Rob jetted out to catch up with the team in China, and the Canton Fair – watch this space for his thoughts and findings on this exciting trip!

Friday

Over 30 dummy boxes and not one cut finger, who said Friday the 13th was unlucky?

Another week done (albeit it a short one, cheers Easter!) and another look behind the scenes of CIC.
This is week 02: 2nd- 5th April 2012.

Monday

April fool? Bobby’s attempts at turning sample colour swatches into low-tech 3D glasses had us wondering if the spirit of that infamous april jester was still lingering in the studio.

Tuesday

Fancy looking kettles require fancy looking packaging. That’s certainly the case here with this new design from Dave W.

Wednesday

Bobby again. This time his decision to treat us all to chocolate at lunch time got very mixed reactions from the team. Never has a product name been so apt – very perculiar indeed!

Thursday

Finally, the real treats came on Thursday. Two-dozen Creme Eggs reduced to just three in a matter of minutes. Happy Easter Everyone!

In this new feature, we plan to give you a unique behind the scenes view of CIC. There really is no better way to show you how no two days are ever the same! This is week 1 – 26 – 30th March 2012.

Monday

A fantastic start to the week! we received 24 ‘overs’ from our latest print job.

Tuesday

A chance to get creative… Nice to have Scolaquip Ltd back on the books too!

Wednesday

With all the exciting developments that PJH have got in the pipeline, it looks like it’s going to a busy PR year! So creating a bank of quality PR shots sounded like a good idea and we decided to start at the top with Andrew Yates, the European CEO.

The sun has been shining on PJH in recent years and it was no different on Wednesday this week. Our creative photographer, Luke arrived at 10 in the morning and an hour later left with an edited collection of 30 great images. Keep you eye out for these appearing in national press over the next few months!

Thursday

After some rather awkward market research, we presented design options for a brand aimed at early teens.

Friday

A drained looking Pete has just wrapped up over 300 scale illustrations for a kitchen price list. He’s certainly earned his beer (see Monday)

Ever wondered what a typical day is like for a busy magazine/lawyer is like? Watch the video and find out!

Clare Pearson, the editor of the Charitarian Magazine, based in Beijing, was filmed for a Lenovo computing promo. Clare who leads a busy life as a corporate Lawyer and editor of the Charitarian Magazine has been based in China for the last 10 years. During that time she’s built up an enviable reputation as “the” leading strategist behind CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) solutions that deliver real results.

In China, CSR is considered to be the most effective form of marketing as it builds links between the Chinese Government and the company involved. In a top down country, it’s the only way to work and the Charitarian organisation is the bridge that is used to link them.

Here at CIC we’re responsible for producing the Charitarian Magazine and all their event support material. Deadlines are always tight and there’s the time difference to consider but it provides us with a genuine insight into regions and topics within are rarely discussed outside China.