Meet our Friends . . . Attraction Studio
‘Meet our Friends’ series is where we take a moment to celebrate and share a little about the diverse studios who make up our DA Friends.
Grounded in collaboration and transparency, our Friends at Attraction Studio give us a peek behind their studio team, culture, and design philosophy.
New around here? Consider joining the fam as a DA Friend for 2023.
We have membership types for all size designers – from the student through to large studios. Your DA membership helps to support the Aotearoa design community and gives you discounts to our workshops and events along with profiling opportunities throughout the year.
Where are you based and what shape does the Attraction team take?
Attraction Studio is based in Ōtautahi Christchurch and works with clients across NZ.
We’re a Goldilocks-sized team – not too big, not too small, just right – of designers, strategists, marketers and web developers. Although we’re all specialists in our own disciplines, we collaborate on almost all of our projects, and are often fascinated by each other’s roles. There’s always plenty of upskilling, cross-skilling and discovery going on.
Can you share with us what a typical day at Attraction Studio looks like?
It’s impossible to describe a typical day, so here’s a quick snapshot of what our work whānau is up to at the moment:
Three of our team are in the boardroom presenting a brand identity concept to one of our awesome clients for feedback, with lots of chatter and laughter. One designer is working on illustrations for a passion project from a long-term client, and another has popped out to deliver a trade show stand setup.
Our social media specialist is setting up a fresh Facebook campaign, our marketing strategist is doing something frighteningly technical in Google Analytics, our comms expert is walking in circles around the carpark, talking loudly to herself about taglines for a new real estate brand…
…and our web developer is getting a little bit hōhā at Shopify.
We’ve got some vintage Kelly Clarkson playing in the background, Van the Westie is asleep at my feet, and the candy jar has a mix of Fruit Bursts and Werther’s Originals (because we’re secretly your nana).
What projects have you been working on recently?
We’ve been working on some really exciting projects – here are a few highlights.
- Place branding for the Christchurch Central City Business Association, including supporting city business owners with vibrant campaigns to attract locals to the Central City.
- A brand and positioning makeover for local cake and dessert legends Divine, complete with a fresh website, omnichannel brand campaign, and in-house photography.
- Brand and web for Sevā Business Services – this has been a really rewarding project as we’ve known business owner Tari for some time and really connect with his kaupapa.
We’ve also teamed up with Enterprise North Canterbury and Digital Boost to deliver 12-week branding and digital marketing programmes to 128 business owners!
What does the Attraction design process and philosophy look like?
Our design process is grounded in collaboration and transparency. We encourage ideas, feedback and pātai from our clients and from our wider team. Our design is strategic and supports each client’s overall brand and business goals, so our work plays a measurable and meaningful role in their success.
We also love sharing our knowledge, ideas, and thought processes, and helping our clients to learn more about our industry.
Favourite tools in the studio to help your team manage the day-to-day?
We use Slack for communication, and a neat, locally-made project management system called Streamtime (designed specifically for creative agencies – check it out!) Streamtime has, quite frankly, transformed our business from both an operational and a financial standpoint.
We’ve also adopted an Agile daily standup to check in on key projects, ask questions, and make sure we’re all on track.
What recent achievements or projects are you most proud of?
Our 2022 BEST Award nomination for our work on the Property Council of New Zealand’s brand refresh, which also included an internal launch, website, environmental branding, and branding for multiple events.
Where to next for Attraction, what is your team working towards for 2023/24
We’re looking forward to continuing to grow, helping our existing clients move from strength to strength, and working with some exciting new businesses and brands.
We also have a big focus on personal development, pushing ourselves creatively and helping each other be more awesome (which in turns leads to more awesome results for our clients)!
As a team, we’re also working on strengthening our knowledge of tikanga and te ao Māori and incorporating this into the way we work.
Lastly, where can people connect with you on socials?
Website – https://www.attractionstudio.co.nz/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AttractionStudioNZ
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/attractionstudionz/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/10413565
