Moskito Design 2017 Year in Review
New clients, new projects, new faces, new capabilities, new management structures, a new office, a new baby and our own (minor) natural disaster ― these were just some of the things that made 2017 an unforgettable year for us at Moskito Design. Read on to find out what we did, who we did it with, and where we’re going next.
Don’t have to time to read right now? No problem! Get the highlights in the infographic.
New people and positions
Moskito grew even more in 2017 with Marco joining us in administration, Ornella in marketing, Francesca in web development and Giada, Riccardo, Michele and Giulia in graphic design. And finally Andrea ― Spina to us ― joined the team not just as a graphic designer and experienced digital publisher, but also as a certified Adobe Guru, to run in-house training courses to help our designers continue to level up on the Adobe suite.
And last but certainly not least, this year we got to welcome the littlest new member to the extended Moskito family as our French copywriter Nuria gave birth to a lovely baby boy.
More vertical
We continued the process of building more vertical into what used to be a horizontal company. And since we believe strongly in promoting from within, we’ve created new management positions for some of our best people. Amandine, Alice, Chiara, Matteo and Silvia have all officially become team leaders, which in Moskito means they’re client-facing project managers: working directly with the client and managing the project from within. And they’re also helping to train up the next generation of designers, developers, copywriters and marketers.
Moskito goes industrial
It’s not just that we’re transforming in terms of people, but our company status has changed as well. Now we’re a proper industry: in Italy companies of a certain size must pass from “artisanal” to “industrial” status, which also means changes in rules and obligations a company must adhere to.
It’s funny to think of ourselves as “an industry” ― even if it’s just a name. Because in terms of how we work with our clients and each other our approach still feels as artisanal as you can get: love for our chosen crafts, attention to detail and forming real relationships with our clients and colleagues.
We like to think we’re still artisanal at heart ― though we can now admit we’ve got industrial-sized capabilities to go with!
New clients and projects
Some of these you may already have read about on our blog and website and some you’ll be hearing about in the next few months as we catch up on publicizing everything we’ve been hard at work on. Until then, here’s a rundown of some of the new clients, projects and emergent trends we were thrilled to be involved with this year.
Here’s the pitch
This year we won a tough pitch at home electronics supplier (and local hero) BTicino and took on our first two projects for them: designing print and digital promotional material for two new product launches related to connected homes, Smarther and Salvavita Connesso.
We’re also happy that we were invited to participate in some other big pitches at some very well-known companies. One we’re particularly excited about winning is with Lindt for next year’s Easter supermarket displays: starting in March 2018 you’ll see our displays appearing in over 1,000 supermarkets around Italy.
And we’re excited to announce that starting in 2018 we’ll taking on an exciting new collaboration with Facebook(more details soon!).
Getting social
A growing number of clients are coming to us to help create and run co-ordinated multi-channel social media campaigns, and it was great to work with new client eBay Germany as well as longer-term clients like Kijiji and Automobile to help them build engagement on social media.
The rise and rise of video
Our video output this year increased by 1000% (but who’s counting?), and we delivered on lots of requests for both long-format animation and short social formats for clients like Agos, eBay and new client Swiss pen manufacturers Premec.
So in response to this growing demand and to be ready to take on increased volume for 2018 we created a dedicated video department. It’s one of the benefits of growth: having the right experts in the right numbers to build a strong, specialist team.
Rebranding
This year also saw us taking part in some major re-branding projects, the biggest of all being the roll-out of eBay’s new look throughout Europe.
But we also had a hand in some smaller projects that were no less satisfying: helping Italian electronics distributor Technoit modernize its look in time for its 10th anniversary, relaunch the historic Ticino, Switzerland fresh pasta-maker Di Lella with new packaging and corporate identity, and guiding Varese-based accounting data service providers Media as they gave themselves a communications remake to fit with their new identity and confidence.
Out and about in style
Whether to promote competitions or celebrate growth, anniversaries or rebrandings, corporate events are getting bigger and bolder. This year we were thrilled to get to see our event signage, videos and decoration in some impressive physical spaces, like the Palace of the Dukes of Pastrana in Madrid, the Rome Marriott Park Hotel for Agos’s giant annual company-wide event, and Villa Erba in Como for Technoit’s 10th anniversary bash.
We also had a lot of fun with projects for a pair of public events that got massive coverage this year: designing the signage for The Color Run in Turin and the bus wrap for World Gay Pride Madrid.
Pretty in print
And lastly 2017 proved that print is most emphatically not dead. Our output included 9 catalogs that went to press for Lindt and Lindt Horvath and 79 direct mail designs for Agos. We also launched new projects like the Linde Italy in-house employee magazine (as well as some super-fun magazine advertisements we produced for them in which we had their forklift line and warehouse recreated in Lego blocks) and the Polinelli Blast ski goggles catalog..
The new office… and the flood
Moving to our new digs at Via Staurenghi 36 was a dream that finally came true in the early months of 2017, and some of the work continued to evolve throughout the first half of the year. But just when we were thinking everything had fallen into place, we came back to the office after the mid-August week of Ferragosto to find the entrance had flooded.
It was one of those freak storms we can get here in Varese at the foot of the Alps ― lashing wind, pounding hail and pouring rain. And the poor drains in the courtyard just couldn’t take it. Nothing was harmed (not even the bookshelves right under the entrance stairs) except our brave Ikea futon that sucked up that water like a big heroic sponge. We’ve now replaced it with a bigger, comfier sofa, but in years to come we’ll remember that futon’s sacrifice during the great summer storm of 2017.
We’d like to thank…
A final thanks to everyone on the team ― as well as those like Renoy, Felix, Nadège and Yaiza who came in as interns, to support us for staff on leave, or for special projects ― and all the clients, friends and family who helped make 2017 our biggest and best year yet.
Happy New Year!
At Moskito Design we’d love to help you make 2018 the best year yet for your business.
