About The Co-Foundry
I set up The Co-Foundry because I believe there’s a better, more personal and inclusive way to approach branding. We work with organisations shaping positive social impact – from charities and funders to cultural institutions and policy bodies – using co-creation and interactive discovery sessions to bring everyone on the journey and forge purposeful brands.
The worry of how to explain what you do and appeal to the right people can feel stifling. You do your best, but it may not always strike the right chord. My team and I help you do the soul-searching that identifies your authentic and compelling position. And we’ll give you the tools to visualise and verbalise what makes you distinctly you.
I’ve worked as a designer, creative director and strategist for 30 years. Through it all my heart is with the transformative power of carefully considered branding. I co-owned a Shoreditch design agency when the Internet was in its infancy. I then started my own brand design agency Touchpoint Design, fusing great design with the opportunities of tech. In 2021, I launched The Co-Foundry to work with small giants in the creative, cultural and not-for-profit world. These organisations are already overstretched – trying to tackle society’s shortcomings with limited resources – it’s never been more critical for them to stand out for all the right reasons.
The challenge for both founders and chief execs is the same, you strive to make a positive impact but are often too close to your business with too few hours in the day to find the best direction.
Bring in the big hitters
I always build out and bring in experts. It means you get access to the best creative talent – in design, copy, content strategy – just right for your brief. And without the bigger agency overheads too.
Rachel Hartwell
Senior designer
Rachel studied her BA in Graphic Communication at the University for the Creative Arts and has worked for SMEs through to large enterprises across multiple sectors. She offers a wide range of skills from conceptual design thinking and visual development to design and illustration.
Becca Freestone
Tone of voice + copywriting
Becca helps brands to find their voice and connect with their audience through clear, compelling content. She brings bright insights, strategic thinking and creativity to projects of all kinds, crafting everything from inspiring key messages to impactful website copy and in-depth brand stories.
Frazer King
Motion designer
Frazer specialises in motion graphics. Translating 2D designs into animated graphics. Bringing brand identities to life and producing brand animations for The Co-Foundry clients. He owns the Bath-based Votion studio.
Sonja Nisson
Content marketing consultant
Sonja is on a mission to get good ideas out into the world. She’s a content marketing specialist, helping founders and teams to work out what content to create to attract and engage their audiences and drive business success. Sonja is co-author of the award-winning book Valuable Content Marketing: how to make quality content your key to success.
Jonty Warner
IP Lawyer
Jonty is an intellectual property solicitor with over a decade of experience protecting brands of all shapes and sizes. Having learnt his trade in some of London’s leading IP firms, he now runs his own practice in North Yorkshire, advising on trade marks, copyright, design rights, and disputes over domain and company names. His track record includes successful proceedings before UK and EU courts and registries.
Fi Craig
Culture coach
Fi supports organisations to articulate and embed their values, helping teams to live them day-to-day. With a background in coaching and organisational development, she brings empathy, insight and practical tools to guide culture change. Her work ensures that values are not just words on a page but principles that shape behaviour, decisions and ways of working.
Gideon Barker
Researcher
Gideon has been in the research industry for nearly 25 years and has developed a broad range of experience across research methods and sectors. He has worked with the Co-Foundry on several brand development projects over the last few years.
Matt Lincoln
Photographer
With an emphasis on people and lifestyle photography, Matt shoots to capture the character and natural energy of his subjects. He offers a unique and creative approach to photographing people, places and things.
Positive impact
We know we can make the most difference by supporting the ambitions of purpose-driven founders and teams who want to inform, educate, innovate, enrich and work to create a better world for us all.
Brand positioning – why it’s fundamental and how to get it right
Advice for third sector and founder-led, service-based organisations
A simple test to measure brand equity
Marty Neumeier’s Brand Commitment Scale survey
Are you a maverick or a magician? People’s champion or rebel?
Always on the lookout for injecting new ways of thinking into B2B branding, we’ve spent the past couple of years using a brilliant tool that really gets the creative juices flowing.
Why work with us?
Because we’re more cat than mouse
We believe that curiosity saved the cat – we are nosey, we are bookworms, go for walks, go to exhibitions, play, listen, take breaks, look up, and look around. We don’t reach for the mouse before exploring first because good ideas come from surprising places.
We’re coaches, not cheerleaders
We listen, empathise, seek to understand. Sometimes there is a temptation to play it safe; we’ll challenge you to take the right direction – a friendly coach, cheering from the sidelines, and willing to push when necessary.
“Sue has the strength of character and the right sort of energy and positivity to approach some of the challenges I face in getting stakeholder buy in”Alexa Brierley, KTSL
We’ll position you for success
We passionately believe that if you get your position in the marketplace right and embrace creativity, you can’t fail to succeed.
Helping you unscramble complexity
Sometimes you’re so close to a problem that you can’t see the wood from the trees. We’ll bring over 25 years of experience to simplify those complex issues.
“Sue has the patience and emotional intelligence to work with difficult stakeholders and complex businesses.”Ann Macmillan, Latcham
Cutting out the fluff
Our process is not rocket science; it’s proven, it works, and it doesn’t take forever. What’s stopping you?
One last first thing
Climate positive workforce
We are members of Ecologi, our subscription each month ensures that each employee’s entire carbon footprint is more than offset. Ecologi plant a minimum of 12 trees per employee every month. To offset each footprint they will invest in the world’s best climate change solutions:
- Reforestation
- Supplying clean drinking water
- Wind turbines
- Solar power plants
- Clean cooking stoves
