Hello

I am John McCarthy, founder, Creative Director and Brand Designer at JMC3 in Seaford - near Brighton and Eastbourne in East Sussex. 

The second and very important member of the JMC3 team is Amanda McCarthy, Senior Brand Designer. 

We could both be described as brand addicts! It’s been the case since we formed our first creative alliance in 1983 at Art School in London.

It’s such a delight to see clients change from being disappointed with their business’ identity and perception, to being so excited and inspired by our designs - and really start living their brand/rebrand. 

But it’s a collaborative process to create your new or revived visual brand identity. You and we need to work hard at the start of the process to define your brand. Or we can’t do our job properly as brand designers. 

Our promise to you is that we embrace openness and understanding and have absolute integrity in everything we do. (Read what our clients say about their experience of working with us.)

After defining your brand, we’ll create designs and finally, together, we can transform your business with the roll out of your visual brand identity. Find out more about how we work with you.

The rewards of using a brand designer will include an inviting, believable and genuine brand promise that your prospects and clients can connect with. 

And delivering this brand consistently, at every point of contact, means they’ll be more likely to trial your products and services, become loyal customers and be your valuable brand advocates. 

We know it works, we are good at it and we just love doing it!

For over 10 years now we have chosen to be a small brand agency serving B2B and B2C clients. And we so enjoy our role as a brand designer with determined start-ups and SMEs in Sussex, Kent, Surrey and Hampshire. But we’ve headed off to Cambridge, Oxford and even the Silicon Valley for some projects too!

Your entrepreneurial spirit and ambition really fuels our passion for visual brand identity. 

In previous Creative Director and Brand Designer roles in London and Tunbridge Wells in Kent, we have worked with many big names that you’ll no doubt recognise:

In the 1990’s my business partners and I joined the Haygarth Group, at that time part of M&C Saatchi Village in London, by the sale of our company The Creative Direction Partnership Ltd. I was one of two Creative Directors responsible for a team of 40 designers and artworkers. 

So today we bring you that creative heritage to help your business truly benefit from brand. 

There can be quite a bit of marketing speak when talking about brand. So in the spirit of openness and understanding, here is a quick explanation that may help you with brand designer lingo! 

Your brand resides in the minds of your prospects and customers. And those perceptions of your brand are influenced by every experience they have of you. 
 
Your brand is a decision making framework, a perspective from which all actions and behaviours can be judged to be 'on-brand' and 'on-message' or not.

First you need to find your brand’s voice, what you stand for, what you promise. Then your brand designer can develop your unique graphic language, your visual brand identity, that enables you to express your newly defined brand claims (that ideally no other company can fulfil).

Your Visual Brand Identity announces to the world who you are and what you stand for. Everything from your website and brochures, to work spaces and signage can be used to create the right brand experience. 

These visuals influence and challenge the (sometimes deeply held) perceptions held by everyone you need to communicate with.

But brand should be organisation-wide, not just those people and materials that are customer facing. 
 
Your visual brand identity isn't about building an image it's about signalling who you are.

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. So don't sell to all those in need of your service, sell only to those who believe what you believe. 

Consistency equals brand identity and that identity equals credibility.

We also hold the role of Brand Designer / Creative Director within a small group of specialists that work with Private Schools. We are called Art of School. 

Our team includes us, from our base near Brighton, a marketing specialist and printer from Eastbourne, East Sussex and an exceptional school photographer and website expert, both not far from Tunbridge Wells in Kent. 

We typically work with private schools across Sussex, Surrey, Kent, Hampshire and London. 

We’d love to hear from you if you are interested in finding a brand designer for your business - whatever sector you are in. Please do get in touch by phone or email with us at our studio in Seaford, East Sussex - it’s always a pleasure to chat about branding and rebranding!