We see signage every single day – they’re an essential part of life. Drive down the street and you’ll be confronted with road signs indicating which speed to drive at or directions to the nearest town. In the workplace, you’ll discover health and safety signs littered here, there and everywhere. Pop to town for groceries and you’ll notice that shop signage is plentiful, detailing opening hours plus displays of discounts and deals. In fact, even the infamous golden arches of McDonalds can be considered signage!

Our long heritage in the signwriting and graphics field means that despite today’s desire for innovative displays and technology, we are still passionate about and wedded to the benefits of traditional everyday signage.

Professionalism, quality, risk management, compliance and care. Each one of these is more than a word to us at Octink, because each one is at the heart of everything we do. Whether it is producing and installing hundreds of meters of advertising hoarding around a construction site or delivering a giant building wrap, we are continually striving to professionalise everything we do.

Hosting a Prime Minister for a tour of your business is an privileged opportunity, so to host two in less than six years is pretty special! Octink welcomed David Cameron back in 2011* and on Friday, Prime Minister Theresa May visited us.

We’re pleased to announce our appointment as the official event signage supplier to the 2017 Sportingclass Industry Invitational. This prestige golf tournament now in its 8th year has firmly established itself in the corporate calendar and has arguably become the leading corporate golf event in Europe since its inception in 2010.

We’re delighted to introduce our new web-to-print service, Print Guardian.

We are an Investors in People Silver achiever!

This silver accreditation recognition reflects the company’s continuing commitment people management. Staff training and development is a big part of what we do here at Octink, with each member of staff having their own development plan. being an Investors in People achiever since in 2004 and achieving the Bronze accreditation in 2014.

The start of July saw a successful ‘New Designers’ exhibition take place at the Business Design Centre in London. A stage for all the budding entrepreneurs on the leading design courses in the country to come together and show what they’re made of. Featuring a special place in Octink’s heart were the students from Kingston University: as part of the community work we are involved in, the design department – in this case product and furniture design – works closely with us to help bring their ideas to life. ‘Thinking Through Making’ was prepared by the students and Octink assisted with product branding with some free issue signage.

It’s no secret that having an highly engaged workforce is the secret to organisational success. Employee satisfaction comes from creating an atmosphere that has employees feeling valued, respected, and more importantly part of the bigger picture.

This is the first of a series of blogs by long term employee Mike Bains, focussing on his role and experiences at Octink from when he first started in the business 15 years ago as a green apprentice, right up to his current role as Build Site Manager about to embark on an apprenticeship in construction operations management.