Wigan family firm's precious service to our charities

Clare and John Darbyshire with his son Dayle Traynor

NW Design, based in Hindley Green, was set up by Wiganer John Darbyshire nine years ago when he decided to go freelance after more than 30 years of being a studio manager.

And since then the company has provided Wigan and Leigh Hospice, the Friends of Leyland Park, Wigan Wallgate Wall Flowers and the Friends of Hindley Station among others with logos, leaflets and flyers to support their respective causes.

John, who is creative director, produces the print designs using a few Macbooks set up in a tiny space at the family home on Dorstone Close, Hindley Green.

Everything but printing is done in the office, with John’s wife Clare and 80-year-old father-in-law Peter MacDonald offering a helping hand by delivering prints directly to the groups.

Mr Darbyshire spoke about how his family business, which won a coveted Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday award in 2014, is very much built on providing a personal service to customers.

He said: “After first having an office in Atherton and spending a ridiculous amount of money on rent, I decided to bring it home and have never looked back since.

“I was a one-man band travelling to and from work with a single desktop, which I couldn’t bring back home so it was so impractical.

“Now my clients come and visit me here, and I can sit them down and get a sense of what it is that they want.”

One of their latest projects is designing a January events calendar for Wigan and Leigh Hospice, which will be displayed in the window of their charity shop in Wigan.

Mr Darbyshire extended his support of charities as far as Liverpool, and designed the logo for St Joseph’s Hospice.

The idea behind the company’s focus on charity promotion, Mr Darbyshire explained, is to use marketing expertise to raise awareness of the worthwhile causes.

He said: “These organisations don’t have big media teams with a large budget to create their promotions, so I like to think that we offer them that lifeline.

“We like to use a lot of animated graphics, but while also making any brochures and leaflets fun and easy to digest.”

NW Design also offers a website creation service for businesses ranging from learning consultancies to driving schools.

John’s son, Dayle Traynor, 32, and daughter Ruby Darbyshire, 26 have experience working in web development and spearhead this service, which includes advice on SEO marketing strategy.

For more information about the company, visit their website click here