About us

Two blokes. One kettle. Zero spanners.

We’ve got friends and family in the trades, so we’ve heard every complaint going: the logo a mate knocked up, the van no one can read, the website that went out of date the day it launched. So we started a studio that only does trades.

Stew and Chris, the two of us behind The Trade Marks
Who you’ll deal with

Chris + Stew.

Two branding experts. We met on the graphic design course at the University of Essex, both came away with Firsts, and have been building brands together ever since. No account managers. You deal with us.

Co-founder · No. 01The creative
Chris England with his daughterThinks in shapes

Chris England

The ideas man. Chris takes your business somewhere you wouldn’t expect: the thinking behind the mark, the bold idea for the van, and the motion and video that bring it all to life.

Degree
First, graphic design, Uni of Essex
Confesses to
Being a massive nerd
Off the tools
Asian food, football, music, film
Co-founder · No. 02The strategist
Stew McNicol with his daughterSweats the detail

Stewart McNicol

Makes sure the brand does a job, not just looks nice: who it’s for, what it needs to say and where it’ll be seen. Then he gets into the fine details, right down to whether your number reads at 30mph.

Degree
First, graphic design, Uni of Essex
Trade roots
Dad’s a retired industrial electrician
Off the tools
Running, football, music, film

25 years of design experience between us, which is a lot of fonts. Based in Manningtree, working with trades across Essex and Suffolk. The Trade Marks is part of Mammoth Creative, our main studio, going since 2020.

House rules

Three rules. Non-negotiable.

01

No taps, no hammers, no lightning bolts

If it’s in a clipart library, it’s on four hundred other vans. Your logo should be yours alone.

02

Readable at 30mph

Your van is your best advert. If nobody can read your number at the lights, it’s just a nice white box.

03

Made by humans

AI can knock out a logo in ten seconds. It can do the same one for the bloke down the road, too. And the one after him.

Refer a mate

Grass up a mate. Earn 10%.

Know a tradesperson whose van needs sorting? Send them our way. If they sign up, you get 10% of their package. You don’t even need to be a client. Easiest money you’ll make without picking up a tool.

For example

£179.50

for pointing a mate towards The Full English. That’s a lot of bacon rolls.

Let’s get to work.

Pick a pack, tell us about your business and we’ll email everything over the same day. No quotes, no site visit, no sharp intake of breath.

Book your slotSee the packs
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