Clarks books a Taxi-designed suite of literature for store managers

Bristol-based Taxi Studio will present its literature designs next week for shoe retailer Clarks’ UK store manager training material, as the consultancy begins work on international versions.

Four books have been created, ranging from a 148-page spiral-bound handbook to 40-page primers, which form the ‘induction packs’ for joining managers.

Lesley Robertson, Clarks training manager for the UK and Ireland, says the documents needed to project a ‘bright and lively’ image that encourages managers, who are usually in their mid-20s, to take responsibility for their training needs, while suggesting Clarks is ‘friendly and approachable’.

Taxi Studio has employed the same kind of illustrative style that proved successful in its Roses Design Award-winning work for Clarks’ retail staff, according to creative director Ryan Wills.

‘The literature explains how to train staff, encourage the right sort of behaviour, deal with rotas and budgets – all the ins and outs of being a store manager,’ he says.

Wills worked on the project with fellow creative director Spencer Buck and designers Oliver Guise and Luke Manning.

The consultancy, appointed on the strength of its earlier work for Clarks, is now designing versions of the literature for more than 20 overseas territories.