Summer 2024

Mytton Williams designs brand communications for ambitious clients who appreciate the power of good design. We believe design can help improve clarity, shift perceptions, change behaviours, help society and transform organisations. We choose to stay a small, specialised team, often working with collaborators with different expertise to solve business challenges. We also believe in working collaboratively with our clients, which leads to better results.

Why B Corp?

At Mytton Williams, we aim to take responsibility for our part in the future of this planet. Our longstanding interest in sustainability has always been included in our Book of No.s, which summarises our guiding principles (available on our website). We like working with organisations that share our values. This has led us to sign up for the rigorous B Corp certification process, which promotes the consideration of the planet and people. B Corp also provides a helpful framework for initiating discussions with our clients and all our stakeholders around these important issues.

The B Corp certification involves 5 areas of impact:

Governance, Environment, Customers, Workers & Community

B Corp also supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (17 in total). At Mytton Williams, we’ve selected the following key areas to focus on:

3. Good Health & Wellbeing
4. Quality Education
8. Decent Work & Economic Growth
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
13. Climate Action

Governance

We’ve included a new article of association which makes our commitment to planet and people part of our legal status.

Environment

This past year, we’ve:

• We continue to work with clients to reduce the impact of their design projects where appropriate. This includes looking at digital campaigns and projects that have been previously printed, using eco-friendly paper stocks, reducing print runs, and collaborating with printers who have environmental accreditations or management systems in place.

• We continue using Ecotricity, a not-for-profit company that provides green electricity and gas (and invests in renewable energy projects), for our studio.

• We have reduced business travel to a minimum.

• During our studio’s 2023 refurbishment, we were mindful of our impact (e.g., we sanded the floors rather than replacing them) and used local suppliers (carpenters, builders, etc.).

• We have successfully donated unwanted office furniture to local charities via the site/app A Good Thing.

Customers

Our clients come from a wide variety of sectors and geographical areas: in 2023/24, none of our sales revenue came from high-carbon-producing sectors, and approximately 33% of our turnover was from work with companies based within 50 miles of the studio.

We enjoy working with clients that share our values. We also continue to work with charities and non-profits. For example, we recently worked with a local dementia charity on brand identity, messaging, print and digital communications – we helped rename the organisation as ReMind UK. The rebrand has been very successful: in the first month after launch, visits to the website increased by 155%. “Mytton Williams were fantastic at holding our hands – understanding what we did as a charity, knowing how complex our whole brand was, and they were patient with us as we journey through our options. Our team and our stakeholders have really well received the end result” – Melissa Hillier, CEO, ReMind UK

Employment

• Following the introduction of flexible working hours in 2019, we started offering work-from-home (WFH) for two days a week as the default for full-time employees in March 2020.

• We have given inflation increases to support our employees with higher cost of living and profit-related bonuses.

• We offer two additional annual holidays and better-than-statutory policies.

• We carried out an Employee Engagement & Satisfaction survey and our usual annual appraisals.

Community

• We’re proud to be part of Bath's flourishing creative scene and are actively involved in growing this community. We recently supported Creative Bath (which is 'the network for creative, tech and cultural businesses, organisations and individuals in the Bath area') with branding work for its website and communications. Bob Mytton also co-founded the West of England Design Forum.

• We support education for design and creativity. Bob Mytton teaches part-time at Bath Spa University on their undergraduate programme. He also helped set up Werkhouse (now called WerkShop Weekender), an organisation formed to help students and graduates be better prepared for the commercial world. We also offer work experience, portfolio reviews, mentoring and paid internships for students.

• We support TEDx Bath by providing pro-bono design work for the website, communications and campaigns.

• Another local community initiative we continue to be involved in (since 2020) is Bath Unlimited – an initiative created and supported by Bath & North East Somerset Council and Bath regionally-based businesses, to shine a light on the amazing businesses and diverse sectors represented in the city, hoping to inspire high-quality growth in Bath.

• In 2023/24, we gave over 460 volunteer hours to pro-bono work for local good causes, including branding for Curious Minds, a new festival and creative events network run by Bath Arts Collective.

• We try to support local firms, organisations with eco-credentials and under-represented owners whenever possible.