Happy sharp shooting design brings unique product to market

With the annual shooting season in full flow, Blackpool full-service agency Happy Creative has been working with one of the most exciting companies on the scene.

Wardfield is the brainchild of Simon Ward, whose vision of making life simpler for the shooting fraternity has been realised when his invention, LightGun, was launched this summer.

LightGun reduces the burden of carrying a shotgun when on a shoot, while keeping the firearm safe when not in use. It is made from the finest materials and hand-crafted in the UK and can be used with all dress codes for the sport.

Although well connected in the shooting scene, Simon turned to the marketing expertise of fellow Lancastrians Happy Creative to come up with a brand for Wardfield; to help launch LightGun, work on product packaging design, and to design, build and launch its website.

Having worked with Simon over this process, the design team at Happy understood the brief for such a unique product and worked with Wardfield on a bespoke brand which could be adaptable for LightGun.

Wardfield’s website was designed and built in a similar fashion to the branding in that it had to have the traditional elements of the sport but have the functionality of all modern e-commerce sites. With access to some striking images from Simon’s collection, Happy’s web developers were able to build a site designed for the modern shooter.

Hakim Shujaee, designer at Happy Creative, said: “For the brand we wanted to try and get the shapes associated with the sport so the grouse was an obvious choice and getting the head into the shape of the ‘W’ was really effective. The client loved how it could be adapted for the product and all the marketing collateral associated with it.

“We were aware the product was being aimed at the traditional shooting fraternity so it had to have an element of class to it, but it also had to be modern with LightGun being such a unique product on the market and something no-one had done before.”

Simon was introduced to the sport when he was 11 and it has been his passion ever since. From Wardfield’s base in the Forest of Bowland, the company combines the traditions of shooting with the modern needs of the gun-handler.

He said: “Not so long ago, I was out on a shoot with some friends and, as the hours passed, I heard some of them complaining that their shotguns were weighing heavily on their arms.

This gave me the idea of Lightgun and it’s really gone from there. There is nothing like it in the industry and thanks to the vision of Happy Creative I’ve been able to bring it to market. “They just totally got my vision and were on board from the moment we first spoke about it. Their designers were able to take the concept and run with it. The brand is now where I want it to be and all the elements are in place to make LightGun the success I have dreamed about.”