Manchester headquartered strategic design agency Absurd is making a number of new hires across strategic design and technology, as it reports a 113% growth in its first quarter.
The appointments come on the back of Absurd being awarded a number of major new projects, three resulting from competitive pitches.
The agency, which specialises in digital products and service design, works as the design partner for large organisations through to scale-ups, with long-standing clients including Umbro, Brother and LV=.
After a successful inaugural service design programme for leading pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca, Absurd is now looking at further projects with the Luton-based team to support its Oncology Business Unit (OBU), which specialises in the development of cancer treatment medicines.
Work is also underway for Institut Francais, the official French government centre of language and culture in London, which has appointed Absurd to help the organisation transition to online learning on a more permanent basis following the pandemic. The agency will support Institut Francais on its digital transformation journey and will be identifying tools and processes to allow them to continue operating online for the long term, whilst improving student and customer experience.
A third new business win sees Absurd supporting online dungarees brand Lucy and Yak to accelerate its e-commerce growth. The business has enjoyed huge success in recent months and, as its technical partner, Absurd will introduce new technologies for its next phase of expansion.
On the back of the growth, Absurd has five vacancies currently being filled, with front end developer Ben Hirst joining the team this month as the first of these new positions.
Oliver Bailey, co-founder of Absurd, said: “Now is a critical time for many businesses to be ramping up their digital and design capabilities and all of our new business has come from ambitious, forward thinking companies looking to grow or accelerate digital services that will better meet the needs of their audiences, be that business customers or consumers.
“With a specialism in service design as well as a breadth of experience in technology solutions we’re managing to compete against some large and established global agencies to partner with some fantastic organisations. Our growth is testament to the hard work of our team and results from our agility to adapt our services to best meet client’s requirements.
“We have ambitious plans for 2021 and the calibre of the team, and growth, puts us in a strong position to continue on our trajectory in the coming months.”
Headquartered in Manchester, Absurd also has offices in London and the US and employs 15 staff.
