A box of delights for Land Securities

The latest of my work for Land Securities is hot off the press this week. It's a beautiful portfolio of images to promote New Street Square, in the City, to potential retail tenants.

It's an especially interesting development, turning what was a typically revolting 1960s office block into a collection of new buildings that reinstates the long-lost street plan. Instead of a monolithic lump of concrete, New Street Square is becoming a little hive of lanes and open space, surrounded by shops, cafes and restaurants.

All those establishments need tenants, of course, and that's where this piece comes in. Much more than a mere brochure, the box contains a selection of beautiful, aspirational images (which can be tailored to the audience) to tempt high-quality retailers into the Square. The minimal, straight-talking copy, which introduces the concept and accompanies each image, puts the powerful business case for setting up shop in New Street Square.

Teaching myself structural microbiology

A little while back, Asthma UK (AUK) asked me, along with freelance designer Piers Rutterford, to help them raise around £5 million. The money will secure the future of a prestigious new research centre, set up by AUK and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

The new centre will investigate the complex causes of asthma and allergy, which affect rapidly increasing numbers of people in the UK. Indeed, one of the horrifying statistics I learnt on this project is that someone dies from asthma every six hours.

Piers and I were asked to develop a brochure that would put the case for supporting the Centre to major donors - people with thousands, or even tens of thousands - to donate.

But as well as the brochure, we were also asked to give the entire appeal an identity of its own - one that would attract this level of donor, and make them feel involved in the work of the Centre.

Our answer was 'Partners Against Asthma' - a name that's both a description and a call to arms. It also gives these special supporters a name: Partners. The Centre is all about partnership - between institutions, scientists, Asthma UK and people with asthma. And those whose donations keep the Centre going are every bit as important.

We also gave the name a visual twist: the 't' of 'Partners' is truncated to form a plus sign - a graphic summation of the theme that we carried throughout the brochure.

Writing the appeal meant a crash course in medicine for me (majoring in structural microbiology), and the chance to interview some dauntingly eminent scientists. It was fascinating, and perhaps the toughest writing challenge I've ever faced. So I was especially chuffed when AUK's major donor consultant described the brochure as 'a joy to read'.

To see the brochure in all its glory, click here for a PDF (2MB).

Getting results for the International Fundraising Consultancy

Freelance designer Piers Rutterford and I have just produced a promotional piece for the International Fundraising Consultancy, which works as both a DM piece and a brochure.

It's only been sent out in the last couple of weeks, and the IFC have just been in touch to say that not only has it already generated 11 enquiries, it's even helped them secure a sizeable project.

What is the creative magic behind this remarkable response? Well, the brochure is a square whose cover (top left) asks the big question about the IFC (and carries the address label when it's mailed). Then, when you open it up, the pages fold out into a large cross, with the answer to the question (bottom left) at its heart.

Simple, but apparently extremely effective.

(The folding makes it a bit tricky to show here, so why not invite me in to show it in the flesh, along with the rest of my book?)