New Reed words now on sale in Waitrose

Selected Waitrose stores are now stocking a completely new word, created by yours truly.

Papura is the name I developed for a new brand of tissue paper, made almost entirely from 'bagasse', a by-product of sugar production. This left-over sugar cane would normally be dumped, but can instead be transformed into paper.

Not only that, but you don't have to bleach and disinfect it like normal recycled paper - a process that usually demands some pretty harsh chemicals.

This environmental quality, plus of course its lovely soft feel, makes it a purer sort of recycled tissue than most. Hence Papura.


I also wrote the copy for the packaging, designed by Carrow Design. We decided to create a statement about Papura's qualities that would sit facing out of the shelves for customers to scan.


And I don't think Peter Carrow will mind if I crow about the fact that the original idea for the logo also came from Reed Words.

Peter, of course, is a proper designer, and he took my initial thought about a sort of 'infinite loop' in the A and P of the name (which also looks rather like spools of paper), and made it actually work as an elegant piece of type. He had useful things to add to the copy too. Exactly the sort of unselfish writer/designer collaboration I am continually stamping my soapbox about.

The best retail address in London?

It's got to be up there: the huge space directly underneath Piccadilly Circus's famous illuminated advertising hoardings. A space currently occupied by Burger King, but which is soon to become vacant.

This whole building, Piccadilly Lights, is owned, almost inevitably, by my client Land Securities. With Burger King's lease up, they're looking to let this unique location to a leading international brand. So, naturally enough, they turned to Hat-trick - and me.


Together, we've created a brochure and a website (beautifully realised, as ever, by Bounce) that reflect the location's glitz and gloss. In fact, the brochure's so incredibly glossy, slipping it out of its clear envelope for the first time released a pungent bouquet of ink and varnish: an unexpected, but rather wonderful, olfactory bonus. Mind you, I'm one of those people who loves the smell of creosote.


In this location, retailers have a real shopfront on the world, not just London. So the copy focuses on the site's potential to enhance any international brand, tying it to one of the globe's great city icons.


The images, reminiscent of the towering billboards themselves, are pixelated with tiny little shopping bag pixels, which tie in to the numbers of people seeing, passing and visiting the site.


You can read all the copy, and see more of the imagery, at the One Piccadilly Lights website.

Cardiff Waterside

It's all property development at the moment. Here's some more: the website for Cardiff Waterside, a huge collection of commercial buildings on the edge of Cardiff Bay.

Working (for the first time) with Brownjohn and my old friends at Bounce, I wrote a brochure for the development's central building, and the new website for the development.

As usual, Bounce have built a site that's a joy to look at as well as to use. And Brownjohn's identity is one of those nifty bits of visual punnery that always makes me think, 'I wish I'd come up with that.'

Croydon College posters and postcards

Yet another Croydon-based project, this time for Croydon College. Working with Mark Studio - a welcome new addition to the client list - I wrote a campaign of posters and accompanying postcards, encouraging people to sign up for further education. 

The target audience, fairly obviously, is those who've been through the education system without necessarily gaining all the qualifications they need. Finding themselves somewhat stymied in life, they're offered the chance of a fresh start with a qualification from Croydon.

The postcards follow the theme of the posters, but introduce case studies of people who've already made this journey - like the man who used to flog washing machines, but now runs his own recruitment agency. It's an education in education.

If you'd like to read the copy on the posters, download one here as a PDF (137k).

Land Securities brand values book

As part of the launch of its new identity, Land Securities produced this little book explaining its core values.

The book, designed by Hat-trick and written by yours truly, sets out and illustrates the philosophy that sets the company apart. It's also a good demonstration of the flexibility built into Hat-trick's deceptively simple identity.

The little corner marks have a life of their own, picking out the relevant elements in visuals, type and just about anything. It's very neat - suitably corporate, but with a wit and charm that lifts it well above the run-of-the-mill.

To download the full book as a PDF (1MB), click here.