London Vision Clinic brochure

Last year , thanks to a referral from Hat-trick, I started working with the London Vision Clinic, the UK's leading centre for laser eye surgery, and one of the best in the world.


Hat-trick had developed this elegant new identity for the Clinic (above), and were embarking on a new brochure, which I was invited to write. It was the beginning of quite a journey, not only in terms of the project but also for me personally.

At my first meeting with Dan Reinstein, world-renowned surgeon and founder of the Clinic, he took one look at my glasses and said that by the end of this project they'd be gone. The case for laser eye surgery, he felt, was that compelling. Certainly his own confidence and credentials spoke volumes.

Still, I'd always resisted the idea, for the same reason as most people: fear. My idea of laser surgery was something like this:


(Image borrowed from Guardian Unlimited)

It didn't take long for Professor Reinstein to overturn this silly notion, by deploying those most devastating of weapons: facts. And this was to become the theme of the brochure: we'd use the truth about laser eye surgery to educate and reassure people; and we'd use the facts of the Clinic's extraordinary record to show that it is truly second to none.

Then things went one step further. Perhaps, my client said, it would help if I was to undergo the surgery myself? There was no doubt that it would, of course. So, not without a little gulp of trepidation, I said yes.

I've been very short-sighted since I was about 11. That's 20 years ago now. Or, if I'm honest, 27. I've worn glasses all that time, apart from brief flirtations with contacts that never really worked out. To read a book unaided, I had to hold it about three or four inches from my nose.

Now, I have a level of vision I didn't even know existed before I started this brochure. My vision is 20/12: two levels better than 20/20.

And the surgery? Less than 15 minutes of pain-free lying down. There were some flashing lights, some gentle pressure, a little whizzy noise and it was done. I sat up and, even though the corneal swelling produces a sort of pale mist across the vision, I could see. I could read the clock on the wall which, a quarter of an hour earlier, I could just about identify as a clock from its foggy shapes.

There's no doubt this experience focused my writing as well as my eyes. I could write not only from what I'd heard and read, but from what I'd experienced. And so much of that experience came down to trust.


An early page from the brochure

The London Vision Clinic's testing and screening process is phenomenally rigorous - far more so than anywhere else. So you know by the time of your surgery, these people know your eyes in incredibly fine detail. And the attitude is open, honest and inclusive. You always feel in control and able to ask questions.

Discovering all that as a patient, and not just from briefing meetings, was invaluable. I became my own audience - something you always try to do as a copywriter, but which is often about an exercise in empathy and imagination.

So did it work? You be the judge. You can download a PDF of the full brochure (it's 4MB) by clicking here.

(I've now completed copywriting on the Clinic's new website, too. It's currently being built, and I'll let you know when it's live.)

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.'

Ruskin Square brochure

The last element in my work on Ruskin Square was this beautifully produced brochure, introducing the development to agents, buyers and partners. (Thanks to Figtree for the images.)

Helping create a new food brand

Pioneering Foods is a new brand, bringing together two frozen foods businesses under one inspiring umbrella. Elmwood were given the job of creating the new identity and launch materials, including this brochure. And I was delighted to be asked to help with the words.

Elmwood's identity includes a very nifty mark, in which a cap P tips on its side to create a creamy-topped mountain peak, and a bank of witty images in which food takes on a new, appropriately pioneering, appearance. On the cover (left), for example, some tasty chocolate desserts are transformed into the sort of place Captain Kirk would boldly go.

The brochure also introduces Pioneering Foods' two constituent businesses, Icefresh Foods and Heaven Made Desserts. Elmwood has created identities for these subsidiaries too, including the one shown (below) for Heaven Made, in which a plate becomes an ill-deserved halo for what are actually extremely naughty, but delicious, frozen desserts.

If you'd like to read some of the copy, you can download a PDF of the hot-air balloon spread and a PDF of the Heaven Made spread.

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).