A little job for me

Producing my new mailer has proved something of a tortuous process, as self-promotional jobs often are.

Initially, the idea was to do something for Christmas '07, and my erstwhile design clients at 300million very kindly offered to help. But when I saw their ideas, I had a feeling this could take a while.

They gave me some options, but there was only ever one real contender. And it was fiendishly complicated to produce.



The idea began as a bit of fun. I've lost track of the number of times clients (and others) have told me you can't start a sentence with 'And'. (Usually because they were told so at school.) This is a fallacy, but it's incredibly persistent.

What amazes me is that clients will often accept all manner of challenges from me on their tones of voice, and on other issues of style or grammar, but become quite intractable on this one point.

So I decided to produce a booklet full of quotes on the subject, from revered authorities on written English. And 300million thought it would be nice to produce a booklet that somehow opened up again and again, in active reflection of the conjunctive theme.



Their most ingenious solution meant folding strips of paper in such a miraculous way that what appeared to be a four-page booklet would keep opening along the spine to reveal new, hidden spreads. They managed to do it, and gave Gavin Martin Associates the hugely complex task of printing it.

Both designers and printers worked like Trojans. Gavin Martin actually ran their presses on this four times, having found that the only way to check it properly was to actually print the damned thing. To me, they described it as 'a labour of love'. I suspect they used less polite language in private.



Nevertheless, we got there. And I'm incredibly proud of the result. It's turned from a bit of fun into something surprising, unique and memorable. That's what I reckon anyway, and I'm delighted to say the responses (look here and here) seem to bear me out.

If you haven't had a copy, I'm very sorry. Please drop me a line, and if there are any left I'll get one off to you. (I'm not made of money, and only printed 300.)

(To see the mailer in action, have a look at the video clip here.)

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.

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.