Haunted by Croydon

"I can't seem to escape from Croydon."

No doubt this cry has been raised before, but never by me. And yet, in the past weeks, Croydon has become a looming presence in my life, thanks to one of those bizarre work synchronicities that come along now and then.

The first project came from writers' association 26. They'd wangled a deal with media owners JC Decaux, allowing a bunch of writers and designers to create 48-sheet posters celebrating the written word. (And the power of outdoor advertising.)

Each poster had to relate to its location, and for some rather obscure reason, had to include exactly six words. I've included a sneak preview of my solution above. (Some of the other posters are on p16 of September's Creative Review.)

Due to a rather surprising turn of events, I ended up designing my poster as well as writing it. Although I did, thank heavens, have some invaluable emergency aid from Sue Rogers - a proper (freelance) designer and good friend who was quite busy enough already on her own poster. So thanks again, Sue.

On the heels of this project came two more - and from two new clients, at that. First, design consultancy Figtree got in touch to ask if I'd help with the website, literature and hoardings for a huge new development in Croydon. Naturally I said yes, and it's all going very well. Watch this space for more in due course.

Then I had a call from another new contact: Mark Studio in Manchester. (Thank you, 300million.) They had a little project they wanted my help with - for Croydon College. Quite how such a job managed to find its way up to Manchester, I'm not sure, but together Mark and I have done some nice posters and postcards to promote the College.

There hasn't been a new Croydon project for a couple of weeks now, so I think the storm may have passed. But I shall soon be visiting the Gateway to the South, armed with my digital camera - I'm assuming the whole place will be crawling with my copy.