When words can mean life or death

Yet another new client this month, thanks to a kind referral from The Partners. Airwave is the company - until recently part of O2 - that runs the emergency services' dedicated communications network.

As tragic experience has shown, public networks are often overloaded in the wake of major emergencies like 7/7 or the recent floods. And even in the normal day-to-day, emergency teams need a network more resilient and reliable than the standard public services.

That's what Airwave provides. A lot of the detail is secret, and I'd have to eat my laptop if I wrote it here (or something). But suffice to say that the Airwave network is impressively sophisticated, and there's an extraordinary amount going on behind the scenes to make sure it stays reliable in even the toughest conditions.

All of which is very reassuring for me as a member of the public, and rather fascinating to talk about as a copywriter.

I've been drafted in to help implement The Partners' new identity for Airwave (above). That process began, as it must, with tying down the brand's tone of voice, and I've just completed the first of a little mountain of product brochures. Then there's the website and a corporate brochure to do. So that lot should keep me out of mischief for a while.

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.

New work for Sightsavers

This month brought the exciting news that I'll be working with Sightsavers over the coming year, on fundraising communications with their high-level donors.

I pitched for the work as part of a team with the International Fundraising Consultancy and freelance designer Piers Rutterford. And Sightsavers reckon we've got what it takes to bring in thousands of pounds from a very select group of rich supporters.

The first creative presentation went extremely well. Rather than picking one concept, as was the plan, Sightsavers are keen to produce two or three of the routes we showed, over the course of the next twelve months. Hopefully those on the receiving end of our DM packs will be just as enthusiastic.

If you don't know Sightsavers, have a click on the link below. They do tremendous work. Indeed, it's humbling in the extreme to realise that for the price of a hardback novel, or a decent-sized round in the pub, you could give someone in the developing world their sight back.

Our work is at a very early stage, obviously, so I can't show you any of it yet. But keep an eye on the website, and I'll reveal all as we go along.