to the powerpoint

Sometimes it's the simplest solutions that get the best results. Case in point, we've just completed a project for The Technology Partnership (who spookily also refer to themselves as TTP - no relation!).

As a bit of background, TTP is a technology and product development company. They work in partnership with their clients to bring new products to market, creating new business from advances in technology – developing and commercialising diverse technologies and products across a broad range of sectors.

So how to communicate this in an interesting, dynamic and innovative way? The original plan was to create an interactive corporate presentation featuring an animated company overview and multiple case-studies. To make matters more complicated they wanted to be able to edit and add to these case-studies at any time. Hmmm.

Lots of different technical solutions were considered but for time, cost and practicality we ended up producing the whole thing in PowerPoint. Now, at the mere mention of Powerpoint, most designers groan in disappointment. It's well known that PowerPoint often produces tedious, poorly designed presentations with nothing going for them apart from the fact that they can be edited with ease and usually have some sort of clip-art or tacky sound-effects attached.

However, with judicial use of embedded video and plenty of interactive links to take the user around the presentation, it's amazing what can be produced. In order to personalise the company and 'keep it real' (as the kids say) they commissioned us to undertake both a team photoshoot at their own offices and a separate product shoot at a photography studio. This gave us striking images to work with that kept the whole presentation both impactful and consistent.

The full video animation was split into five different sections - each can be viewed independently within the main PowerPoint presentation using a simple menu. You can see all five sections together in the full piece here.

 

Worcester source

We have recently completed the name generation and branding for a new shopping destination in the heart of Worcester. The development called St Martin’s Quarter is a joint venture between Carillion and Richardsons Capital LLP, and is our first project for them. The scheme will be offering the city, new, large floorplate, food and retail units that previously have not been catered for in the small traditional shops on the High Street.

The chosen identity, designed by our senior designer Nikki Saunders, is based around a rare, local variety of pear (known as the Worcester Black Pear). Sourced from its appearance on the city’s coat of arms, it perfectly combines the city’s tradition and heritage with the freshness and modernity that the scheme will bring to the city. The colour palette of charcoal grey and lime green underpins this and will help the scheme transform a previously run down area of the city into a thriving destination.

It was important to us and the client that the brand not only has the flexibility of translating across the immediate deliverables such as signage, leasing brochures and hoardings but to more abstract interpretations, with potential for the brand to be used for public art and commissioned sculptures. We liked the idea that the brand would translate into a three-dimensional experience that the public would interact with and that becomes a talking point for the community. Shown below are our initial ideas for a metal Pear Tree structure occupying centre stage on the pedestrianised public space and large commissioned metal gates at the entrance of the scheme that comprise of pattern repeats of the logo.

The scheme will occupy what was previously an old industrial site which is of historic value and now a conservation area. A few of the existing buildings will be retained and restored such as the Old Infirmary, Counting House and New Filling Shed, and these will sit alongside the new development which is due to open next year.

update 1: view local press (and plenty of comment!) here

update 2: a nice write up in Design Week (may require subscription to view) here

there is a follow up to this story here

Working with Wokingham

Our latest recruit, Jim Demeza, is certainly hitting the ground running. Hot on the heals of his work with Actis for their AIM 2011 conference, his first project win was launched this week. Working closely with the design team here, he steered us to victory on the the tender to create a new identity for Wokingham Council’s new independent local authority trading company, Optalis. As a local authority trading company (LATC), and only the second independent LATC to be formed in the UK, Optalis will be able to operate competitively in the adult social care market, providing it’s customers with more choice and greater control in their support services and spend. It will also allow those who are not eligible to receive help from the Council, to buy services privately. The final design was created with the assistance of the Sensory Needs team to reflect a bright, friendly and modern organisation. The design can be viewed on our 05/11 news page here.

Designer Mark Stevens, who worked on the branding said:

"Transferring existing adult social care services into an LATC offers those in need of care, a greater choice over their support arrangements, allowing their needs to be met in a more individualised way. Working closely with the Optalis team, we used colour to communicate the importance of these 'new choices for living' and backed it up with a succinct tagline, to create a warm, approachable marque for an auspicious new scheme."

Design Week took an interest in what we had done too, so if you are a subscriber you can view the article here.

We are currently in the process of working on the brand guidelines, and a range of templates, to help them save money on both their internal and external marketing, whilst also ensuring they retain brand consistency across all collateral.

Here's the official Optalis Press Release:

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OPTALIS TAKES OVER THE REINS OF WBC’S ADULT SOCIAL CARE PROVIDED SERVICES

Vulnerable adults with a disability, and older people who need care and support, will have more choice from today (June 6) as Wokingham Borough Council launches Optalis; its new adult social care company.

Optalis, which is wholly council-owned, has today taken control of all the borough council’s adult social care provided services. This includes day centres, employment services, home care, residential care and supported housing services, as well as brokerage and support and sensory needs services.

The council was prompted to set up a separate company by a combination of its policy decision to become an increasingly commissioning authority and the national policy of Putting People First, which allows adults who are entitled to personal budgets to choose who provides their social care, rather than being told by social services. This has meant people have more choice and control about how they spend their budget. Whilst this is extremely positive for the borough’s residents it has meant that the councils’ long-established care services couldn’t be guaranteed to be able to survive.

Moving to a separate company allows those services to better manage their costs and to better respond to personalised care needs, ensuring they will continue to be attractive to personal budget holders. It will reduce operating costs and overheads, and grant new flexibilities and freedoms that are not possible as part of a council set up. As Optalis is now operating competitively in the social care market, it will be available to those who previously may have wanted to buy Council’s services, but were not able to because of legal restrictions on the council selling its services. The launch of Optalis will therefore offer more choice than in the current market. This way our existing and future clients will get the best of both worlds – having the choice of a proven high quality service and also one that has freedom from public sector requirements.

Stuart Rowbotham, strategic director commissioning, said: “Doing nothing and remaining as we were was simply not an option. In order for our services to flourish and to continue to provide our excellent services to the public, we needed to be able to trade and contend with both established and emerging market competitors. Transferring our in-house adult social care services into a new company is our best option for doing this. We have invested £250,000 to set up this exciting new company which the council will recoup over time.

“We expect Optalis will be able to grow and develop new and improved services, including those that are currently missing from the social care market and are in demand. This will, in turn, offer more support options and activities that until now vulnerable adults haven’t been able to access.”

Cllr Julian McGhee-Sumner, executive member for health and wellbeing, said: “Our key priority is to sustain and improve the services we already provide and to give continuity and high quality support to the people who already use our services as well as those who may do so in future. Transferring our services gives us the best chance of achieving this.“

Mike Walsh, managing director at Optalis, said: “We have been working hard to ensure the transition period is smooth and those customers already receiving a social care service should not notice much difference day-to-day other than the change of organisation name and image. Most importantly, people should continue receiving support from staff that they know and are happy with because the council staff delivering the service have been transferred to Optalis. Those vulnerable adults who receive a service from us will experience greater choice and control over their support arrangements; and the risk of disruptions to their service or a loss of service altogether will be far lower. It’s an exciting time to launch Optalis.

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air freshener...

We've just helped our BID team at Better Bankside, who teamed up with Vertical Garden specialists Treebox , Network Rail and Skanska, to bring a 35metre length of green wall to Bankside. Across the street from the Hop Exchange on Southwark Street, the original hoarding has now been transformed from a hard and flat surface to a lush green living wall of ivy, incorporating graphics by to the point.

The area around the Borough High Street / Southwark Street junction sees high traffic volume and as a result can often experience poor air quality. The living wall is being monitored by students from Imperial College, London, to see what impact the planting has on local air quality.

The Mayor of London launched the London Air Quality Strategy in late 2010. Better Bankside hope that this small contribution within Bankside will provide valuable learning and practice that can be replicated elsewhere in London. The living wall also helps to increase the amount of green space in the neighbourhood, again helping achieve Mayoral targets of increasing green cover in London by 5% by 2025.

Valerie Beirne of Better bankside signs off "We know it will help make Bankside become a thriving place to work, visit and live!"