tothepoint's 2013 calendar – how it all unfolded

our 2013 calendar

Each year, we produce a desktop calendar that goes out to our clients and friends in late December. With digital calendars becoming increasingly prominent, and traditional print calendars being shunned by many, we are surprised (and flattered) that ours has remained so popular. We enjoy great feedback from clients on its usability and many look forward to receiving theirs each year.

Being a superstitious lot, this year we thought we'd turn a negative into a positive and pepper our 2013 calendar with lucky charms. Once we nailed our concept (Make your own luck) we thought it would be a doddle for a creative bunch such as ourselves to fold up 12 origami animals. Oh, how wrong we were! Even with instructions all over the internet, the most nimble fingered of us struggled to turn simple origami instructions into anything resembling an animal! To add to this, we also discovered that like most creative industry outputs, intellectual copyright also covers many origami designs.

We quickly realised that we needed to link up with an origami artist of the highest order, who also owned their own copyright. Who better then than the acclaimed Chairman of The British Origami Society, Mark Bolitho? We were delighted when Mark agreed to join our venture and after only one brainstorming session (and a quick trip to Paperchase), we were overwhelmed when he brought the 12 completed 'lucky' animals over to the office!

Mark Bolitho with his mini-menagerie

Now we just needed a professional photographer to capture these fantastic pieces in their best light. In stepped Noel Murphy. We've worked with Noel for a few years for clients including EDF and The Technology Partnership, so we knew he’d do a great job. With Noel on board, we assembled our pop-up photographic studio at tothepoint towers and set to work.

Noel keeps quiet while shooting elephants

Once we were happy with the photography and artwork, it was over to one of our favourite printers, Scanplus, who help us with the calendar every year. This time, Linda and new recruit Katie watched the guys in action, experiencing the quality and attention to detail they deliver on every job. Of course, this year’s calendar was no exception…

the calendar rolls off the press

We’re extremely happy with the results of this year’s collaboration of experts. Forging close working relationships with other specialists is both inspirational and effective in achieving great results, whatever the project.

We hope that our calendar brings you a little extra luck and wish you a happy and successful 2013.

For further origami inspired stuff, including wallpaper downloads, a free screensaver and our 'Flight of a Thousand Cranes' game – head on over to our origami page!

P.S. if you haven't received a copy of our calendar already please let us know and we’ll send one over (if we have any left).

Energising EDF's Upstream brand

EDF Energy, one of the largest UK home and business energy suppliers, asked us to give its business division Upstream an impactful presence at its internal leadership conference through highly visual banner stands and digital presentation. These were then used as part of Upstream’s internal leadership strategy roadshow across all of the division’s sites.

The deadline was pretty tight, with just two weeks from brief to the first conference. So, we got to work creating a series of colourful banners, with images relating to each area of the business, and accompanying bold text, to bring the brand to life. A core part of the brief was to ensure the banners were highly visible at the conferences, whilst portable enough for one person to set up, manoeuvre and break down easily.

We then carried these concepts through to an animated slideshow to be played at each conference and brochure design to ensure a consistent brand identity.

EDF was delighted with the banners and video, which were really well received at the leadership conference. Theresa Stinson, Communications Consultant at Upstream, EDF Energy, said: “TTP found the ideal solution and also turned the project around to very tight deadlines.”

So, a nice way to end 2012!

Helping Centrica Energy stay safe

Tight deadlines are always interesting, they keep us on our toes. And so the design, build and testing of a bespoke questionnaire-based microsite in around a week did just that!

As part of its safety at work campaign, Generation Safe, Centrica is running a series of interactive workshops at its Grimsby renewables base, designed to find out how employees would react when placed right at the heart of a variety of safety situations.

To measure and monitor the effectiveness of these workshops, internal communications specialist Mat Rumbelow asked us to create a custom built microsite to capture delegate and session data from each workshop. This needed to launch before the first workshop on 4th December, as employees are asked to log in and complete a short 'pre-work' questionnaire, which is used in the training session. The site also asks participants to add their personal information and gives them contact information and a route to the training location.

During the training sessions, participants are given an iPad and asked to log back into the site, review their previously submitted answers and complete each session's questions as the events of the day unfold.

We built a content-managed site that offers a simple 'back-end', which means any registered administrator can log in, edit users' information and access all submitted questionnaire answers – as well as exporting the data in a variety of formats.

The deadline was incredibly tight as we had less than a week to put this all together. But with the client on hand to test the system with us we managed it – even adding and tweaking the functionality so that it worked exactly as they wanted. Once launched, we made further additions to streamline the system and make it easier for admin staff to manage.

Mat Rumbelow said: "There aren't many designers who could deliver a fully-functional website in a matter of days, but as always, tothepoint rose to the challenge. It helped that the team understood exactly what I wanted from the outset, which meant there was virtually no to-ing and fro-ing over design and content. Even with a myriad of last-minute changes and tweaks, everything went smoothly."

The training sessions will continue into the new year, however, once complete, the plan is to add new content and features to the site, extending this into a safety-focused 'hub' for Centrica Energy's power business.

The End is Nigh – Part 2: Back it up

In our last blog we left you with a shopping list of items to help you survive the aftermath of an apocalypse. This month it’s time to look at what you’ll need to save your digital self (because your back catalogue of Backstreet Boys albums will be essential for rebuilding civilization…).

To refresh your memory, the world is going to end on 21st December 2012! (Note. if you're reading this on or after December 22nd this could be embarrassing). This is because this day marks the end of the 13th bak’tun in the Maya calendar. Whilst the Maya believe that this date will mark a full cycle of creation, and in turn an exciting new chapter in Earth’s life, apocalypse observers would have you believe it symbolises the actual end of the world. Now, whilst science has sided with life after the 21st, Hollywood prefers the morbid glamour of an apocalypse.

I’m sure by now you’ve clocked a good number of doom and gloom related propaganda, from one man and his Ark to the comedic stylings of Mae Martin and cute indie films staring Keira Knightley, even this gem from Old Spice! And although these are all great responses to the threat of Earth’s destruction, we’re going to talk about something a little more practical than spending your life savings on an Ark (as fun as that may be). So, we’re going to talk about data back up…

Now, I’m sure that if you fear impending doom, then backing up your data is going to be the last thing on your mind (unless you strongly feel the pictures of that night need to survive…). There are also those who would question how useful this data would be after an apocalypse, however, these people always have a criticism and are known as pedantic party poopers…

We reckon that whether you’ve sided with science or Hollywood, it’s still important to know how to back up. After all, losing your data could spell the end of your world regardless…

Your Digital Self

With all of this hullabaloo going on, not to mention the million different buzzwords flying around, it’s easy to feel a little lost when it comes to the mystical world of data back up.

For the tech savvy it’s easy, but for those more inclined to pen and paper, it’s a bit like surviving the end of the world. So, hopefully the next few paragraphs will make it all a little more digestible…

External Hard Drive

The humble hard drive might be a common little thing, but it’s also a good option for backing up your data. There are, however, as many of them out there as there are ex-Sugarbabes, so it can be a little daunting to find the best one.

So we recommend a quick search online, as this will give you a plethora of reviews from industry experts such as Wired, Techradar and PC Mag. These are normally pretty handy, and they don’t tend to be full of the techie jargon that can make choosing a hard drive a total headache!

There are a few out there that could have apocalyptic suitability and are more rugged than the average hard drive, one being the LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt, which not only features fast upload and download speeds but also a pretty hefty case that promises protection for even the clumsiest user. LaCie’s USB keys are also pretty rugged, promising water, scratch and drop resistance. Handy if you only need to grab a few bits and pieces before you flee for the escape pod….

However, the LaCie hard drives pale in comparison to this next product, the Holy Grail of indestructible hard drives. This video sees the SP A80 set on fire, kicked over a football field and put through a car wash, each time it comes back stronger… seriously impressive!

Cloud Storage

We’ve all heard this word batting around the atmosphere and it’s largely thanks to Apple’s iCloud. But what does it mean?

Sadly, it’s not as romantic as it sounds. Simply put, it’s a service provided by a third party that allows people to access online storage. That means you could have access to your files from anywhere without needing to carry an external hard drive.

They do often whet your appetite with a little bit of free storage to start with, but for something more substantial you’re likely to have to pay a monthly subscription. Of course, this will vary depending on the amount of space you go for, however, ultimately the space available could stretch on… and on… and on…

There are things to keep in mind when selecting a cloud storage service to ensure that your data is safe. Things like encryption, back up copies of your data and high tech robots guarding the server rooms….

However, that said, there are no guarantees that the servers where your information is kept will be equipped to survive an apocalypse. Although, one Singapore-based company is clearly taking the threat of apocalypse seriously having recently released Lockcube, a cloud service that is reported to have been built on a military-grade data security infrastructure.

If you're decked out with all of the latest shiny Apple products, then iCloud could be the cloud service for you. However, for those of us not on that bandwagon then it's good to know that industry experts suggest there are three main cross platform competitors that really stand out in terms of cross platform cloud storage: Google Drive, Microsoft’s Skydrive and Dropbox. All offer very nifty apps that allow you to sync your information across all your devices and in turn, get your mitts on your data from any device that you’ve synced to the cloud.

Automatic/Timed Data Syncing

Do you have a mind like a sieve or are just too preoccupied with Earth’s impending doom to remember to back up your life? If so, this ones for you. There are two main programmes that essentially take a “snapshot” of all of the data on your computer at a certain time; this snapshot can be set to save to an external device such as an external hard drive.

These “snapshots” allow you to essentially travel back in time and view the contents of your computer at a certain date. It’s not quite Marty McFly, but it does mean you can retrieve previously saved and possibly lost files.

Apple's Time Machine, which essentially does what it says on the tin, is for Macs, and for PC there is Genie 9.

Hopefully all the doomsayers are wrong and we’ll be back with another round of news in 2013 (lucky for some we hope!). In the meantime enjoy playing our Crane Game and we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

The End Is Nigh! (surviving 21/12/12): Part 1

...well, according to the conspiracy/prophecy theorists anyway.

The idea of doomsday is certainly not a new one, as the succession of judgment day / natural disaster / zombie take over films suggests our strong fascination with the idea of impending doom. From Nostradamus to Harold Camping, the latest apocalyptic prophecy comes in the form of the Maya Calendars, and the fact that they come to an end on the 21st December 2012.

End of the line?

The longest of the Maya calendars is the Long Count calendar, which is divided into cycles called bak’tuns that began at the Maya creation date. The winter solstice of 2012 (Dec. 21) is the last day of the 13th bak'tun, marking what the Maya people would have seen as a full cycle of creation.

Contrary to popular belief, the Maya are far from being an extinct, ancient civilisation, and have regularly spoken out about the misinterpretation of their calendars, both ancient and modern. At the start of the 21st century, there were an estimated 7 million Maya living in Central America and Southern Mexico.

Science vs Hollywood

Scientists have recently uncovered new etchings that support the existing Maya people in suggesting that the 22nd December was simply the start of a new calendar cycle, not the end of the world! BBC – May 2012

However, despite this around 10% of people worldwide still believe the Maya calendar predicts Earth’s destruction on the 21st December 2012, whilst 15% of people also believe they will see the world end in their lifetime. Reuters Survey – May 2012

So, it looks like there are two camps to fall into when it comes to the 21st December: science or Hollywood. While science (and possibly common sense?) has sided with life after the 21/12/12, Hollywood, however, prefers the morbid glamour of an apocalypse. Of course, if science and the Maya are wrong, Hollywood has at least taught us that it is possible to make it through/be immune/triumph over aliens. So, here is our “End Of The World Survival Guide.” stay safe out there…

Bring on the gadgets!

Of course no doomsday survivor would be without the classics: Swiss Army Knife, Maglite, waterproof matches etc. (FYI, Amazon has a very handy Zombie Apocalypse Supplies page!) But, there are a few modern day essentials to add to this Scout list.

Firstly, the smartphone, which is surely the gadget of gadgets. They can be used for GPS Navigation, to identify any edible finds (see the Wild Edibles app) and not to mention Instagraming the aftermath of Judgment Day etc. (how we’ll laugh at those retro ‘Lo-fi’ style photos later). But, they will need protection. And possibly an external power source. And working cell-towers. And GPS satellites still in orbit. And the Internet. And… well you get the idea.

Otter Box is an American based company who offer some pretty hardcore smartphone and gadget cases. These bad boys protect from impact, dust and water on a Bear Grylls scale. You only need a quick search on YouTube to see them being put through their paces, although they’ve not been tested in a post apocalyptic world.

But, I hear you cry “My iPhone battery has the life span of an X Factor contestant!” Do not fret my lithium-polymer challenged friend; those clever Americans (I say that through gritted teeth...) have a solution!

Introducing the BioLite camping stove. This ingenious device uses nothing but the twigs you find along your way, so no need for petrol or gas. It then converts the heat from the fire into usable energy, meaning you can charge your phone whilst you cook. Bonza!

Whilst your steaks are sizzling on your BioLite camping stove, throw in the Eton Rukus Solar sound system and I think you might have a right old knees up! After all, there’s no use in moping about the state of the world, you’ve just got to face the music and dance!

Finally, we leave you with a selection of escape pods to help you ride out the storm, hopefully in some level of comfort. Although I would suggest having some old fashioned wood and nails to hand, just in case these don’t make it to market in time.

Hopefully, we’ll be back with another blog soon, where we'll be taking a look at saving your digital self in the End is Nigh Part 2, but just in case, we’ll send it out before the 21st December. Coincidentally, this is when we close for Christmas and if the scientists are right, we’ll be back on the 2nd January! If not… do send us your Instagram pics of the End.

Over and out.

Sporting foundations

Earlier this year we blogged about working on an illustrated brochure for the Charities Aid Foundation – which helps improve the way charitable donations are made and managed – to convey the breadth of its services to a corporate audience. Well, the brochure has now been published and we’re really pleased with the end result.

As the brief was to come up with an engaging and inspiring concept that conveys how CAF works, including community investment and social responsibility planning, we originally thought what better way than to illustrate this than through a timely Olympic theme? The brochure implementation stretched on beyond the Olympics, but the theme was still relevant.

CAF uses a continuous red line as its illustrative style to highlight key ideas and messages so we created a variety of sports themed illustrations throughout the brochure. This included a starting block for the front cover illustration, synchronised diving to reflect CAF’s sustainable partnerships, the relay for effective employee engagement and the long jump to convey its long-term strategy. The brochure concludes with an illustration of a marathon runner breaking through the ribbon for the back cover.

The continuous line proved quite a challenge, especially when drawing two figures for a single illustration but it was a great project to work on, and one to add to our charitable portfolio. If you want to find out more about CAF and its services visit https://www.cafonline.org/

Passed with flying colours

We work regularly with the CIPR on a range of its marketing collateral and have just put the finishing touches to an online, interactive training brochure that we’ve been creating for the organisation.

The CIPR prides itself on putting professional development at the heart of what it does, and as such, works closely with PR professionals and industry experts to enhance its training. Therefore, it needed an engaging brochure that highlighted its range of courses for 2013, the trainers and industry experts providing the training along with links to the individual course information on the CIPR website, where visitors could find out more and register.

We incorporated the bold typographic style that we’ve recently developed for the CIPR and magenta colour used for all training collateral, along with black and white images of previous training to create an accessible and professional brochure.

The CIPR was thrilled with the brochure, with Sarah Ion, the Marketing Manager, commenting that: “it had generated around 8,000 clicks to the website in just a few days.”

We think that’s a job well done then!

Art works

When chartered surveyors Eddisons approached us to create office interior concepts for its client – a well-known global online media company – we knew it would be a great project, but a challenging one, and how right we were!

The concepts for the offices in Paris, Cairo and the company’s European headquarters in Switzerland included wall/glass manifestations, interior signage, wayfinding solutions and large format 3D art installations for the headquarters.

We opted for a different theme in each office that reflected its location. So, the Cairo office graphics featured famous Egyptian landmarks, whilst we explored a tongue-in-cheek take on influential French people from different walks of life including fashion, culture, literature and science for the Paris office.

We pulled out all the stops to create a number of modern 3D art installations for the Switzerland office that reflected the different areas in which the business operates, including finance, news, film and lifestyle. We used contrasting themes to create each installation, such as building a large dove with toy soldiers to represent peace and conflict for the news division.

News: peace and conflict

Lifestyle: glamour and comfort

Movies: good and evil

However, who knew sourcing around 1000 toy soldiers, miniature teddy bears and children’s flipflops would be so difficult? Oh well, we do like a challenge…

FiXing a website for CLS

website: www.cls-group.com

CLS, which plays a fundamental role in the Foreign Exchange (FX) market, approached us for help designing its new website. Although the company developed the actual website entirely in-house (using SharePoint) it needed an external agency to help with both the planning and design.

We helped CLS’ team to determine a full site plan and content structure and worked with them to create wireframes for three levels (homepage, level 1 and level 2) of the new site. Once approved, we then created the design visuals.

As the actual website is fairly large and content heavy, our design needed to focus on clarity and segregation of information. We used colour coding to highlight each section, which meant that any ‘boxed out’ information relating to a specific section would also be outlined in that particular colour.

While the overall design is clean and corporate, CLS wanted to inject more personality via the main banner images, so we tested a variety of different illustration styles to achieve the right balance of a corporate, technical look but with colour and personality.

We created the original wireframes, design visuals and the final HTML templates, which were then handed over to CLS’ internal team to develop the final site.

Apostrophe gate

When Waterstones announced its decision to drop the apostrophe from its brand name, who would have thought such an innocent little punctuation mark could cause such a hullabaloo?

Along with the expected Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells letters bemoaning the slipping of today’s grammatical standards and prophesising the beginning of the end, there were many who came out in support of it. And many of those were from the design and creative industries.

That’s because apostrophes can cause all manner of problems for those of us within the industry ­– graphically, typographically and linguistically ­– and let’s face it, we all know that we like to make up our own rules. In the world of branding there aren’t really any grammatical rules, after all, brand names don’t have to be real words, but they do have to be memorable, distinctive and ownable.

So, when using apostrophes possessively, brands fall into two camps of those who do, such as Sainsbury’s and Levi’s and those who don’t, including Boots, Barclays and now Waterstones.

Now, I have to admit I was sad to see the apostrophe disappear from Waterstones, both from a historic point of view as I’ve grown up with Waterstone’s and from a grammatical point of view as the misuse of apostrophes does send me a little loopy, but I do understand Waterstones’ decision. If it had kept the apostrophe, should this have been Waterstone’s’ decision? Now, that just looks messy but if you opt for Waterstone’s decision in this instance, are you meaning the founder or the company? See the problem? This must have caused endless discussion for Waterstones’ branding and comms teams!

Today, Waterstones is no longer a single bookshop belonging to Tim Waterstone and is a well known brand name in its own right, and then of course there’s the problem of apostrophes in web addresses, emails and Twitter accounts. After all, if companies want their brand name to resemble their URL, all punctuation must go. So, the decision was probably made for a number of reasons, including design and usability, and it’s also a good example of our evolving language. But does this mean we can live in an apostrophe free world?

Well, no. If this typographic tadpole disappeared from use, I guarantee we’d all struggle (for example, that last sentence would have the word ‘wed’ in it) to decipher the right meaning straight away. So, let’s for a moment take a look at the apostrophe’s raison d’etre, which is to show omission or possession.

But this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. When people aren’t quite sure where to use apostrophes, they opt for the scattergun approach, dropping in this innocent little symbol every time the letter ‘s’ ends a word, for plurals, possessives and contractions alike – we’ve all seen the infamous grocer’s apostrophe in apple’s and potatoe’s. 

Apostrophes showing omission generally don’t tend to send people into a tizz (well, aside from some of those selling fruit and veg) but those showing possession often confuse and confound, especially when the name or noun ends in –s.

So, here’s a very quick guide for those who feel they need a helping hand (and for those of you who don’t, simply skip to the end to see some great examples of apostrophe use gone horribly wrong).

With personal names that end in –s, add an apostrophe plus another s when you naturally pronounce an extra s if you said the word out loud: Dickens’s novels are still popular or Charles’s brother has joined the army.

However, this one is a bit tricky as whether you need the additional s is a matter of style rather than grammar, and even the experts don’t seem to agree (typical!). So, it’s best to be guided by clarity and ease of pronunciation here. The main thing to remember is to be consistent, pick one and stick to it.

This really does highlight the importance of having brand guidelines or a style guide for your business, as it helps provide uniformity in copy and style across all touchpoints and audiences (and it means you don’t have to worry about which one is correct).

With personal names that end in –s but aren’t spoken with an extra s, just add an apostrophe after the –s: The court dismissed Bridges’ appeal

Plural nouns that end in –s

When a plural noun already ends in -s: add an apostrophe after the s: The mansion was converted into a girls’ school.

Plural nouns that do not end in -s

When a plural noun doesn’t end in –s: add an apostrophe plus s: The children’s father came round to see me.

Other useful info

You don’t need to use apostrophes to form plurals or abbreviations such as PDFs, nor to indicate decades. We all know that the 1980s (or ’80s when abbreviated) was a terrible decade for hair, but a great one for cheesy tunes.

It’s vs its

This one deserves a little section all to itself, as it often throws a spanner in the works:

it’s – showing omission: ‘it is’ or’ it has’

its - to show possession: ‘the dog wagged its tail’

And finally

Ok, school’s now out and for your entertainment we’ve included some of our favourite examples of the grocer’s apostrophe below. Why not join in the good fight for the apostrophe and send us your own examples or any misspellings you’ve seen that are just too good to be true?

From print to pads

Following a creds presentation to Bechtel, the engineering, procurement and construction specialist, we’ve created an interactive iPad presentation of one of its existing printed marketing pieces to help improve its client presentations and better showcase its services to potential clients.

Creating an interactive PDF for the iPad is one of the simplest, yet most effective ways of creating a digital version of printed material. It’s quicker and more cost effective than creating a custom app and it can be used on other devices. The simple interactivity takes advantage of the iPad screen and touch interface, including ‘pinch to zoom’ on more complex items such as diagrams and plans. And of course, once it’s on the iPad, you don’t need a live Internet connection, so you can always rely on it at meetings/presentations even if there’s no wifi available.

The iPad presentation enabled Bechtel’s marketing department to see how new technology can improve its marketing collateral and was so well received that we’ve been recommended as a preferred design partner.

And talking of new technologies, we’re always exploring ways in which we can help our clients and we’ve recently discovered a neat little device which embeds LCD video screens into print.

Now, whilst some might well think of this as just a gimmick, it’s probably the lowest cost solution that combines screen and print and requires nothing of the end user (no Internet links, USB drives, CDs etc.). It works as soon as it’s opened, making it one of the most direct and guaranteed ways to get your video content, and message, across.

As there are loud speakers built in for audio or spoken content it’s a great way to feature ‘talking head’ discussions, Vox-pops, interviews, a corporate showreel or animation content.

Using video or animation is a great way of getting across your key message clearly, simply and quickly. If you don’t have this content, or need a hand to improve it, let us know and we can help you with the planning, design, filming or animation to create an engaging video.

Location, location, location?

These days, we're all aware how important it is that our customers know how to find us. And now, more than ever, it's increasingly critical to ensure that no matter how they choose to search for our business or service, they can find it quickly and easily.

The old fashioned way of looking us up in the Yellow Pages (or perhaps phoning directory enquiries) has been usurped by simply typing a search, location or company name into your phone or browser. Therefore, it's of utmost importance that at the very least, when someone types your company name into Google that your website appears in the first page. Go on, do it now, do you appear on the first page?

There's a host of ways to make sure that search engines know you exist: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), social media, paid listings, link building etc. all do their part, but often the simplest and easiest way is to make sure you've got plenty of relevant (text-based) content on your site and your website is built to be, if not fully 'Search optimised', at least 'search engine friendly'. I won't go into too much detail on SEO  here, as that's a whole different story, but do drop us a line if you'd like to find out more.

So, the other big thing you need to make sure of is that people (and search engines / mapping systems) not only know who you are and what you do, but where you are.

There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Maps’

This is particularly relevant right now, as Apple recently rolled out their new iOS update – introducing their brand spanking new 'Apple Maps' – thus replacing the ubiquitous 'Google Maps' on iPhones and iPads.

Depending on who you speak to, this was either a complete disaster due to Apple wanting to distance themselves from their biggest competitor, or a great success bringing amazing new 3D maps and a cleaner, better designed experience. Even if you love the new system, it has to be said, it's not quite perfect yet (The Guardian, 20/9/12).

Adding yourself to Apple Maps 

The immediate problem this has caused is that all the hard work you've done to make sure you appear on Google Maps for both web and mobile searches (you ARE on Google Maps right? if not, see below) has now been undone - there's no guarantee that your location(s) now appear correctly (or at all) in Apple Maps. Go check your updated iPhone or iPad (or borrow someone elses) and check.

Just go into the new maps, find your approximate location and type your company name into the search. If nothing comes up, or if it's in the wrong place, here's what you can do to try to update it:

• Open the 'page fold' at the bottom right of the screen

• Select 'Report a Problem'

• Now select 'Location is missing', then touch the 'Next' button

• Now you can move the pin to the correct location for your business, once you're happy with it, choose 'Next'

• Enter your business name, address and website, ensure you choose a relevant business category from the list too.

• Once you're happy with all of this, select 'Send'. The rest is up to Apple.

If you want to make doubly sure, you can go straight to the source. Apple get their location information from a number of places, so it's a good idea to look into getting yourself on those too.

Firstly, Apple use Yelp for user reviews, although unfortunately not used for business locations, but it's still a good idea to set up a free business account on there at: biz.yelp.co.uk

In addition, they use data from Acxiom, Localeze, Tom Tom and OpenStreetMap. Most of these are more concerned with geospatial data, so probably the only one really worth investigating is Localeze, however their service isn't free (a single business listing costs around $300).

Adding yourself to Google Maps

Of course this is important for people searching using the 300 million iOS devices out there, but there are still a lot more people using Google Maps (either via the main Google Maps site, on Android Phones, or embedded Google Maps like this one). And don't forget that getting on Google Maps means that your Google search listings are automatically enhanced (for example, typing 'to the point London' into Google).

This is free, really worth doing and will only take a few minutes, so if you're not on there already, or your listing needs a bit of attention, here's how to add yourself to the world.

• Visit Google Maps here: maps.google.co.uk (or here if outside the UK)

• Click the link 'Put your business on Google Maps'. You'll now need to sign in using a Google account. (If you don't already have one, you can create on for free by clicking 'Create an account now' you can link your normal email address to it so you don't have to use Gmail to have a Google account. Once setup, return back to the above page to continue).

• Once signed in, Select 'Add New Business'

• Fill in as much information as you can about your business, eg. country, name, address, phone number, email & website, description and category. Once ready, click 'Next'.

• Click on 'Add Listing'. Note: If your business is already on Google Places, you can claim it by selecting 'Claim Listing' in order to change and update it.

• The next page is optional but provides additional information about your business eg. hours of operation, payment options etc. It's also a good idea to upload an image or two as this really livens up your maps listing when viewed on the web or mobile. You can even add a video from YouTube if that's relevant to you (eg. a company animation or showreel – that's also something we can help with if you need one).

• Once ready, click 'Submit'

• You will need to verify your listing (so Google can ensure that it's really you!). You can do this either by phone or by postcard. If you choose by phone, you will receive an automated call (to the number you provided) with a code number. Enter this code into the verification box. By postcard does the same thing but will take a day or two to reach you for obvious reasons.

• It can take a few days (allow up to a week or so) for your listing to be updated. You can change/update your listing later if you need to and you won't be asked to verify again.

Finally, if you really want to delve into the world of online location services, you should also look at adding/updating your listing on Bing maps (the 'other' search/mapping engine). Unfortunately it appears that they're currently still very US-centric and use a third party to manage UK listings. However, you can easily update your information here, which should eventually make it's way onto Bing (and a few other location/directory listings to boot).

Beyond that, you can also look into adding yourself to Foursquare, the leading location based social media site and ensuring that you have a Facebook page linked to your location - although these are only really worth investigating if you're considering promoting yourself on there and/or engaging directly with people using these social media sites.

Designed to innovate

After winning a competitive pitch, we have been appointed to help the BBSRC create a new look and feel for their upcoming Fostering Innovation 2013 awards. This year's event will focus on the competitions that have been set up to support the bioeconomy innovation network. The event will recognise and reward the work of BBSRC supported scientists, who are delivering economic and/or social impact.

As well as the branding and venue dressing, we have been tasked with creating a range of promotional materials, a slideshow, invitations for the event and booklet to be handed out at the event for all attendees. We will also be looking at trophies for each of the winners.

The event will be held in late March 2013 at Altitude 360º in Westminster, London. It will be attended by around 200 invited guests, from BBSRC’s end‐user community, policy‐makers, industry representatives, academia and the finalists.

BBSRC will continue its successful Innovator of the Year competition (now in its fifth year) and complement it with three other awards:

• Lifetime Achievement
• Activation Impact
• Excellence with Impact

An effective brand needed to be created, that demonstrates to stakeholders BBSRC’s joined up and strategic approach to fostering innovation from its investments, create a visual hook to help potential applicants find and apply for the awards and create a narrative hook for PR work around the awards.

It needed to present the multiple competitions as a coherent whole, providing a visual identity that works in printed and digital media, as well as effectively branding the awards’ event. So we evolved the logo from Innovator of the Year 2012, keeping the starburst, but moving it on, giving it a fresh, colourful and contemporary look. The colours from the main logo are then used to identify the 4 different awards, as well as the zones that will be used throughout the venue. These zones will also be dressed and branded, making it obvious that each area is different.

Rebecca Farncombe, Engagement Officer for the BBSRC said:

We are delighted to be working with To the Point. Their design and creativity has really helped us create the best brand for our competitions. Based on the work of the team so far, we are very much looking forward to working with them over the next 6 months and have every confidence that they will help us deliver a successful event in 2013.

Ahead of the curve

view the site at: www.hqsalon.com

Having originally created the logo for boutique hair salon HeadQuarters, we were the natural choice to modernise their existing website to showcase the salon’s range of services and expertise to existing and potential new customers.

The website’s previous incarnation featured an online brochure with clickable pages and limited photography – out dated and just didn’t do the salon’s stylish offering any creative justice. Our brief was to design and build a modern, improved site with simple functionality and compatibility with tablets and smart phones. Where possible, we were asked to retain the existing colour palette of cream, taupe and pale grey.

Using Wordpress, we’ve created a clean and sophisticated site, with minimal text and added a luxurious grey baroque wallpaper pattern that provides the perfect backdrop to showcase the stunning hair designs created by the HeadQuarters team. The homepage features a slideshow of these images whilst background static imagery behind the text on the other pages subtlety reinforces the message of quality and style.

Sandra Pajak, HeadQuarters’ Marketing Director, is thrilled with the results and said:

Our new website had to meet several objectives – it had to look beautiful and stylish and convey our philosophy and ethos, while also being functional and informative, providing a lot of practical information on prices  and products but in a way that was simple, uncluttered and easy to navigate.

A tall order, I thought - but TTP rose to the challenge, and we are absolutely delighted with the result.  They really listened to our needs at every stage, and clearly understood and captured the essence of our brand. As a result, they’ve given us a website that truly reflects our personality, but also delivers to clients on every front, presenting a highly professional impression of our salon.

Most importantly for me, the team at TTP  were extremely easy to work with - friendly, communicative, super-efficient - and turned what had been a headache into an enjoyable pain-free process.

Forging the Foundry

We’re in the middle of our fifth branding project for the Carillion Richardson Partnership, this time creating a logo, strapline and marketing collateral for a retail development in Scotland. With several completed projects for the Carillion Richardson Partnership already under our belts, this is becoming a great partnership account, underpinned by trust, teamwork… and a sense of humour.

The Foundry is a new 28,000sq ft retail park in Bathgate, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, which sits on the old Balbardie steel foundry. We used the area’s history to create an engaging personality for the park to attract potential retail tenants as well as highlight the retail and residential offer to the local community. The park is already home to a Morrisons store and the third busiest McDonalds in the UK.

The new logo, based on the concept of a hot metal cast, pays homage to the site’s previous history, whilst the contemporary sans serif font gives the design a modern, friendly feel and reflects the optimism and opportunity of the redeveloped site.

We came up with the strapline ‘Find it at The Foundry’, as a play on the name and to emphasise the park’s accessibility and value proposition to the local community. This accessibility and messaging is reflected in the hoardings and digital sales brochures that we’re also producing to help promote the development. Both play on the ‘casting’ theme and use the positive and negative spaces created by the logo to hold imagery and text.