Even Better Bankside

Better Bankside is a Business Improvement District (BID), whose main task is to make the Bankside area of London a thriving place to live, work and visit. Although it's been running a very successful website for many years, it was time for a major overhaul.

We worked together with both its in-house team and preferred developer, MediaMixer, to develop a modern site design and series of templates that would enable them to make better use of their varied content. Part of the brief was to create a site that would enhance Better Bankside's increasing social media presence, make much better use of higher resolution imagery and add more clarity and personality to the site.

Whilst the original site tended to overuse the bright magenta colour of Better Bankside's brand, we chose to use it sparingly but as a key highlight for important features and links that require the user's attention. The design width is much larger than on the previous site – taking advantage of current web standards and giving much more space for text and images, whilst allowing a little more space around items so the screen seems less cluttered.

Despite the increase in layout size, we designed the the site very much with tablets and smartphones in mind, using responsive templates to dynamically change the layout in order to best fit the screen size of whatever application is used to view the site – so it always looks its best no matter what it’s viewed on.

Better Bankside is thrilled with the new site, with Katy Barker, Business Liaison Manager, has this to say:

"tothepoint has done a fantastic job refreshing our website – we’re really delighted with it. The TTP team listened well to what we needed and came up with a design that was clean, engaging and easy to use whilst conveying Better Bankside's complicated personality and the work we do in the community. They provided relevant and helpful advice throughout the project, and were not only creative and communicative but delivered on time and budget. We had fantastic support from several members of the team, and always felt in touch with where progress was at. We've had really positive feedback on the new website from members of the community, which shows we got it right!"

And perhaps more importantly, has the new design improved anything? Well, as they recently tweeted:

"Our new website is popular so far - you're staying on it for longer & checking out more pages while you're there! :-)"

view the website here: www.betterbankside.co.uk

Making the most of Matrix

MatrixAPA, which provides promotional and consumer products for leading global brands and retailers, felt that its existing brand and marketing materials didn’t clearly communicate what it did or the range of products it offers. As such, the company approached us to help clarify its offering to potential clients, improve its presentation collateral and provide a consistent brand message for its employees.

Following a brand audit, we simplified MatrixAPA’s key messaging and toned down the existing colour palette, which often clashed. We retained the core colours of blue and white, with lime green used for MatrixAPA’s strapline, key words and statistics to ensure a consistent, professional and logical use of colour. We refined the core messaging of ‘Create’, ‘Source’ and ‘Deliver’ and created icons for these.

Once the identity had been simplified, we stripped the existing PowerPoint presentation content right back, to include only the essential information, broken down into bite sized information, with no more than three bullet points per slide. We created both a PDF presentation and master PowerPoint template to allow MatrixAPA to edit slides and tailor the presentation for each prospective client.

Finally, we developed and produced a sales and marketing brochure to act as a leave behind to reinforce MatrixAPA’s proposition and expertise. Again, this carried through the clear simple messaging and icons that we developed for the presentation tools, along with large colourful imagery to convey the scale of offering and range of products. We worked directly with photographer Owen Brown who is creating a library of images for future presentations.

The concise copy, clean layout and imagery help set MatrixAPA apart from its competitors, and Charlie Bradshaw, Managing Director of MatrixAPA is thrilled with both the brochure and presentation.

“I am delighted with TTP’s work and stakeholder feedback has also been very well received. The new look and feel of the brand is really engaging and we’re looking forward to updating the website over coming months.”

We will now be working on applying these design principals to MatrixAPA’s website and an iPad sales tool, so watch this space…

Hung, drawn and quartered

The signage and graphics installation at St Martins Quarter in Worcester continues apace, with the latest information signage, including totems and wayfinding now in situ.

Our latest graphics highlight the commercial and retail space available within the £75m regeneration project in the heart of Worcester. All of the graphics were applied to the inside of the glazing to protect them from the weather and any possible damage. As such, when designing the graphics we had to be aware of the frames housing the glass as this would create a break in any imagery and text, which could impact in the intended look and readability.

The design and charcoal grey and lime green colour palette of the graphics are consistent with the St Martin’s Quarter brand, combining the city’s heritage with freshness that the scheme is bringing to the city.

Looking down on London

On Jan 18th we were privileged enough to be invited by our friends at Better Bankside (did we mention they've got a lovely new website?) for a private viewing at the top of The Shard.

Situated almost on top of London Bridge station it's only a short walk away from our offices and, over the three years it's taken to build, we've watched it slowly (and occasionally not so slowly) launch itself into the sky.

Although its architecture and imposition on the skyline of London have been controversial, it's impressive both in its scale and engineering. As the second tallest building in Europe, it certainly towers above everything else in the city.

We'd been praying for clear skies for our visit, but then the snow hit, so we weren't too sure what we'd actually see up there. Given that the top half of the spire was shrouded in mist the day before, we were worried that the view out would be equally grey. However, it must have been our lucky day as the snow stopped just in time.

The main reception is still being worked on but you can instantly see that the plan is to make this a key tourist spot – there's an impressive video wall that greets you on the way in before reaching the inevitable ticket and security checks.

The gift shop features all manner of London related touristy stuff – in prime place we noticed 'Origami London' by our friend Mark Bolitho (who'll you remember created the bespoke Origami animals featured in our latest calendar - not seen it yet? If you missed that last month, go check it out here).

There's even a slightly forced, theme park style camera shoot before you make your ascent, where you get to see yourself superimposed on a rather poor image of the London skyline. They're poor quality and overpriced, but it's the thought that counts (and of course, you don't have to buy them!).

On then through the building and into the first lift - which is all very impressive with a video ceiling depicting 'typical English weather' – yes, you get virtually rained on as you shoot up 33 floors. It feels like you've just stepped inside when they're ushering you out again and into another lift. Yet again, there's barely a sense of movement and you're out on the 68th floor. It really doesn't feel like you've moved at all so it comes as quite a shock when you first look out at the vista.

So, the question on everyone's lips, is it worth the rather steep £25 ticket price?

Well, it's pretty damn impressive, let's put it that way! Have a browse of our photos on the link below, bearing in mind that these weren't taken with a professional camera and that the weather really wasn't great. In terms of viewing distance you'd be better off going during the day, but in terms of spectacle London looks simply beautiful at night. I'd recommend going just before sunset to get the best of both worlds, and therefore the best view.

A mere 800ft (250m) above London may not sound like much, but it's closer to being in an aeroplane than a tall building – you're quite literally looking down on most of central London. I can only imagine how far you could see on a really clear day, but even in the limited haze of a snowy January evening, it really was spectacular. It opens to the public on February 1st, but in the meantime...

» get a sneak preview of the view (at night)

» you can also view an interactive 360 panorama (via The Guardian)


For those of you who fancy a visit but don't want to stump up the £25 fee, we're giving away two tickets to one lucky reader, aren't we kind? All you have to do is fill out our short survey, answering a few questions on our monthly e-newsletter, so that we can make it even better... We'll then put all those who respond into a free prize draw and let the winners know at the end of February.

Some simple terms and conditions:
1. The closing date for entries is 12.02.13.
2. A name will be drawn at random on 13.02.13 .
3. Only one entry per person.
4. No cash or prize alternatives.
5. Only completed forms will be entered.
6. One entrant will win a gift certificate for two tickets for The View from the Shard.
7. They are open for 1 year from registration
8. Find out more from the official site: http://www.theviewfromtheshard.com