New Year, New Capital

We’ve been working with EFG Asset Management (EFGAM) for a number of years now and across a variety of projects, from their monthly and quarterly thought leadership publications to stationery and presentation materials. So when EFGAM approached us to create a new logo and website for its newly launched New Capital Funds division, we couldn’t wait to get started.

New Capital focuses on high conviction investments and requires a deeper understanding of targeted, rather than speculative, investment, with this insight at the core of its business. It was essential that the identity reflected the strong research, data analysis and insight that inform the selection of each investment, and which sets this fund apart.

The identity reflects the data charts that will often be used within their research; this coupled with the core of the C being picked out subtly suggests that their research is at the core of their investments.

The identity is reflected in the infographics used across the brand, and the colour palette is also taken directly from it. The team was also keen to look towards Invest Plus, the quarterly magazine we produce for EFG Asset Management, for inspiration when it came to the look and feel of New Capital. Strong typography, pullouts of key data and images of the fund managers overlaid with dynamic cityscapes, have been developed to give New Capital its strong visual appearance.

This was then carried through to the website, where the fund managers feature prominently, helping to position New Capital as experts in the field. We worked closely in collaboration with EFG’s incumbent web development company ‘Embrace’ in order to create wireframes for all required templates (bearing in mind the strong look we wanted to achieve and also keeping mobile users in mind).

During the course of the branding and website process, various pieces of print work have also been produced for the brand, including business cards, agenda card and wrap for Citywire, an investment specific publication. It’s been an exciting project to work on, and we hope to be able to show you more work for New Capital soon.

You can see the new website here: www.newcapitalfunds.com

New News!

CES pit

Gadget fans were in tech heaven earlier this month as the annual CES show unveiled the latest round of gadgets and innovations headed our way this year. Although most attendees seem to think this was the best show yet - showing innovations that will change our life across the board, others were less convinced. And when you see some of the ideas on offer you can start to see why. For instance, a helmet that tells you how hard you were punched!? However, many will consider the ability to 3D-print your own chocolate bars does make all this worth while. 

Read more: CES 2014 (Techradar)

Have you heard about Dangerdust?

An anonymous duo at Ohio’s Columbus College of Art and Design have been working undercover of darkness to transform their college chalk boards into inspirational works of art. Known only as Dangerdust, the pair have been using the unusual canvas as an escape from their class assignments since September last year. Since then their work has exploded onto the digital scene, if you look at only one thing this month, make it this!

Read more: Creative Review

Help, my fridge is full of spam!

The long talked about 'internet of things' could finally start to become a reality this year with more connected devices coming onto the market than ever before. We're used to our phones and computers being permanently connected to the world and more 'smart' TVs are now joining the party. Other items such as fridges (that can re-order milk for you before you even knew you'd run low) washing machines and other household goods are becoming internet enabled too - it's a brave new world! However there are downsides to this internet-centric future, as The Guardian recently noted. Internet connected fridges were discovered to be sending out huge quantities of spam and phishing emails over Christmas - and not just fridges, but all manner of other devices too... 

Read more: The Guardian

Tiny appetites

“Who hasn’t dreamt of driving through chocolate mousse? Or skiing down a slope of Chantilly cream?” Minimiam is the ingenious work of Akiko Ida and Pierre Lavelle, two French photographers who have been playfully pairing model train figurines with pastries, fruits, vegetables and other foods for several years. Don’t be fooled though, the figurines often take on more serious issues such as global warming whilst they ice skate in pastry dishes.

iWonder what the BBC will do next

Good old Auntie Beeb, a national treasure. So when they pull out something new we can’t help but talk about it, and iWonder; the new digital learning platform, is no exception. The platform combines archived and original content to unlock the learning potential of all BBC content. iWonder kicks off with a set of guides about World War One, which coincides with the start of its WW1 programme series.

Read more: Creative Review

Fireworks at night are so 2013 

Black Ceremony is the work of artist Cai Guo-Qiang, his love of exploring gunpowder in his drawings eventually developed into the outstanding explosive displays that have become his signature. It’s just a little something to brighten your day (excuse the pun).

Remember when Facebook was cool? 

There's long been a rumour that whilst Facebook still boasts millions of active users (and is by far the most widely used social network) there's been a steady decline of teenagers using the service. According to most recent studies, this is definitely a concern, with a huge drop in users early 2013. This drop-off levelled out somewhat later in the year, but the trend is still downwards with 'young people' moving to more focussed messaging services such as Snapchat.

Read more: Mashable

A little encouragement…

It might be a little late in the day for this, but we believe in you! You can keep that healthy eating New Year’s resolution! To help you along the way here are 22 simple ways to start eating healthier. If you’re like us and have gone too far past the resolution to turn back now, never mind, it’s the thought that counts.

Where we’re going we don’t need roads

My friends, we are one step closer to Hover Boards, as a team of three Japanese engineers have unveiled an ambitious device that uses sound waves to move objects through three dimensional space. Not only is that an incredible scientific breakthrough, but “the dream” could be a year ahead of schedule.

Read more: This Is Colossal

In our rear-view mirror

2014 has sprung into life and the studio is as busy as ever, with plenty of exciting projects from clients old and new. However, as we keep up the hard work, and our New Year's resolutions slip a little further, we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on some of the work of 2013.

January 
The fruits of our labour
It's always satisfying seeing our work come to life, especially at the start of the year, and the fruits of our labour were there for all to see at St Martin's Quarter in Worcester when the latest signage was put in place. This was the final pieces of the puzzle for this project, where we worked on everything from naming, branding, literature, website and the lovely signage.

February 
The concept of the cube
February saw us working on an exciting project on the other side of the world (the early morning Skype calls were less fun), developing the identity for a New Zealand start up, 'The Concept Cube', whilst helping with its first venture, a very delicious New Zealand 100% Blue Agave (which is a non-Mexican tequila for the uninitiated!).

March 
An innovative environment
It was in March that the BBSRC Fostering Innovation Awards 2013 took place in Millbank Tower, London. Guests were not only treated to spectacular views, but also to the striking branding and venue dressing that we created for the awards.

April
SeaBird R&A explore design shift
The R&A for SeaBird Exploration, a leading provider of marine seismic data was released in April. We enhanced the design and created a report that more effectively communicates SeaBird's improved performance in this specialist sector. We went on to work on a number of other projects for them, and the 2013 Annual Report is also just around the corner.

May
An exchange of ideas
May saw our work in the national press, as we created a national broadsheet ad campaign for foreign exchange and international payments specialist FC Exchange, developing an iconic look and feel, reinforced by direct, bullish messaging to help the company differentiate itself in a competitive market.

June
Celebrating excellence
We've been helping the CIPR add a touch of glamour to its annual Excellence Awards for a number of years now. In 2013 we created a sophisticated and celebratory event identity along with supporting print and digital collateral, which all came to life on the awards night in June. Work for this year’s award is already underway.

July
Hot off the press
July marked the first issue of the redesigned Samworth Standard – an internal newspaper for the huge chilled foods producer. Since then we’ve produced 2 further issues and are currently working on the fourth issue, which hits the doormats of over 8,000 employees.

August
Long time coming
In August we welcomed our designer Sarah Long into the warm embrace of tothepoint. Sarah wasted no time in making her mark on the design team, helping hairdressing salon Headquarters to celebrate its 15th birthday with an invite for the big birthday bash. And yes, that is our logo that the salon is still sporting 15 years later, and it's looking as youthful as ever!

September
Going digital
Recognising that the digital landscape is constantly changing, we launched a new digital arm of tothepoint in September, to focus solely on digital design and communications. The site, www.ttpdigital.com, showcases our experience and expertise in this area, plus there's a dedicated blog where we share our opinions on all things digital.

October
All Change!
We finally unveiled the evolved Croydon Business Improvement District (BID) logo, loyalty card scheme 'Check Out Croydon' and website in October. Although it had only been live for a couple of weeks, the new website achieved an increase of over 3300% more site visitors since launch! Since then we’ve been working on their town centre banners and window graphics, and there’s plenty more projects coming up.

November
Putting on a show
On the 26th November Ben and Simon were released from their shackles to man our stand at The Public Relations Show 2013 and challenge people to a game of 'I Shot the Serif'! Not only did we exhibit at the event, but we also developed the branding and much of the collateral for it. The day was a huge success, with over 1,000 visitors and the event itself trending on Twitter in London.

December
A year to view
Drum roll please... The 2014 tothepoint calendar is here! With all things digital seeming to be favoured by today's Tweeters, bloggers and Facebook disciples, we're always surprised (and flattered) that our printed calendar has remained so popular. This year's calendar is a visual expression of us. You can find out a little more and download your own copy here.