Derwent London is one of London’s most innovative office regeneration and investment specialists, and is well known for their creative approach and design led philosophy. With a distinctive clean and contemporary style we couldn’t wait to start working with them on the project.
The first call of business was to decide on the name of the building. Charlotte St Studios was the perfect option as it references the (highly desirable) address and the target market (young creative companies), as well as lending itself very nicely to some clever yet subtle typography in the identity.
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| Entrance shot taken by the Derwent London photographer |
The building itself has a very striking aesthetic and it sits in the middle of the original artisan district (playing home to some very famous creatives from Virginia Woolf to John Constable), so we were keen to reflect this in the identity and across the materials.
For the identity we created a device that frames the name and takes inspiration from the building’s distinctive windows on the Charlotte Street side, the mix of bold and light type picks out the address. We also use an art piece from local gallery The Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery (for all you art buffs out there the piece is Homage to a Circle No. 4 by David Whitaker) to subtly suggest the artisan history of the area and to show what it currently has on offer.
The “window” from the identity is used across the brochure and website to hold headline text or pull outs, both also feature a layout in which the content seems to float on the page, a style which really comes into its own on the website; where we used a bespoke single page parallax design which allows the images and text to float over each other as you scroll through.
"Our first project with tothepoint was interpreted well and complimented the property and Derwent London's brand. The final identity and marketing materials for Charlotte St Studios really show that they understood what we were looking for, they work well with our other materials but still give the building a unique look and feel.” Explains Lesley Bufton, Property Marketing Manager at Derwent London
Every website can pose various challenges, however the challenge with this particular site was that it uses no set template and employs various levels of parallax scrolling. These make the act of browsing a unique and fun experience but did mean we had to get away from standard template/wireframe mentality! Even with a static visual of the full sit (viewable here), it only really started to take shape during development, with plenty of parallax experimentation to make sure we had that effortlessly floaty experience perfected. Simple interactivity, such as choosing map categories and downloadable floorplans, helps to add to the sites functionality. You can see the full site here.
The PDF brochure (you view that here) is also fully interactive, linking back to the floorplans on the website for example, to fully support this digitally led marketing campaign. All copy for the website and brochure was crafted by our very own Katie, who is also the Account Manager for Derwent London.
“Our Account Manager Katie was available throughout the project to help with any queries, explain designs and really took on board our feedback - Katie was even on hand to oversee the vinyl installation for us. The design team were also there to help if we ever needed it, and worked hard to ensure we met all of our deadlines.” Lesley goes on to explain.
Charlotte St Studios is now open for business, it’s been a great project to be involved in, creating something unique that breaks many of the traditional property norms. We’ll be continuing to work with Derwent London during the course of the building’s marketing stage to update the various elements.
“Working with tothepoint was a smooth and enjoyable process, resulting in an identity and materials that we are very happy with. We look forward to working with them again." Well, we are blushing now!
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