New for News UK

The long sunny days of August seem a distant memory as we march our way through January amidst rumours of sleet and snow, however August for us marked the start of an exciting new project with the Technology and Operations team at News UK.

Technology and Operations were looking to inject some of their personality into their new space on the 6th floor of 1 London Bridge, which sits directly opposite the Shard and is part of the same London Bridge Renzo Piano Scheme.

Each team within Technology and Operations relate to different sectors of News UK’s business; ranging from digital, print, customer management and logistics, and prior to their move to 1 London Bridge they operated as silos. There was a desire for a more responsive, dynamic and communicative environment that encouraged the exchange of ideas. This gave us the hard task of creating something that could help unify the teams without loosing their independence.

The concept is grounded with the humble pixel and line. These two devices work hard to convey the technology involved in the teams, and also their collaboration. A pixel can work alone or be one part of the bigger picture, equally a line can work alone or to connect any number of people, things, places or anything you like!

To keep a sense of identity each team (there are ten in total) was associated a colour; which was applied to one of the pillars within their workspace, and a meeting room that would reflect their core message or USP. Through a series of meetings, doodles and brainstorming sessions we got to know each of the teams and how they wanted to be represented – from the customer focused CMP team to the process driven Infrastructure team. When combined the whole floor would tell a visitor the story of Technology and Operations and what they offer.

The coloured team pillars not only offered effective signposting, but also broke up the repetition and neutrality of the floor to provide a little bit of colour and personality to the work place environment.

The project is split into two stages, the first was the application of the concept to signage, pillars and meeting room exteriors to instantly provide a visual identity that held the floor together and complemented the modern interior office space with all its restrictions and many, many pillars. The second stage will look at the individual teams meeting rooms, and how their core message can be expressed.

Stage 1 is now complete and we’re poised ready for the start of stage 2. The feedback so far has been very positive from both the teams and those at higher levels, and has had the initial desired effect of creating a core concept that integrates the teams and provides a sense of identity to the floor. Stage 1 was very much about glass manifestations and vinyls whereas stage 2 will be more about bespoke artworks and installations, watch this space!