KP Snacks

We’ve just finished branding KP’s new head office, working alongside Tetris to transform an empty building shell and evolve KP’s interior graphics. Working to a tight timeframe, from brief to their move in was 3 months so we had our work cut out. Luckily we had a few snacks to keep us going!

The interior branding needed to balance their 22 strong, recognisable brands, parent company branding and internal brand materials. Through graphics such as pack illustrations, product icons, taglines and photography we helped to bring to life the KP brands, in particularly their 3 hero brands McCoys, Hula Hoops and KP Nuts. 

The graphics bring KP’s playful and light-hearted brand personalities to the space, whilst maintaining a more corporate, conservative feel in the more client facing areas to reflect their parent company Intersnack. We used key elements from the Intersnack branding, such as their lozenge shape and  linear graphic in a fresh way to link imagery, illustrations and the rooms themselves.

The timeline graphic is a key piece, spanning almost 9m wide across their high traffic collaborative area, using a mixture of photography, typography and icons to tell the story of KP.

Our graphics help to create an engaging environment that reflects the personality of KP, achieved through a mix of large format wall graphics, glass manifestations, posters and even bespoke wallpaper and name plates.

The team at KP have just moved in and are pleased with the result, but the road doesn't end there as we've just started talking about phase two!

"Moving KP Snacks HQ into brand new offices was an exciting opportunity to create a dynamic, modern and functional new office environment for colleagues and customers. We were looking for an agency that could bring the fun and uniqueness of our brands to life whilst also balancing the look and feel of our corporate ownership. tothepoint did a fantastic job of interpreting our brief – we were overrun with great ideas from a centrepiece WOW factor to small, personal details that create all the difference in making our new office feel uniquely KP. Charlie and the team were really on the ball; always in control, quick to respond and we built a trusting and collaborative relationship that really enabled us to get the best out of our new space. The results surpassed expectations and the whole project was a thoroughly enjoyable experience".

Claire Cooper, Senior Shopper Marketing Manager, KP Snacks

Photos by tothepoint and Philip Durrant www.philipdurrant.co.uk

Fall for our roundup

Quote Bank Does Halloween

With Halloween fast approaching we have taken the opportunity to design another quote bank quiz. This time the focus is horror movies (for obvious reasons). So if you know your Saws from your Signs then have a crack. Up for grabs are 2 tickets to the London Bridge Experience to enjoy some proper frights. If you are a fan of our other quizzes they can still be found here. 

Web Harmony

We've just completed our first project with the guys over at Harmonic Capital Partners, a London based hedge fund manager. We designed their new website creating a fresh approach, with a revised colour palette and original photography. With a challenging timeframe of 6 weeks for two photo-shoots, and the design and build, the pressure was on. We worked in partnership with JPES, a strategic marketing, media and public relations company who wrote the site content, helping Harmonic to establish their tone of voice and convey their offer. Take a look at their new site here.

Ask and you shall receive

The London Underground Map, originally designed by Henry Beck, has become somewhat of an icon for the UK’s capital city however any hardened Londoner will also know the frustrations from it’s lack of geographical accuracy. Thanks to a Freedom of Information Request submitted by James Burbage the mythical Geographical London Connections map is available for everyone. Londoners rejoice!

A TV for looking at

The television is a staple in most homes (unless you’ve rejected the consumer life in favour of remote living) and over the years its design has shifted from being inspired by furniture through to the more “gadgety” TV’s we know today. Samsung and French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have decided it’s time to bring beautiful design back to televisions. The new Serif TV uses natural materials and aims to give the set as much beauty and consideration whether it’s on or off. The shift away from the “high tech” aesthetic towards more crafted pieces is something we’ve been incorporating for a while now, mostly in our workplace environments work, and are now seeing it becoming a wider trend.

UX what?

Whilst we believe a crafted aesthetic is becoming more prominent, this doesn’t mean digital is taking a back seat; we think it’s more a case of digital and non-digital reaching a more natural harmony i.e. digital being used when it’s the best solution, rather than as a way to appear “ahead of the curve".  However with digital design comes a whole new set of processes and roles set to baffle the world, from UX designer and Interaction/Motion Designer, and what an earth does a Front-End Developer do?! We’re here to tell you not to worry, it’s not as confusing as it sounds and part of our job is to make the whole process easy, so we prefer to leave the jargon at the door. However, if you do want to brush up on your lingo the guys at Fast Code Design have put together a handy cheat sheet that will help you separate your UI from your UX.

Freelance comedy

This next post is something we came across this week that made us chuckle, so we felt compelled to share. The first of a short comedy series about going freelance, it highlights a few of the struggles freelancers face, although we might also choose to start wearing a live/work robe...

Final Call

For those who aren’t aware the Serpentine Pavilion undergoes a playful transformation each year, from big red boxes to the original angular structure by Zaha Hadid in June 2000. This year's pavilion, designed by SelgasCano, is just as whacky, expect bright colours and overlapping, iridescent tubes. But be quick, as the last open day is 18th October.

Check it out!

Finally, the cat’s out of the bag and we can tell you all about our recent work with the Croydon BID. After months under lock and key the new consumer-facing brand, Check Out Croydon, has been set free.

If you frequent Croydon you may have noticed the Street Ambassadors wandering around (in their pink uniforms they’re quite hard to miss!), however you won’t have seen the Check Out Croydon website as it’s set for a soft launch this month, and aims to make it easy for visitors to find their way around everything that the town has to offer.

The eagle eyed among you may have noticed that the Check Out Croydon name has been around since we first refreshed the Croydon BID brand and launched its new customer loyalty card. However, with the introduction of the Street Ambassadors and the requirement for a public facing website it was decided to build on the brand.

We used the strong magenta colour not only for its eye-catching nature, but also to tie it to Croydon BID’s Perception and Image pledge, which features the same colour. The original Check Out Logo has been simplified, giving it a more contemporary look but also making it easier to reproduce for the uniforms.

The website promotes various events, offers and businesses in the town centre. The split screen map and list view helps the user to browse around the town for inspiration, filtering it down to more specific options if needed and even being able to see what’s closest to them.

Built in Drupal, the website uses nifty bits of programming to combine bespoke map styling with the information Google Maps has available. Which is how users are able to locate themselves as well as see various businesses on the map.

From a digital guide around the town to a real life one, the Street Ambassadors are on hand to promote the website, and help visitors and business alike. Their uniforms were designed by yours truly and are completely bespoke. The designs followed a briefing from the Croydon BID in which they challenged us to create a less formal uniform compared with the standard three-piece suits and bowler hats the Welcome People Ambassadors wear elsewhere. We rose to the challenge and so far the uniforms have been well received.

The Ambassadors can currently be seen in and around the town centre, however the website is currently in the testing phase, and due to be launched soon, but get ready to check it out soon!

Rounding Up August

In it to win it

We mentioned the up and coming Charlie Hutton Hockey Festival on 5th September in our last enews, with its raffle and silent auction of epic proportions. Any fans of U2, Arsenal, Chelsea & Spurs, World Cup Rugby, Raymond Weil watches, Polo or a short break to Cornwall should certainly take a look at what’s on offer here and email a bid to silentauction@tothepoint.co.uk before 6pm on 4th September. You can also see the raffle prizes on the same link and can purchase tickets at the event or email gill@tothepoint.co.uk. As in past years, all proceeds will be going to the RNLI. 

Ferrolic Fluid Digital Wizardy

We do like to get out from time to time researching various innovative techniques. When it comes to display graphics and digital installations, there’s a lot of fun technology out there. We haven’t seen anything quite as amazing as Ferrolic’s fluid digital clocks in a long time.

Using ferric fluid in a glass frame, set on top of an array of ‘magnetic pixels’, this absolutely stunning display perfectly marries digital graphics with natural movement. The project is in early development stage, but we can’t wait to see what they do with it next.

End of days for Adobe Flash

Once the ‘saviour of the internet’ and now looking more like the dusty old TV in your Grandma’s living room, Adobe Flash has been ‘on the way out’ for quite some time. It now appears that its days are truly numbered. Google’s Chrome Browser will officially start ‘pausing’ flash content in September, forcing viewers to activate the content manually. Firefox has also started to block the flash plugin over security concerns and Amazon has banned flash advertising from its online ad platform see the story here.

So aside from the odd desktop app or game here and there, it seems that Flash’s Goose is finally cooked.

Don’t panic though. If you REALLY need to keep your dusty flash content online there are ways and means of converting it. Or a certain design agency could reboot your web offering with SEO friendly, engaging HTML5 content, proving that rich media online is more alive than ever before.

Heart Skipped a Beat

Ahead of the London Design Festival French artist Charles Pétillon has created a wonderful spectacle in the Covent Garden Market Building. The installation is called Heartbeat, 100,000 giant white balloons stretching over 52 meters gently pulse with a white light. The beating heart symbolises the history, energy and dynamism of Covent Garden. The installation runs until 27th September so still plenty of time to check it out, but make sure you go when it's a little darker as Katie (one of our Account Managers) tells us it's much more spectacular.

The Oné and Only

You may remember our branding work with Echo Brand Design back in 2013 for New Zealand start up Concept Cube. Well their initial project of producing New Zealand’s first 100% Blue Agave Tequila has been a resounding success. Renamed by the creative team as ONÉ, the packaging has won a gold award in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. What makes it even better is we have our very own bottle of this limited edition production run to sample! We would offer to share but it's only 1 of 450 and… well we don't want to.

Looking Forward

September has arrived, so here are a few design related things to look out for, courtesy of our friends over at Design Week. Also September will see Better Bankside host a Design Festival to celebrate all the creative agencies in the area with some studios opening up and taking guests! To find out more take a look here.

Ship shape branding

We often talk about the importance of strong branding, and ask if your materials are recognisable if you remove your logo. Take Apple for instance, remove their logo and you can still spot them at a hundred paces. As much as we might like to believe, it isn’t because they’re a mega-company who spare no expense with advertising, it’s because they have a clear and strong view of their brand and they ensure it’s consistent across everything.

This is a conversation we had recently with our client Union Maritime, a shipping company managing large vessels in Nigeria, when we started to work with them on a brand refresh and web redesign.

Establishing a strong brand isn’t something that happens overnight (if only life was that easy!), so the hard work is still going on. However a major project for building the brand was the website, as this was to be a major tool for them.

The team at Union Maritime wanted an easy to update, and relatively low-maintenance site, so we opted for Wordpress. The design of the site reinforces their branding through the strong use of their corporate colour palette, and using the blue and grey blocks from their logo to create different elements such as the tables on the fleet pages. Click here to see the website in all its glory.

During our journey with them we’ve also looked at their PowerPoint presentation and are currently working on their email signatures. So from here it should be plain sailing, the key is to maintain consistency.

A New Newsroom

We’ve worked with News UK family for a few years now, starting with the Newsprinters branding and quirky interior graphics, our personal favourite is the “never-ending” corridor, (any “sticklers for false advertising” out there should know it does actually end, but only after a whopping 200m!). To the branding and interiors for their new logistics division, News Logistics, right up to the interiors for the Technology and Operations teams on the 6th floor of the head offices in The Place (right next door to The Shard).

And this time we’ve been helping the News Logistics team on the Technology and Operations floor, as we were set the challenge of combining the News Logistics branding with the style set for the 6th floor, which uses lines and pixels to communicate the idea of individual teams that connect to form the bigger picture.

The end result effectively gives the News Logistics team their own personality without deviating from the floors style. We also used a product called Wall-a-Peel to make sure the vinyl can be removed easily if they ever need to be updated.

The team at News Logistics loves the final result, which of course makes us very happy indeed!