Introduction

HGV is twenty years old and we still have all our teeth. Twenty years old is a good age : ten years is still a tad juvenile, shy and insecure, while thirty is a bit too close to wisdom, nothing to learn anymore. We are using this milestone to showcase a selection of work we have done since the agency’s birth and also give an insight about design and the way we work. This special occasion also gives us the opportunity to thank all the people, clients and staff, who have joined us in this exciting journey.

Pierre Vermeir
Founder and creative director

The copy counts too... Mishcon de Reya

Effective commercial image-makers and copywriters share a common platform as both disciplines use a blend of creativity and logic to communicate a message with the client’s audience in mind. When these two skills operate in tandem they can produce the most powerful work in advertising or design. At hgv, depending on the nature of the job, we invite copywriters to brainstorm with the designers to glue the concept together with images and words. A little aside here: Salman Rushdie, the acclaimed author of Midnight’s Children, worked as a part-time copywriter in advertising while writing his novel.

Mishcon de Reya has built an enviable reputation as one of the top law firms in the UK. The firm’s brand personality is not only strong but also distinctive amongst its competitors. The Real Estate division required a targeted visual communication campaign that gives it greater visibility within the firm and amongst its target audiences. The campaign we created, ‘Real Estate Real Knowledge’, combines both strength of words and visuals without undermining the values and enviable cachet of the ‘masterbrand’.

Lateral thinking... British Council

Design solutions that are glaringly literal can be boring, as they neither trigger emotions nor provoke thought. For example, using an illustration or photograph of a grape on a wine label is relevant but doesn’t do anything more than tell us what we already know: wine is made from grapes. If the brief does demand a literal path, we always find it more interesting to add another dimension or twist that will reinforce the message. It makes the design all the more memorable. 

This book cover was commissioned by the British Council after a creative pitch between eight design groups, hhmmm. The typographic solution visually spells out the book title: ‘UNDER THE TREE OF TALKING: Leadership for change in Africa’. The other level is here: the typographic solution uses African proverbs from different regions across the continent giving a strong sense of heritage and reinforcing the book’s contents and purpose.

Long relationships... Unilever

Long-term relationships between clients and design agencies are rewarding as long as familiar ground doesn’t morph into a comfort zone or apathy. Knowing each other well has its advantages but can have its pitfalls. After a while designers can become complaisant, producing lazy solutions they know will win instant client approval. It is so much more fun, and mutually beneficial, to produce challenging and unpredictable solutions that stimulate a healthy debate. 

When we started working with Unilever in 1995, we never imagined that we would still be married after all these years. We worked with different parts of the Unilever business but mainly with the Marketing Academy from the time of its foundation. Through the years we have never been complaisant and we always challenge the predictable. We have generated work that we are proud of but could never publicise as they are internal comms programmes with information that could benefit Unilever’s competitor. 

Professional services... Bedell Group

Law and accountancy firms are renowned for being conservative when commissioning design. In the past five years some of these firms seem to have jumped on the bandwagon (still with caution) while others are stuck in the past. There may be a few reasons why they are slow to embrace design. 1. They believe their reputation and expertise alone attracts clients. 2. Facts and figures are tangible elements to grasp but creativity is subjective. 3. Law and accountancy are serious business, design is frivolous and could damage their image. 4. Firms have been put off by designers’ ideas that rely on gimmicks and don’t trust them any more. It is as rare as truffles to find a firm in this sector that stands out for its personality, but in fairness, law and accountancy firms might think the same about design agencies. 

Bedell Group, a leading international offshore legal and fiduciary provider, has always recognised the value of design as a tool to build a strong reputation. Our design, which could be perceived ‘conservative’ in a wider context, is still unconventional in the sector and reflects the firm’s ethos: leaders, not followers. It goes without saying that we don’t use gimmicks either.

Craft is cool again... GDR

On a number of occasions I have been tempted to chuck away my obsolete airbrush – an instrument that sprays a fine layer of paint with compressed air. I am glad that I didn’t as we came up with a concept in the office that could only be executed with this antique device and it was resurrected – hopefully only for this job! In this instance the use of a rainbow, a well-recognised cliché, takes an additional meaning in its three-dimensional form. 

Global research company GDR’s quarterly Global Innovation Report is an analysis of consumer trends, distributed exclusively to a select client base including the biggest and best global brands. To celebrate the 25th edition, GDR commissioned a complete redesign of the book. We were flattered to have been chosen from all the UK and US creative agencies GDR knows. Our cover represents the content - a broad spectrum of colourful information. To achieve this rainbow effect the edges were airbrushed, an idea that could only be executed by a specialist printer in Italy or in-house. As only a few hundred books were produced we opted for the latter. We have been told that some clients loved the cover so much they were stroking it. Ahhhh!

A dying art form... Independent books

As soon as next year, according to the press, CDs are going to be completely superseded by downloadable music. Could this transition happen to books faster than anticipated, as digital books are already available on the market? The world is spinning so fast that visual communication students will need to keep in touch and adapt to new electronic platforms to express their talent. Book jacket design might soon belong to the past but this is not necessarily a bad thing, it is also exciting as with change there is scope for innovation. What about designing film sequences for the opening of digital books?

We designed a series of 25 book jackets for an exclusive collection of banned books from some of literature’s most controversial authors, printed and packaged for ‘The Independent’ newspaper readers. By shredding, then reforming the bookjackets, we emphasised their infamous past and increased their future appeal. The concept also unifies the set. Commissioned photography captures the books contents while the duotone treatment gives the series a uniform style. We have censored our own design and as a result only show five books covers.

New food... Roast

Twenty years ago I would tour supermarkets in search of basic herbs like tarragon or basil and return home defeated. Food ingredients widely found on the continent were simply not available in the UK and I had to change my recipes accordingly. At parties, Lambrusco, Piat d’Or and Blue Nun were poured like golden liquid. How times have changed. Since then, Britain’s culinary reputation has risen like a soufflé thanks to a number of self-promoting local and foreign chefs here, and London is now one of the most Michelin starred cities in the world. I recently noticed on a can of cat food that their taste buds must have changed too over the years. It read: ‘Emincés d’espadon cuits à la vapeur’ (Steamed slivers of swordfish). It could have been straight out of a Gordon Ramsay cookbook.

Years ago it would have been inconceivable to launch a London restaurant dedicated to British cooking using the country’s seasonal produce. Entrepreneur Iqbal Wahhab, founder of the award-winning Indian restaurant the Cinnamon Club, initiated this idea with Roast restaurant in the heart of Borough market. We were invited to design the identity, menus and literature. The Roast identity, inspired by a knot in wood, forms the mark. This metamorphosises into a pear on the pudding menu, a bottle on the wine list, celery on the bar menu and an onion on the tear-inducing bill.

Believing in the product... Exradia

There are conflicting views about the effect that mobile phones have on biological cells. The only good news is that the debate has started early and seems to be more transparent than when we agonized about the danger of smoking. Today the consumer is more astute and demands to know the truth. The problem is that as mobile phones are relatively new and the risks of handset radiation is said to increase significantly after ten years of use, research can’t be conclusive yet. People are rightly concerned about this potential time bomb. My young son, for example, will only park his mobile phone in the back pocket of his jeans to avoid sterility. You could think he is paranoid but he feels that it is better to be safe than sorry. So do I.

There are a considerable number of charlatans in the sector selling products that purportedly stop radiation in mobile phones. Exradia is the only company that offers a scientifically proven technology that neutralises the potentially harmful biological effects of radiation emitted from mobile phones, wireless networks and other electronic devices.  Rather than exploiting people’s fears, we built a brand identity and a set of adverts on the preventive aspect of Exradia’s technology. The anthropomorphic ‘X’ icon within the logotype shows that human safety is at the centre of Exradia’s offer. 

Alphabets are tasty... Flocafé

When I was at art college and told a friend, who knew nothing of design, that I was drawing a new typeface, his reply was salutary: ‘What for? There is already one that exists.’ It begs the question, ‘do brand identities benefit from using a bespoke typeface?’ I believe the answer is ‘yes’ but only if the typeface is distinctive enough to contribute to the visual expression or recognition of the brand, otherwise it is in vain. In some cases it is so effective you can spot a brand without seeing the logo. Companies that have done it well are McDonald (designed by my ex business partner Geoff Halpin), and Mars the chocolate bar, for example. 

Flocafé is a chain of café bars spread across Greece and Cyprus. Our brief was to create an identity that captures the passion that Mediterranean people have for coffee.  When we design a logo we believe that its letterform should be relevant to the nature of the business, that way it contributes to making it distinctive.  The Flocafé logo evokes a coffee with swirling froth and the typeface that followed has been created around that theme to reinforce the brand identity.

Inspire... The Wallace Collection

It amazes me that creativity isn’t placed at the heart of the GCSE /A-Level Art curriculum. There is nothing wrong with developing students’ drawing and painting abilities as well as observation skills, but asking them to copy the paintings of Old Masters and allowing little room for personal interpretation can squash a pupil’s spontaneity and discourage their pursuit of a career in the creative sector. With emerging economies like China and India investing heavily in their creative industries, we need to nurture creativity not stifle it. 

Museums and art galleries are fertile environments for fostering creativity and the Wallace Collection situated in a townhouse in the heart of London is no exception. The collection displays paintings by Canaletto, Boucher, Delacroix, Rembrandt, Velasquez to name but a few, as well as eighteen-century porcelain, an outstanding armoury and amazing furniture. Our brief was to design promotional literature that would attract more visitors, especially a younger audience. We advised the Wallace Collection to communicate the warmth of a private house, rather than a conventional museum. 

Brand heritage... Jeeves

In some cases it would be wrong to evolve a brand in a revolutionary way when all it needs is an appropriate evolutionary treatment that will position the brand in a modern world. When it is right, we embrace change, but from time to time we see examples of brands that have been modernised and scarred by unscrupulous designers, thereby losing their original essence. 

The word ‘Jeeves’ evokes the image of a loyal, dedicated and impeccable old-world valet obsessed with attention to detail. Consecutive attempts to tweak the visual identity of this dry cleaner moved the brand away from its essence and, as a result, brand recognition shrank. In the process of revisiting the brand identity we opted to keep and refresh the Jeeves logo, and retain the nostalgic elements that we considered still essential to its image. But we did dispense with a black background and added an all-new white one for applications, to reinforce the crisp cleanness of clothes cared for by Jeeves. We also introduced the ‘hand finished’ strap line to emphasise Jeeves’ unique, personal attention to detail. 

Paid pitches... G8 summit

There is a healthy debate in our industry about unpaid creative pitches. At hgv we are convinced that a paid creative pitch shows a commitment from the client that would in turn incite design agencies to produce better work. In this instance both sides are rewarded. We actually love participating in paid pitches as we are confident in our ability to display our creativity as well as our understanding of the brief and its objectives.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office invited hgv to a creative pitch for the G8 identity along with three other agencies. We came out victorious but then the brief changed when the venue was confirmed as Gleneagles. The winning concept uses the iconic thistle in green and mauve, which recalls colours in the Scottish landscape. There are eight parts to the thistle crown to represent the eight member states. 

What's next?... Paperview

The web is transforming society. Equipped with a screen and a keyboard, people can now globally engage, inform, entertain, sell, buy, socialise, interact, connect, spy, date, preach, rally and disseminate. What’s next?

The website we designed for Paperview, a leading provider of promotional books, DVDs and CDs to the press, features an animated bookshelf as a hierarchical navigation system. The site uses a combination of Flash and XML as well as management software that allows the client to update the content without any designer’s help. Rather than doing ourselves out of a job, we see this as empowering our clients and freeing ourselves to be creative elsewhere.

www.paperviewgroup.com

Skills we need... Quintet

Design is still evolving but I believe any new ways of doing things should be built upon skills that took years to develop and refine, unless there is something better that can replace it. Sadly, with the transition from traditional to computer methods, some useful and indispensable graphic design skills have been erased. For example designers are better equipped to craft logotypes if they have a rudimentary knowledge of hand-drawing letterforms. At hgv we make sure we transfer what we believe are fundamental skills to our designers before they decide to move on. 

The execution of this logotype for Quintet required vital hand lettering skills to communicate its visual pun. If you had simply taken the number five and rotated it clockwise 45 degrees, or just used the ligature for ‘u’ and ‘i’, it would not have looked like a five or a  ‘ui’. 

Flags and redesigning them... FCO

The origin of the European Union flag is not widely known and contrary to common assumption, the twelve stars sitting on an azure background do not reflect the number of member states that first joined the Union. That’s why the flag remains the same regardless of the enlargement of the EU, a blessing considering there are now 27 countries making up the constitution. It was designed by Arsène Heitz, a civil servant working in Strasbourg, and the story goes that as a good Catholic he was inspired by a miraculous religious medallion that also contains twelve stars. He was proud that his solution for the European flag also embodied a religious reference.

This brand identity and strap-line for The Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The British Council is a platform for promoting the UK as a gateway for creativity and ideas, and is aimed at the eight Central European countries joining the EU in May 2004. Preliminary research showed there was real confusion about the meaning of GB and UK in the targeted countries and initial concepts based on those acronyms were dropped. You might think our use of the Union Jack to resolve this predictable, but giving such a universally familiar icon an appropriate twist made it excusable and memorable. The crossroad at the centre of the flag and the strap-line convey a dual meaning, while the modern colours avoid overt nationalism. 

Logos are forever... Scope

If you intend to design a logo for a company in a way that communicates the nature of its business, you would be wise to ask a few questions first. If the business were to diversify, would the logo be too specific? If the company were to expand to other countries, would the logo be culturally offensive elsewhere? If the answer to either question is ‘yes’, it would be better to design a logo that is not so narrowly aligned to the business offer. 

SCOPE is the market leader in the raising of corporate finance for the Belgian film industry, as well as a recognised co-producer of quality commercial European films. The illustration of projection coming from the counter of the ‘C’ symbolises projection, relevant to the film industry. In this case there is no doubt that the logo can be applied in any country without upsetting any culture but if Scope was, for example, to extend its business offer to art investment, the logo would no longer be suitable and would need a redesign.  

Dream job... Royal Mail

Stamps are a designer’s dream job. A prestigious commission like this can only caress the designer’s ego; millions of stamps are printed, they have terrific exposure and are collected by tens of thousands of people. The design challenge is to distil an idea into a confined space. Well designed, they are like a finely crafted piece of jewellery.  

Lord of the Rings was the third set of stamps we designed for Royal Mail (we are in the process of designing the fourth). The stamps celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Tolkien’s epic story. Like the other sets, this series involved a considerable amount of research that generated prolific ideas and interesting findings. From our original concepts presentation, J.R.R. Tolkien’s own drawings were chosen to feature on the stamps and in the process we had the privilege to reveal his well-protected illustrations in the coveted collection at the Bodleian library in Oxford.

Owning the concept... Tram

Logotypes shouldn’t be designed in isolation but brought to life and implemented in a dynamic way; applications are a fantastic vehicle to expand on the original concept and animate the brand personality. For this reason, and without being precious, we prefer to develop and implement the identities we create and find it heart-breaking to have our baby snatched from us and nurtured by others without the care we would have lavished upon it.  

Out of the blue, we got a call from Fortune, one of the largest advertising agencies in Greece, to see if we were interested in pitching for the identity of the new tramway system, built to welcome the millions of visitors coming to Athens for the 2004 Olympics. The elegant trams were designed by Pinafarina, renowed Italian designers for Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. Four days later we got another call to say that we’d won the job. Once we had devised the concept, we had to pass the torch to local designers who, disappointingly, applied the logo with no added extra dimension. Sadly, the illustrated signage shown below never saw the light of day.

Awards for design... Folio

Should design awards be beauty contests or business effectiveness tournaments? Judging a design item solely on aesthetic values is missing the point as it is ignoring its ultimate role of creating business effectiveness. Equally, design judged exclusively on performance is blind to the fundamental principle that beautiful design has the power of seduction and is therefore more effective. In my ideal world, design awards would honour beautiful design that achieves results.  

Here is a good reason to raise one’s glass: our seductive wine catalogue for Folio brought in crates of new business for this wine merchant and as a result won first prize in the B2B category of the Design Business Effectiveness Awards.

Nobel Prize... stamps

The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel invented dynamite to reduce the cost of blasting rock for the construction industry but became concerned about the use of his ‘explosive’ discovery for military use. Feeling unease about the potentially lethal legacy he would leave after his death, he instructed the executors of his will to constitute a fund to annually honour people who contribute the most to the wellbeing of mankind in the field of physics, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. The economic sciences prize was created much later and to the despair of mathematicians their discipline has never been recognised by the organisation. 

I was like an excited child when the Royal Mail Stamp and Collectible division asked me to design a set of six stamps to celebrate the Centenary of the Nobel Prize. My inspiration came from interviewing Sir Harold Kroto – a past Nobel Prize winner – and Colin J. Humphreys, Professor of Materials Science in Cambridge. They made me determined to design stamps as relevant and innovative as the Nobel prizes themselves. Luckily, the client shared the same ambition. The economic sciences stamp uses intaglio, the same gravure technique used on bank notes. The chemistry stamp is printed with thermochromatic ink, which, when heated with your finger, reveals an ion trapped inside the molecule. Peace, probably the subtlest stamp ever produced by Royal Mail, uses embossing. Physiology or Medicine releases a eucalyptus scent. The Literature stamp features an entire TS Elliot poem that can be read with a magnifying glass as it is printed with a micro printing technique and the Physics stamp uses a hologram. While there is certainly no Nobel Prize for stamp design, the stamps have won us a number of prestigious awards, including a prize from Asagio (the philatelic Numismatic club of Vicenza, Italy) which voted the peace stamp the most beautiful stamp in the world. 

Plagiarism... Bailhache Labesse

With such a plethora of visual communications, it is inevitable that sometimes there will be similarities between design work. It is totally plausible to come up with a concept we believe is original but already exists. But there are also examples of flagrant plagiarism, with designs that violate moral ownership. The culprits should be reprimanded. Over twenty years only a few of our jobs have been blatantly copied by others. In these cases we call the unaware client to denounce the offender; sadly, we believe that visual communication copyrights laws are still too vague to act on and anyway we are not litigious. Unless our client wants to pursue the legal route we would rather spend our energy more positively, on creativity.

How ironic that a piece of work we originated for a law firm was plagiarised by another agency in a national advertising campaign. We discovered that the ‘not very creative’ director had been part of a panel of judges the year we entered the brochure in a national award scheme. We are flattered when creatives are inspired by our work but get pretty pissed off when their bank balance and reputation are rewarded for concepts they haven’t generated. In this particular case the client dropped the campaign like a hot potato and, with any luck, the agency too. 

Hidden talent... Cultural olympiad

We have created pieces of work we are proud of that will never see the light of day. There are various reasons for this: they could have been part of a bundle of ideas we presented early on, or they were compromised by a change in the brief, or our contact left mid-project. Whatever the reason, we never resurrect dead work to use for other clients, as we believe all briefs are different, and that solutions are tailored to suit the job. The most these ‘parked’ ideas will ever do is help to trigger new ones.

Held by the same country that manages the Olympic Games, the Cultural Olympiad is an event that combines poetry, drama, literature and music. One of these three routes for the Greek Cultural Olympiad’s identity nearly came first. Unfortunately, as we were getting close to the finishing line our principal contact resigned and the new person in charge decided to make his mark by commissioning another agency. 

Experience in one sector... Arc dance

Clients tend to commission work from design agencies that have a proven track record in their sector. Our identity for the Almeida Theatre, our first client in the arts, got noticed and to our delight initiated a fair amount of work in the same stream including Arc Dance Company.

There are a few examples in this review where we ruminate about the importance of keeping an identity alive or energetic without losing its essence. Arc is another identity that illustrates this with beautiful photography.

Like your clients... Anaesthetists

As an art student, the American design guru Milton Glaser (for those people who don’t know of him, he designed the ‘I love NY’ logo) had a profound influence on my approach to visual communication. I read in his first published book, covering twenty years of his prolific career, that he worked better for clients that he got on well with. I am pretty convinced that the same is true for clients. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of mutual respect. 

There was a generous enthusiasm when we created campaigns to communicate the role of anaesthetists in hospitals. The client team was more than receptive to our concepts and equally we found their contribution very enriching. Their job, we discovered, is not to put people to sleep but to keep them alive and they treated our design ideas in the same way. A few years later, we looked after one of the anaesthetist’s daughters while she was working on placement in our studio and we returned the favour by making sure we kept her enthusiasm alive too.

Losing pitches... Conqueror

Design pitches can be a source of celebration or deflation. Like a dysfunctional weathervane most of the time our assumptions about the outcome are wrong but on reflection we can often pinpoint the reason for success or failure as they are usually related to the ability to grasp the client’s issues or to communicate with simplicity how we can solve their problem. If we lose a pitch we would rather see the victorious agency provide a cracking solution than a mediocre one, the latter leaving us in a state of high frustration with little room for self-forgiveness.

If you come second in a pitch, don’t slam the door on the client unless there is real incompatibility. Initially we lost the redesign of the Conqueror identity to a French agency but eight months later the paper company reappeared admitting they had picked the wrong design; they had decided that our initial strategy and creative solutions were more appropriate. Unfortunately, the French design consultancy had developed a logotype that represented hara-kiri in most Asian countries. Coincidentally the same idea had appeared in our initial sketches but was self-censored on the grounds that it looked too violent. As an evolutionary design solution, hgv used the sword as a typographic footnote to articulate the strap line as well as the numerous Conqueror sub-brands. This was an effective, appropriate symbol which was in the vernacular but equally didn’t offend any other culture.

Having fun... Pet

Some briefs give us licence to use witty ideas and then we lose all inhibitions, as we should! Witty design is food for thought that can make you smile. It has always been our philosophy to inject wit when it is relevant to the project and as a result we often attract like-minded clients and designers.

Most design juries are receptive to wit and this solution for a pet shop selling expensive items for people who like to pamper their pooch won six awards worldwide. It also won the hearts of passers-by as most of our clients who have seen the shop remember it. Our vet client Russell, or RRRRussell as he is affectionately known, remains loyal to hgv and regularly comes back with new work.    

Point of difference... Esprit Europe

To stand out in a competitive market, whether they sell products or services, clients need to communicate their point of differentiation. ‘International’, ‘friendly’ or ‘professional’ are amongst the most common buzzwords used in design briefs, yet alone don’t distinguish a brand. With lack of substance in the brief, designers will struggle to make any point of difference. With their ability to think laterally, designers are often good at putting a new perspective on the brief that gets to the essence of what is needed.

We created the brand identity for Esprit Europe, Eurostar’s express delivery service to Brussels and Paris. The speed of delivery distinguished the new company from its competitors as only Esprit’s parcels could reach both capitals the same day. To communicate ’parcel delivery’ and to convey a sense of speed, most related promotional items were wrapped in brown paper and enhanced with ‘urgent stickers’. After a while, the vinyl urgent stickers became a useful device to cover any accidental bumps on the delivery van. Despite minor accidents with the van, the company turnover grew rapidly from 0 to £500,000 in 6 months and we won a Design Effectiveness Award for the sales brochure.

Self-promotion... News at Ten

To celebrate our tenth anniversary, we decided to produce a little book that would give an insight into the type of agency we were without showing any of our work. We trawled through a decade of news to find items that could be illustrated in a witty way and conceived ‘News at Ten’ between jobs. At some point all the office walls were covered with hundreds of ideas. Of course we sent a batch to the News at Ten team at Granada TV just for fun. 

A hundred political or social news stories from the past decade were manipulated using type or imagery in a variety of styles. To illustrate the different nature of the events, we used a blend of satiric, ironic or moderate tones to provoke a thought or raise a smile. ‘New at Ten’ not only demonstrated that we were well informed but also unfolded our graphic sensibilities.

Flexibility... Telegraph colour library

We were one of the first design companies to explore the potential of non-static brand identities. They are effective when the identity is used as a platform to reinforce a brand’s message or essence without loosing its recognition. This treatment expresses a vitality that is difficult to achieve with a static identity applied with rigorous consistency. My visual communication teacher was preaching this design philosophy back in the Seventies but it took until 1999 until the right job came up to expand on the idea. 

A target audience of cynical creative directors and designers could have paralysed both sides of our brain but conclusive market research and increased sales showed that we pulled it off with our lateral identity solution. We playfully replaced letters within the Telegraph logotype with visual puns, to emphasise the richness of the library’s collection. In a set of adverts we produced, the brand identity was pushed even further as we created a cascade of links between the icon used within the logotype and other supporting imagery.

Lottery funding... Greenroom

Around 70% of the adult population play at least one National Lottery game per month. Since the lottery began in 1994 it has not only created around two thousand millionaires but has also injected around £2 billion into the arts. If this isn’t consolation for the millions of losers, it is a real boost for the beneficiaries of arts lottery funding including, in many cases, architects and designers. 

The Greenroom is a cutting-edge performance centre in Manchester. A major grant via the National Lottery in 1995 led to a fundamental refurbishment of the premises as well as a revamp of the identity, signage and literature. A hundred ashtrays that we designed especially for the launch party were nicked at the event. We somehow knew that if they were desirable they would be stolen and thus spread the name of the venue around Manchester.

Design for charity... RHN

As much as in any other sector, charities now have to be commercially astute to perform in their competitive market. In the past five years most major charities have recognised the importance of defining their brand personality and brand identity with a view to gaining recognition and visibility on the high street or zones of conflict and disaster. Charity headquarters’ windows now look like big retail shop frontages and aid supplies are heavily branded, not only to communicate the provenance and the organisation’s good intentions but also to reach millions of people who are watching broadcasted events on the news. 

There are professionals that put our job into perspective. The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, a national medical charity that relies heavily on individual donations, does just that. The hospital specialises in treating individuals who have suffered brain damage caused by traffic accidents or chronic illness. Our humble design solution, a sun coming out of an eclipse, communicates that there is hope after darkness.

Inspired by... Techniquest

Clients often ask how we dig out ideas. The answer is that they tend to be the result of a logical process mixed up with imponderables. Ideas can pop up instantly or be part of a laborious journey. But in the end no brief is easy if the designer strives for relevance and originality. A few years ago I went to see an exhibition of Manolo Blahnik, the famous shoe designer. I came out of the Design Museum amazed that a designer could work, year after year, on the same subject with minor alterations to the brief and yet remain not only sane but also original. There are important events like this that drop into my life and shake my well-anchored opinions.

Techniquest is an interactive science museum situated in Cardiff Bay. In this instance, the idea for the logotype clicked as the client was reading the brief to me. It was then just a question of bringing it to life. The question mark within the letterform becomes an icon that can also be used independently. Inspired by the four-colour scheme of the exhibits, our logo uses them alternately to communicate a sense of fun.

Using wit... Design Council

Witty design cannot exist without an idea, though an idea is not necessarily witty. Wit is a means to captivate and stimulate the brain of the recipient. It breaks barriers and creates a relationship by inviting participation. As wit requires the mind to do a bit of gymnastics, it makes the design all the more memorable. 

This brochure outlines a Design Council research programme which aims to provide British industry with the tools to harness innovation and thereby improve competitiveness. A set of witty images is employed to grab the attention of busy executives. 

Useful collaboration... Tesco

In our industry, collaboration between small design agencies and other related specialist service providers, like communication consultants, PR and advertising agencies, are invaluable. As the world of communication is evolving rapidly, only specialists can stay ahead in their area of expertise and outperform those who juggle all disciplines under one roof: ‘A master of all trades is a master of none’. At the end of the day clients, the brands and the service providers benefit from such fruitful alliances. 

In the mid-Nineties, we were already being invited by specialists to form collaborations and would also return the compliment. Colette Dorward, then co-owner of internal communications consultancy Smythe Dorward Lambert, brought us in to design the main elements of internal communications programmes for clients including Tesco Plc, Barclays Plc and Willis Coroon. Two years ago, Colette, who has now founded her own consultancy ‘Comma’, invited us to design her visual identity which can be seen at www.commaconsulting.com

Identity change... Child Support Agency

A designer can sometimes provide the most relevant design solution to an identity’s brief only to see it suddenly replaced. What has provoked this sudden expurging of the old? Sometimes, the organisation has revisited its ethos or aspirations and needs to signal this change; on other occasions it just heralds the advent of a new Chairman who wants to make his mark. A third reason, sadly, is the need to restore a tarnished reputation, in which case the old mark is best forgotten. 

We still believe that our identity for this governmental agency was spot on. We asked children to complete the logo and write the word child within the negative space in the lettering, knowing that our handwriting could never match a child’s spontaneity. The treatment seemed to be appropriate but the agency’s mismanagement generated bad headlines in the press and as a consequence the image was damaged. The identity was dropped to shift perceptions but as the agency again didn’t match up to expectations the new identity didn’t make things better.

Medical discoveries... Stamps

At the end of last year I watched Dr J Craig Venter speaking at the annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture on BBC One. Craig Venter is an American biologist who contributed to mapping the human genome and is now on a mission to create – within the next ten years – synthetic bacteria that will generate green fuels. If he gets there, the discovery will not only help the planet but also make him a very rich man indeed. Whether you agree with his views or not, it is still one of the most captivating lectures I ever heard. The text of his lecture is available on:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/.../2007/12_december/05/dimbleby.shtml

British scientists have played a key role in medical discoveries that allow doctors explore inside the human body. These four stamps on depicting ultrasonic imaging, scanning electron microscopy, magnetic resonance and computer tomography were the first set we designed for Royal Mail. At that time, ‘still alive’ human beings couldn’t be portrayed on stamps unless they were part of the Royal Family. Instead of using photography, we commissioned hyper-realistic illustrations to get round these rules, which, by the way, have since been relaxed. At the time, the pixelated effect blending the two images couldn’t be achieved on the printer’s computer and we had to specify colours from the four colour process for each individual box. Today to create that effect designers only need to highlight the desired area and click a button. 

The last recession... Mobil

Design in the Eighties was booming and agencies were commanding healthy fees. The economic downturn of the early Nineties abruptly dried up this oasis. Actually, there were a few indications that we were heading for a dry patch: being able to find a taxi around eleven o’clock on a rainy night in the West End was definitely a bad omen. The specialist design press at the time was pretty demoralising as one group after another went down. We braced ourselves for a rough ride and cut down on luxuries, including the weekly supply of flowers for the reception. We never imagined the worst and it came as a shock: more or less all our clients vanished in the space of one week. We suddenly felt vulnerable but instead of vegetating we invested our last pennies in new business development. It was a calculated strategy that gradually paid off. Since then we have recognized that nurturing new business must be a continuous effort and not an impulsive reaction to a recession.

There are logotypes that are untouchable and the Mobil identity designed by Chermayeff & Geismar in the Seventies is one of them When we were given the brief for designing a set of literature for the different divisions of the oil company we naturally opted to borrow the colour sequence of the Mobil logo not only to give a sense of unity between the various part of the business but also to reinforce the strength of the branding. Further on we were commissioned to design the main corporate brochure but the job was halted in its course. This project was the first casualty of the economic slump.

Eco-friendly... Plantlife

A few years after launching hgv we were on a mission to devote some of our design time to charities specialising in the protection of the environment. As a result, we worked consecutively for Greenpeace, Global Witness, Media Natura and Plantlife.  Our stance didn’t always win us friends . . . or new work. At some point the Institute of Physicists asked us to present our credentials with a view to commissioning a new identity. When one of the sceptics saw Greenpeace on our client list he gave us flak for being partisan. He didn’t believe that global warming was a threat to the planet and consequently we didn’t get the job. Cutting carbon dioxide emissions has become a worldwide agenda with 80% of the UK population saying they plan to cut their carbon footprint in 2008. All these years later, witnessing the radical shift in attitudes towards green issues, I can’t help but wonder if that opinionated scientist has changed his stance. Maybe I should give him a call. 

When we designed the identity for this charity dedicated to save endangered wild plants in the world, symbols or marks that define the type of organisation or communicate its aspirations were in vogue. To communicate that plants are an essential part of the planet, we applied this design formula with a twist. The organisation, originally founded by two botanists including David Bellamy, is now thirty people strong and counts the HHR Prince of Wales as a Patron. 

Being daring... Mitchell Phoenix

Design is not an exact science and creativity is hardly a tangible thing, subsequently clients can find the process daunting and struggle when it comes to selecting a solution from a number of options. I can only reassure them that young designers usually share a similar anxiety when it comes to sanctioning their own ideas. Often individuals or companies that commission design need a strong rationale to be persuaded to go with something they perceive as ‘daring’, and only appreciate the value of the design after being rewarded for its effectiveness. 

At hgv we always strive to differentiate our clients from the competition and use lateral thinking as one of our techniques. It took some heavy persuasion to get Mitchell Phoenix, a company that develops people’s potential in their working environment, to adopt this figurative and witty mark. But the client’s bravery was rewarded when the logo received extensive media attention and existing and new audiences applauded it for its design purpose and distinctiveness.   

Small fees... Almeida theatre

Designing for the arts is not usually associated with financial reward but designers, as ‘commercial artists’, have more affinity with arts institutions where they see an opportunity for unfettered creativity. At hgv we worship these jobs. and every client we have worked with in this sector has contributed a great deal to our reputation. Our philosophy is simple: no money with joy is worth it; lots of money, no joy is still worth it; no money, no joy, forget it. 

When we presented the Almeida Theatre identity to Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid, the two new outstanding artistic directors, we were confident we had designed a well-crafted, unique, relevant and memorable piece of work. The mask formed from ‘almeida’ in hand lettering might look like a happy accident but it is one of those opportunities that only a trained eye can spot and an experienced hand can execute. What followed was our first Design Week Award and a fantastic, five-year relationship, with the client’s total trust in our ability to design posters to promote the plays. Initially the ideas for the posters were presented in sketch, if not scribble, form, then implemented with no other approval stage. But things changed with the arrival of computers; our visuals became increasingly sophisticated and the client team took licence to request more and more revisions. It killed any design spontaneity. At that point we felt that the quality of our work for the Almeida Theatre was in decline and decided to depart amicably. There was no more joy! But they are still one of the best clients we ever worked for. 

Not NUT... National Union of Teachers

We launched the eponymous agency Halpin Grey Vermeir in 1988. Despite the fact that it was always a pain to spell out on the phone, the name quickly gained recognition, partly thanks to our scooping the National Union of Teachers new identity against well-established competition just two months after opening our doors. The fact that our three heads filled the cover of the industry magazine Design Week magazine when the identity launched, also helped to get our name about.

The commission of the new identity coincided with the organisation’s restructure to deliver better services to its members. For obvious reasons, we advised the union to stop using the acronym ‘NUT’ and spell out the full name of the organisation as part of the new logo’s more cohesive form. As the new strategic and visual identity was going to be staged at the National Union of Teachers’ annual conference, we only had three months from the time of approval to finalise the identity and produce numerous applications, including the inevitable beer mat. Soon after, the Liberal Democrat party commissioned another agency to design their new identity and the style we used for the National Union of Teachers’ symbol was moulded into a pair of dove wings. Twenty years later, both identities are still going strong.