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06/10

	Going up Every year, Design Week compile their 'Top 100' – a league table of UK design agencies – and, ever the optimists, we went for it based on solid client relationships and our ability to deliver tangible benefits through great design. We're pleased to announce that we've moved up the chart five places since last year, particularly impressive against the backdrop of an economic downturn. We're here for the duration!
	A site to behold Building on our knowledge and work in the private equity sector, we have just been appointed by Montagu to design their new website. Our success followed a 4-way tender and we will be joining forces with web developers and recurrent partners Skyron to offer a more cutting edge and results driven response to the brief. We hope to develop our relationship with Montagu and look forward to a prosperous partnership.
	Adding more We have just completed our first project for Aggmore in the form of a new identity and website. They bring a unique approach to property fund management and wanted their site to reflect this. The site design had to be clean and distinct, making them stand out from their competitors and translating across the borders of their business, into Eastern Europe and beyond. The site launched this week and you can see it here.
	What's the point? You can probably tell there's a theme of benefit driven design in our June newsletter. We've been delivering this for our clients over the last 20 years but now it's even more important to measure the success of this work. We've brought together eight case studies showing how we've brought real benefits to our clients through design. Make sure your communications have a point!

05/10

	Nikki's run Nikki Gay, our senior designer, completed her first Virgin London Marathon... and she even made it into work on the Monday! Find out how she got on and what she thought of the experience at: http://www.justgiving.com/Nikki-Gay
	At your disposal Following an initial competitive proposal, new company 'Waste-a-Base' appointed us to create a logo, brief guidelines and stationery for their launch. The company's aim is to introduce land development waste producers, with suitable receivers, therefore reducing the amount of material entering landfill sites. This database will be an online resource, and Waste-a-Base will be working with TTP on upcoming collateral. Read more.
	Sean Hanna After rebranding the award winning hair salon chain seanhanna, Sean returned to us with a brief to elevate the identity across stationery, marketing materials and advertising. To mark the launch of a new salon, his collaboration with TIGI haircare and the redesign of the salon interiors, we've created a more elegant brand that adds strength and individuality across the chain. Read the press release here.
	The circle of life Last month we launched our 'Sketch' competition and we're pleased to say we had lots of great entries, however we've picked a winner which impressed us on several counts: 1. it looks great, 2. it depicts the eternal struggle fought every day in nature and 3. it was drawn by Annabel - age 2! Well done Annabel, your champagne is in the fridge – you can pick it up in 16 years (sorry!) See all the entries here (winning sketch at the end).

4/10

	Go Gay! Nikki Gay, our senior designer, is preparing for her first London Marathon on 25 April. She is running for a very good and personal cause – Hughes Syndrome Foundation. After suffering from clots on the lungs she was diagnosed with the blood disorder, Hughes Syndrome. Any supportive emails are welcome to egg her on or donations via her Just Giving page at: www.justgiving.com/Nikki-Gay
	Prestige for L&G Property Legal & General Property have just launched a £1bn UK Property Income Fund and we are delighted to have designed and produced the brochure which will be sent out to all eager investors. It needed to convey the unique and exclusive opportunity the fund offered so we have used a mix of gloss and uncoated stocks to add a high quality element and successfully combined black and white fund imagery with conceptual photography.
	Well, well, well Helping News International build on their internal communications, we’ve just completed a succinct little brochure for their Health & Wellbeing department that helps communicate key messages and services to their staff. The brochure raises awareness of the company’s health and wellbeing facilities while encouraging employees to take pride in their physical wellbeing and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
	Sketchers We hope you're still enjoying your 2010 Calendar and the free pencil too. For those who've used it up already (or never actually got round to sharpening it) we've created a fun little online sketch app for you to practice with - check it out here. Feel free to get creative and email us the results - we'll be posting our favourites online and there'll be a prize next month for the best one. And if you need another calendar, just let us know!

03/10

	The reign of Hale Please welcome our newest member of the TTP team, Karen McHale. She will be providing essential support to the account managers, managing director and creative team. She is a qualified graphic designer who has over five years' experience working as an office administrator within national and multi-national companies in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia – so we're pretty sure we're in safe hands.
	Twin win After some busy pitching in February, March has seen the win of two websites for us – a new site for Aggmore (a real estate fund management company) and a website for The King Edward's School (this will be our first school site). Although the sites couldn't be more different from each other, the brief for each has been to create a completely new design and develop each site from the ground up. (NB. above links are to current sites).
	Triple impact We've completed three new projects for EPSRC this month: their 2010 Strategic Plan, detailing how they will get the best outcome from investments in research; a major event, www.impactexhibition.org.uk, using social media to promote this RCA exhibition of scientists collaborating with designers; and the 'People Who Make an Impact' brochure, showcasing scientists' work and its impact on society.
	A PDF less ordinary We all love PDF's – they're ideal for putting printed material online so people can download and print them. If you're expecting people to read a PDF on screen, however, it should be created with just that in mind, including making web links interactive and ensuring it's accessible to those with visual disabilities (just like we do on the web). Drop us a line if you want to find out more.

02/10

	Happy 20th Birthday! Probably the most widely used design tool in the industry: Adobe Photoshop turned 20 this month. Released in February 1990, it has been 'tweaking reality' in our photo's and images ever since. Today a report from the Home Office on the 'sexualisation of children' recommends (among many other things) that symbols be used to show when a photograph has been digitally altered – perhaps they should just use a '© Adobe' icon?
	Special FX Having focused on Moneycorp’s top tier literature including the Annual Report and Accounts last year, we are starting to apply the new brand across their collateral and have just completed design of the CFX (Commercial Foreign Exchange) brochure for personal (as opposed to corporate) clients, the first of a family of brochures highlighting the company's various divisions and services.
	EDF Energy - "Going the right way" We are leading a signage project on two EDF Energy sites, completely replacing all branded and wayfinding signs with sleek totem styles, as well as implementing new signage brand guidelines brought in at the start of 2010. Along with mapping optimum routes around the large station sites, we have also consolidated safety signage and incident assembly points, and created new building signs to keep messages clear for site users.
	Congratulations! The winner of our 2010 calendar competition was Helen Davis – hope you enjoyed the champagne! Amazingly, from all the entries, she was the only one to get all 12 months right. The one that caught everyone out was February 14th - which wasn't 'Valentines Day' as most people guessed, it was actually 'Chinese New Year' (they're supposed to be chopsticks!) For the curious, all the correct answers can be viewed here.

01/10

	too tough? We hope you all received your 'to the point 2010 calendar' and have it sitting in pride of place on your desk (didn't get one?). We mentioned last time that we've also got a special online calendar competition – and it's closing deadline is today. However, although many of you have entered, so far, no one's got all the months right! Did we make it a little too tough? Yeah probably, so we're giving you all a second chance.... see below.
	east is east After sending out our own calendars in December, we were approached by East Homes, part of the East Thames Group, to produce a calendar with a similar concept that they could hand out at the London Affordable Homes Show. Keeping with imagery that represented a date or event for each month, we came up with ideas that linked to their organisation and the home environment. Read more about it here.
	golden brown We've been busy producing literature, display material, ads and websites for the EPSRC over the last year to help raise their profile and showcase the impact of their work. Much of this can now be seen at key events and recently at the London launch of the first of three new EPSRC manu- facturing research centres. The event was attended by the Prime Minister, Lord Mandelson and EPSRC Chief Executive Professor David Delpy.
	easy as pi (now a piece of cake) Ok, we admit it, our calendar competition was a bit tricky, so we've decided to push back the deadline an extra week – we've also given you an easy clue for each month. In the competition form, replace the clues with the actual event (those who have already entered get a second try). Best of luck!
	there's an app for that A final note for any of you iPhone users - you can now get our free app (via iTunes). This will keep you up to date with our latest comments/twitter posts and blogs. Give us a call if you'd like to create similar apps, video or web content for mobiles and smart-phones.

12/09

	'mo' better blues As we mentioned last month, the lads at TTP all had a go at the 'mo' (that's 'mo'ustache by the way) growing business - all in the aid of a good cause of course. As promised, you can see the rather scary results here, there's also a link to the team's Movember page underneath them for anyone feeling curious or generous. You'll be pleased to know the boys are now clean-shaven again!
	Ricoh integrates We have just completed the first stage of an advertising and marketing campaign for Ricoh UK, one of the world leaders in digital production printing. Our concept communicates the company’s recent integration with Infotec and uses an iconic central graphic across all materials, ranging from print and online advertising through to DM.
	EDF stays safe We've just completed a poster campaign for EDF Energy. The 'SABRE' Safe Behaviour Recognition initiative focuses on a 'Words of Wisdom' theme, taking 12 workers from around their sites and using their safety advice to promote good working practices. Photography was shot on site coupled with a large A1 format provide an impactful campaign. The campaign has also been translated into a 2010 wall calendar.
	december Talking of calendars, as is now the TTP tradition we've been working hard on a new 2010 calendar for you all - which should be winging it's way to those on our mailing list. And if that's not enough to bring a little christmas cheer, we also have our 2010 calendar competition. Enter now by visiting the competition page for a chance to win a bottle of champagne (or just register yourself for a calendar). Till next year - stay sharp!

11/09

	movember Three members of TTP have decided to put down their razors for 30 days in aid of charity this month. 'Mo' is Australian slang for moustache and subsequently Movember is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men’s health – specifically prostate cancer. To find out more, visit our Movember page. You can look forward to the photographic results next month!
	sipping fine wines We have just completed the logo and stationery for a new fine wines company - LHK. The finished mark is simple yet subtly represents red and white wine through the use of a two coloured colon. This will act as a flexible marketing device to introduce headline text in print and digital usage. LHK will be launching their new website early next year, utilising this concept and bringing in humourous copy for a fresh approach.
	an international welcome We've just completed a new 'Welcome CD' for News International, which will be sent out to all their new recruits. Packed with video interviews with James and Rupert Murdoch, important documents and useful information, it's easy to navigate, fun to explore and a forward thinking way of introducing the organisation before joining.
	november This month our calendar represents the New York Marathon – held on Sunday 1st. With entrants now limited to 37,000 people, back in 1970, the race consisted of just 127 people repeatedly running around Central Park – only 55 of them managed to cross the finishing line. This year Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia won the women's elite race and Meb Keflezighi took the men's winning title and became the first American to win since 1982.

10/09

	we entweet you... If you're a proud member of the social networking revolution, or maybe just taking your first steps and wondering what all the fuss is about, we invite you to follow us on Twitter (or you can see recent 'tweets' on our opinion page). It's a great and instant way of keeping you up-to-date with important announcements and status updates – even David Cameron can be found making a tw*t of himself.
	new planet discovered! We have just completed a new website for EPSRC called Impact! World. Our brief was to create a unique site that allows people to interact and engage with short stories and films about the impact of science on our world. Illustrations were created by Ben Kirchner and animated/coded in-house. Visit: www.impactworld.org.uk if you want to know more about science and it's impact on you – read more here.
	looking gorgeous Following on from our rebranding of Sean Hanna, the award winning chain of hair salons, we were commissioned to look at the identity and branding for their new venture Looks Gorgeous. Providing high quailty salon products at online prices, the identity had to reflect both the quality of the product and the fact that the new company would provide advice and information to help customers with their selection – read more here.
	october Witches, pumpkins and scary skeletons... are what you can expect pretty much the entire month of October these days as they line the streets and ring your door-bell asking for 'treats'. Halloween originally began as the ancient Celtic new year 'Samhain' - when they believed the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved and the dead proceeded to cause disease, damage crops and ask for more sweets.

09/09

	heroes 14 miles, two short showers and several blisters later, we raised a mammoth £2,057 in memory of our friend and colleague Matthew Stokes, in August. We’d like to extend a warm thank you to all those who supported us, donated funds and stopped us in the street for a photo opportunity and a smile.
	103 British Land is about to announce it's latest development in the heart of Birmingham: '103 Colmore Row' and is set to be the new signature office building within the city centre. TTP have been working closely with British Land to co-ordinate it's marketing strategy which includes design of the main identity, brochure, micro-site and exterior signage.
	Acas Following a creative presentation, to the point have produced a conceptual brochure showcasing the training courses available from Acas. Using a mixture of strong colour, icons and large format photography, the document is highly engaging and is set to entice the audience to take part in their particularly pertinent courses, in the current economic climate.
	september With most kids back to school last week, we can now enjoy cheaper holidays, quieter shops and happy parents! It may not be all smiles though as a recent survey showed that the cost of sending a child to school in the UK is an average £1,077 a year with the biggest chunk of this spend on school meals.

08/09

	a real time-saver To celebrate the launch of our new website, we've created a special screensaver showing the current time in two very different and creative ways. You can also use it as a handy 'world clock' showing three different locations/time-zones of your choosing. It'll run on any Mac or PC and you can download and use it for free here.
	Acas ads speak to the masses Acas have commissioned us to work on an advertising campaign for their training services that will be launched online and in various print advertising. Using quirky imagery and straplines, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service take a step away from a more predictable corporate approach to engage with HR professionals and managers alike.
	News International SAP user interface design Working closely with their HR team, we’ve just completed a project for News International to redesign their SAP user interface. The use of colour coding and symbols to define sections and activities is being adapted across other comms materials including HR forms to ensure a consistency of approach and help simplify staff inductions.
	august This month's calendar image shows a ballet dancer, just one of the many performers at this months Edinbugh Festival. It's offficially the worlds largest arts festival and has been going since 1947. As well as the main international festival, people now flock to Edinburgh to see the Military Tattoo and the more off-the-wall events at the Fringe. In fact, there's so much going on that it's estimated it would take you 5 years, 11 months and 16 days to see every performance back to back!

07/09

	3, 2, 1, launch Our new website is go! As you've probably seen already, we have a new brand and now we have a brand new website to go with it. Whether viewing on a desktop PC or a shiny iPhone there's plenty to see and we'll be keeping the site updated with new content and updates on a much more regular basis. We hope you like it - feel free to drop us a line and let us know what you think.
	they were heroes Following a grueling six hours around our fair capital, the 13 superheroes completed their journey around 50 theatres. For photographic evidence of the embarrassment which ensued, click here. Donations so far are close to £1,500 total, so to help it go further, visit here for details on how to give.
	making an Impact! We’ve just won the contract to design the EPSRC's Impact! campaign website and accompanying Impact! Art project site. David Reid, head of marketing and communications said: "to the point's pitch was highly creative with design elements which were fun and interactive, and communicate the impact that we're having on society. Their project plan brought great attention to detail and convinced us they would deliver a high quality website to cost and on time."
	july This month's calendar image shows one of our cricketers in full swing as the Test series gets underway. The name 'Test' is thought to relate to the fact that it's considered a 'test of strength' and dates as far back as an England V Australia match in 1861. Let's hope our team passes with flying colours!

06/09

	be a hero 50 theatres, 11.2 miles, 13 Clark Kents. A fund-raising event to raise as much money as possible for a worthy cause – all in memory of our good friend and colleague, Matthew Stokes who sadly passed away earlier this year. Read more here.
	ICAEW - video animation As part of a wider project to brand the new Business Centre at the ICAEW, we were asked to design and produce an engaging video animation, illustrating the key messages as set out by the Institute. The HD video is now showing on a newly installed 72" plasma within the ICAEW’s main reception and will also be used online and at presentations or events.
	Newsprinters - signage Equal in size to 23 football pitches, Newsprinters’ Broxbourne site is enjoying the benefits of our newly designed interior wayfinding system. It’s now easy to make your way around with colour coding and large format graphics creating impact and interest.
	june This month's calendar image shows a guitarist rocking out as the Music festival season gets into gear. Although Glastonbury is probably the most famous of these, there are over 25 other festivals in the UK alone this month – from the Hampton Court Palace Festival to Rock Ness – there's enough to cater for all tastes this June!

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