Deborah formed her own consultancy, Objectives Communications, in the early 90s, and counts a variety of top agencies and brands in her list of clients; such as Pentagram, IDEO and Mulberry, as well as having worked in-house at the Design Council and as PR consultant to Purpose.

PR is seemingly not something reserved for agencies and brands in the hope of making a name for themselves and managing their reputation; it is something we all adopt in our everyday lives through editing and tailoring our social media personas. In terms of the corporate world, Deborah will be revealing the five Ws of Public Relations – Who, What, Why, Where and When – in the hope of explaining the importance of a great PR strategy to a business, whilst sharing her current involvement with Purpose. There are various tools and channels necessary to carry out PR, which Deborah will present to us, along with the best ways of measuring or tracking a PR campaign’s success.

Surely it’s always good to be talked about publicly, regardless of the subject matter? As well as discussing the phrase, ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity,’ Deborah will be giving her spin on the ‘dark art of public relations’ and her extensive experience in the design industry. Keep an eye on our News page for photos of the talk to come shortly; in the meantime you can check out her website here.

We are proud to have won a bronze Art Directors Club award for our Apprenticeships Identity project! Keep an eye on our website which we’ll soon be updating with the project itself.

To view the other Design, Photography, Illustration and Print winners click here.

Sean and Nathan talked through a recent project for The McGuire Programme – an organistion that provides effective therapeutic coaching to help people who stutter to go beyond the affliction, transforming them into articulate, eloquent speakers.

The project originally came about through an internal initiative at Purpose – To nominate an organisation to help through the power of design.

Sean, who himself is battling to overcome his stutter, put forward The McGuire Programme as a deserving candidate and the proposal for rebranding the organisation won the peer vote.

It was identified their existing communications lacked in the confidence and consistency they needed to grow their brand and reputation and Purpose took it upon themselves to create an identity that truly reflected the strengths of this worthy organisation, and equip them with the tools they would need to create a strong, recognisable brand.

Speaking to an audience of around 500 delegates, the event was a great opportunity for Sean and Nathan to demonstrate the power that design can have in society and the positive impact it creates.

To view the full rebranding project, which launched this week, please click here – http://www.purpose.co.uk/our-work/the-mcguire-programme-identity/

Watch the video of the event here –

Sixty six million people stammer worldwide. Little is known about why, and there isn’t a cure, but The McGuire Programme is providing effective therapeutic coaching that helps sufferers manage their difficulties. As part of an internal initiative at Purpose, to identify and invest in companies that could be helped through design, one Purpose designer put forward The McGuire Programme as a deserving candidate. The proposal for rebranding the organisation won the peer vote.

The McGuire Programme was founded in 1994 and helps transform people who stutter into eloquent and articulate speakers. The Programme’s most visible ambassador, and now a course instructor on the programme, is talent show singer Gareth Gates. Also a programme coach, is Sean Rees, the Purpose designer behind the identity proposal, who is now executing the design programme along with colleague Nathan Webb.

Like all programme participants, Sean has had to face the unenviable challenge after completing the intensive four-day McGuire Programme, of standing on a soapbox and completing a public speech, including some of the most intimidating speaking environments, such as at London’s Speakers’ Corner and putting his speech into practice in front of his fellow participants. On 3 May, he takes the challenge a step further when he stands on stage at RIBA to tell 500 delegates about the value of the rebrand at POINT London, a conference that demonstrates the power of design for change in business, education and society (www.pointishere.com).

THE APPROACH

The first concern of the branding programme was to establish the essence of the brand. This involved digging down to find out what it was about the McGuire Programme that makes it unique. The answer was that it was the first programme run entirely by people who are conquering their own stutters. The next step was to articulate the vision of the McGuire Programme. The answer was ‘to create a world where people who stutter can speak freely and be the person they want to be,’ with a mission to ‘transform lives’, and go ‘beyond stuttering’ to become the people they really want to be.

The design concept was then created to allow the organisation to articulate through a verbal and visual language the distinctive nature of the programme, and to equip central and regional offices with an easy-to-adapt library of tools to communicate this clearly, effectively and succinctly.

The core identity elements are two distinctive speech bubbles which come together to form an ‘M’ in the negative space. This is complemented with the programme name and strap line, featured using cyan lettering on a white background. There is a central identity and as part of the brand architecture, regional permutations to engender local ownership. The main typeface, Garage Gothic was chosen for being bold and distinctive but friendly and approachable. Cyan was selected as the main colour for being bold, pure and single-minded as well as being cost-effective and easy to reproduce worldwide with consistency.

The McGuire identity speech bubble is readily adapted as a communication device that can incorporate text or graphic images. It has been turned into a campaigning banner, or articulate the impact of Beyond Stuttering to sufferers: a poster campaign in the pipeline, for instance, shows a father with his daughter saying “reading bedtime stories to my little girl. That’s my beyond stuttering” and a young man saying, “I was quiet as a mouse, but since taking control of my speech you can’t shut me up!” A visual style for the graphic images – simply and iconic, with intelligence and wit – lays the foundation for a growing image bank to which local McGuire designers can add.

The implementation programme goes at a gradual pace, in time with the ability of the non-profit organisation to raise the funds. They are introduced as the need arises rather than in one major hit, guided by the designers who advise on where their designs will have the most impact. A complete set of guidelines cover current and future needs, providing the tools to create campaigns (posters, print and billboard advertising), promotional/motivational items to raise visibility for funding and give delegates a sense of identity (‘business’ cards for trainers, badges, postcards, T-shirts, Christmas cards etc), information platforms (a website, an app, powerpoint presentations, brochures), participation tools (information packs, a breathing belt – part of the treatment – and a public speaking banner to accompany near-graduates of the programme on their final test – a stint at Speakers’ Corner in London.

Please click here, to view the full project.

SEAN REES, DESIGNER, PURPOSE

‘It would be no exaggeration to say that The McGuire Programme has changed my life for the better. 10 years on I decided to give back to the programme by becoming a Primary Coach, providing tutoring and mentoring for new students and graduates of the programme that I too received in my early days.

I am hugely grateful to Purpose for investing our time and experience, allowing me the opportunity to give back to the organisation in a professional capacity. I hope our branding can have a positive impact for the programme, who without Purpose’s involvement, may never have received the quality brand that this wonderful programme deserves.’

EDITOR’S NOTES

The McGuire Programme
The McGuire Programme works with people who stutter, not simply with their speech behaviours. Their approach is not just about learning physical techniques that deal effectively in the short term with dysfluencies. They identify and teach the mechanics and dynamics of speaking. The result, in most cases, is an immediate, improved control of speech. To ensure continuing control in the long term, these physical techniques are supplemented by an understanding of the psychology of stammering and the benefits of self-acceptance. Together, these strategies combine to sustain consistent improvement. This is a mutual self-help organization – run by people who stammer for the benefit of people who stammer – and members are encouraged to participate fully in future courses. Programme members are welcomed back, as often as they wish, to continue working on their speech and to help others. They are empowered by coaching others, and thereby making themselves stronger.
It is a major strength of the McGuire Programme that they understand, from personal experience, the difficulties of dealing with a stammer.

The conference, POINT 01 Authenticity, features a selection of speakers from various creative backgrounds such as art, graphic design and journalism, with the aim of demonstrating the power of design for driving change in business, education and society. Speaking to an audience of 500 delegates, Designer Sean and Design Director Nathan will be discussing the inspiration behind our identity and branding project for the programme, which stemmed from an internal initiative at Purpose.

A while back, Sean chose to put forward The MGuire Programme as a deserving candidate to be helped through design, being a coach on the programme as well as having received treatment himself ten years ago. Founded in 1994, McGuire is a worldwide recovery programme helping those who stutter overcome their difficulties and become eloquent speakers. After winning the peer vote here at Purpose, we have been working with the programme over the past few months to implement their rebrand, with POINT being a great opportunity for Sean and Nathan to share the design concept behind the refreshed identity, and overall approach to the project.

The POINT website has a feature about their talk, which you can view here. Keep an eye on our website where we will soon be adding our work for The McGuire Programme.

Tamara’s career includes writing, presenting, acting, whilst running several businesses, and acting as an Ambassador to several luxury brands. We were commissioned to create an interface that would bring together all these elements in one central website.

Today saw the launch, in time with the start of the third series of Channel 4′s ‘Four Rooms’ on Monday, which Tamara will be taking part in along with friend of Purpose, Interior Designer Shaun Clarkson who joins the programme on Wednesday 1 May.

Click here to check out Tamara’s website.

Alongside a panel and hosted by graphic design recruitment company Represent, Sean shared his feedback on a group of student and graduate portfolios, hoping to provide constructive critique and give valuable advice and insight as to how to improve their overall body of work.

Pick Me Up began in 2010 as a celebration of graphic art, design and illustration, and as well as showcasing both UK based and international graphic artists, collectives and galleries, it offers a variety of activities, workshops and events over the course of 11 days. The show is open until Sunday, and we recommend a visit – for more information check out Pick Me Up’s website here.

We have carried out a number of student talks recently, both here in the studio and at various colleges and universities across the country, including Manchester College, Teesside University and Falmouth University. The students had the opportunity to discuss work produced in response to a brief set as part of a talk a few weeks ago by Design Director Paul Felton, with Paul and Designer Sean Rees providing critique.

The university works with a range of industry figures to set regular briefs for its students in the hope of strengthening their design practice and encouraging development of their ideas. They were asked to design a new identity for The McGuire Programme, a global recovery programme dedicated to those who stutter. Purpose is currently working with McGuire on a refreshed brand and identity which is set to complete its launch in May, and felt this was a fitting choice for the students’ brief.

The critique session proved very useful for the group, as feedback from Graphic Design Lecturer Claire Lewis proves; ‘the response to Wednesday was really positive, the students enjoyed the fact that they had the chance to go to Purpose’s studio, and really appreciated the feedback. Some of them were quite nervous I think!’. Thanks to Claire and the students at Middlesex University for coming along – there was a great selection of work on show, and we hope you enjoyed the day and found it inspiring.

The next in our series of thought leadership pieces looks to the theme of live brand experience. In a world where consumers interact with brands constantly, with a multitude of touch points at their disposal, Brand Experience Director Pete Davies asks how do we hold on tight to the attention of our audience and maintain loyalty to our brand?

Unlike any other media, Live allows all five senses to be stimulated, engaging and exciting an audience craving interaction. Brands who Pete believes have utilised live experience to its best include Budweiser, London 2012; where many companies such as Puma and Cadbury created their own ‘houses’; and Coca Cola, whose Happiness Truck surprised and inspired its unassuming audience. As a result of these experiences, when carried out successfully, brands can expect to boost their sales whilst gaining publicity.

You can read Pete’s article here.

Check out Rob’s Voxpop below, and you can view this week’s selection on Design Week’s website here.