Direct Design Blog

Rather than the thoughts and memories of anyone at Direct Design Books, this book has been written by Alastair Tod to present to his mother on her 100th Birthday in June.

He has inherited a treasure house of papers from a remarkable family, Jamaica planters, Yorkshire sea-captains, Edinburgh lawyers, Sussex iron-founders, Puritans and Quakers, smugglers and slave-owners. Among the bankers, soldiers, engineers and politicians, were pioneers of tea-planting in India, cattle ranching and copper mining in Australia, whose careers epitomised the hardiness and optimism of over two hundred years of empire. Confessions of an Optimist is a great read!

Direct Design Books gave excellent support throughout the production of my memoir and Gerry Diebel’s cover design really enables the book to stand out. I wanted to keep control of the process while achieving an entirely professional result. The finished book exceeds my expectations. – Alastair Tod

Have you explored your family history? Have you got a book in you? It doesn’t have to cost as much as you think and we can relieve you of the specialist task of pulling it all together into a professional package.

We particularly like designing and producing stylish books… and we’re now publishing as well. We’ve been involved with some wonderful book projects over the last 15 years and have now created a new satellite site specifically for our recent books at www.directdesignbooks.co.uk

With the real improvements in digital printing technology, everyone can now create high quality books for exhibitions, collections or their own memoirs. Have you ever wanted to be published?

Some of our clients work with us to create brand identities, some to extend their identities or brands onto websites and some to design and publish books and catalogues. Whilst we bring a number of different skills to each of these projects, book design calls for a very different kind of engagement.

Unlike many design and marketing projects, published books are not ephemeral, and they re-present the authors or editors ideas for years to come. They represent significant moments in lives and careers. It is because they are so personal that we also get more involved individually and share the joy and excitement when the books are published.

We’d love people to get the opportunity to realise their ideas and publish a beautiful book. You don’t have to print hundreds or thousands, you can even print one or two to a high quality.

PierceHill have their roots in traditional quantity surveying and now offer the complete range of cost consultancy and specialist construction services. With experience in new build, refurbishment and fit-out, across a wide range of sectors, they work with architects, developers, town planners and investors across the country. The new website now gives access to a wide range of their projects which demonstrate their breadth and experience in getting construction cost management right.

MIPIM is the key event in the property world calendar and takes place in Cannes every year. PierceHill will be there and now have an impressive reference tool at their disposal. Developed in conjunction with Nicola Beausire and Co., the new corporate identity and website celebrate PierceHill’s 30 years in business. www.piercehill.com

Cicero Translations refreshed website went ‘live’ today following a speedy visual makeover. The original site, designed and coded by Cicero themselves, was cleverly written, structured and optimised for search engines. Working directly with their original code, we have now brought a brighter, modern feel to the business which reflects their abilities and ambitions.

Cicero have an army of local translators around the world who they work with to ensure the best idiomatic interpretation. Everything is sourced and managed by the team in the UK, ensuring dedicated project management control and peace of mind for all their clients.

www.cicerotranslations.co.uk

Our extensive catalogue ‘Lost in Lace’ accompanies the innovative exhibition of the same name at the Birmingham Museum and Art Galleries which opened at the end of October 2011. Devised and curated by Prof. Lesley Millar at UCA, the 20 participants represent a truly international cohort: Brazil, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, UK, with the majority of the site-sensitive works created specially for the exhibition. Part funded by the Crafts Council, the work is truly diverse and exciting.

The initial consignment of 500 books priced at £25, allocated to the museum had sold out by the middle of January. A special delivery has now been made to ensure they are available through to the 19th February when the show closes. Birmingham Museum and Art Galleries

We’ve just published a new book called Radical Thread for the 62 Group of Textile artists. The Group was formed 50 years ago and celebrate in 2012 with a series of exhibitions in the UK and Dublin. The book is officially launched this evening in Manchester at the Platt Hall. 57 members of the Group have submitted work with a huge range of ideas, techniques and styles.

We worked with Fox Print Services on the production and are grateful to Lesley Millar for editorship and June Hill for all the proofreading. 62  Group of Textile artists.

I’m pleased to update that Martin Long and Sugar Marketing have now joined the merry media band at The Warehouse in Tunbridge Wells. Sugar are online marketing specialists and paid for search experts. Martin has a refreshing outlook on getting the best out of online investment and has already opened my eyes to some new ideas. Sugar Marketing

It’s 2012 and time to refresh our thinking about our clients, our services and our ambitions. We have refreshed  the Direct Design brand a number of times over the last 54 years and we are continuing to evolve as the media landscape changes. The worldwide wonderful web has become more and more important not only for our business but almost everyone’s, so we’re starting 2012 with a mission to refresh other businesses’ websites. www.refreshingthinking.co.uk