You probably know of Archiboo. Each year they run the Archiboo Web Awards, celebrating everything that architects should be thinking about when they present themselves online.
This year two of my clients, Finkernagel Ross and Turner.Works, have turned up on the shortlist for the Best Written Content category. The whole point of me is to be invisible (it’s definitely about you, not about me) but, still, I’m pretty chuffed to see my name in lights.
If I’d wanted to pick two very different clients to illustrate how I can happily turn my hand to very different things, I might well have picked these two. So this seems like the perfect moment for a mini case study or two…
‘These last 11 years have changed us. It’s time for a new name and a new way of talking about ourselves. We’re Turner Works.’
They were known as Carl Turner Architects, but that didn’t cover it. It had been about a lot more than just Carl for a while, and ‘architects’ was too narrow a word for who they were. It was definitely time for reinvention.
My job was to come up with a brand-new Turner Works voice – not just the right words and phrases to encapsulate their mission but a whole new way of talking. That voice came easily enough, and then it was time for me to step back. I ran a workshop to give everyone the tools and inspiration to keep going without me, and with that they were off. All they’d needed was a bold new voice and a firm push in the right direction.
‘Ours is a complex business. There are so many things to consider – Planning, budgets, timescales, Building Regulations – and we juggle all of these. But sometimes it’s good to keep a space for something a little purer. So we’ll carve out a space for craftsmanship, for the art of making.’
Finkernagel Ross already had a very clear idea of who they were. But when they’d tried to translate that idea into words on the page, they’d struggled. They hadn’t quite got their story straight, and their beautiful projects didn’t sing on the page as they did in life. It was time to open up the conversation.
We sat around the table (that’s always a lovely part of the process) and then, after quite a bit of pondering, I set to work. I wanted to get across their commitment and their ambition, the thought processes behind their work, and their whole-hearted approach to every one of their projects.
They now have a voice as strong and confident as the work they do. Our collaboration had energy and momentum from the start, and there was an urgency which kept the conversation flowing. We were – I think they’d agree – a particularly good team.