Part 25 – 1990s Into the Unknown

Swiss Re was another great client, which we might have marvelled at had we had the time.

It was something of a high point for ‘design for print;’ great client, generous budgets and editions run in the main European languages.

A stressful experience nonetheless, it was our very first ‘direct-to-plate’ job, and when we started to run the foreign language editions, colour matching proved all but impossible; it was a very nervous wait for the delivery.

Thanks to the efforts of our printer, our designer, and our client at Swiss Re – for their patience and show of faith – there were sighs of relief all round on sight of the finished article.

These publications proved to be a technical challenge; the printing process makes greys notoriously difficult to match across different versions.
Our Corporate Team wanted this particular grey, so our production people had to make it work.
The end result justified the effort, but we made a note not to go down this route again.

My journey as a graphic designer, an introduction

Part 01 – 1960s In the Beginning: Undergraduate work

Part 02 – 1970s The Royal College of Art & The Advent of Colour

Part 03 – 1970s Starting Out in the Real World

Part 04 – 1970s My First Major Client

Part 05 – 1970s More Than One Man

Part 06 – 1970s Striking It Lucky

Part 07 – 1970s Embracing Ground-breaking Techniques

Part 08 – 1980s Changing Roles for Designers

Part 09 – 1980s Our First Technology Client

Part 10 – 1980s Growing Through Recommendation

Part 11 – 1980s The Dream Client

Part 12 – 1980s Moving into Corporate Design

Part 13 – 1990s Ramping Up the Workload

Part 14 – 1990s Graphic Design goes Global

Part 15 – 1990s A Steep Learning Curve

Part 16 – 1990s Working for The Nation’s Favourite

Part 17 – 1990s The Challenge of the Future

Part 18 – 1990s Picking up the Crumbs

Part 19 – 1990s Vested Interest

Part 20 – 1990s Setting the Standard

Part 21 – 1990s Still Growing after All These Years

Part 22 – 1990s New Business from Old

Part 23 – 1990s Keeping up with Demand

Part 24 – 1990s A Full-Service Consultancy

Part 25 – 1990s Into the Unknown

Part 26 – 2000s Learning New Tricks

Part 27 – 2000s Lifestyle Publishing Moves on

Part 28 – 2010s and Now…