Four consultancies have been appointed to National Grid’s new design services roster. Four-Letter Word, McCann Erickson Central, WPA Pinfold and Cunningham Design have all joined the three-year roster agreement. They were all contracted following a formal tendering process conducted between May 2010 and January 2011.

National Grid is an international electricity and gas company that delivers services to customers across Great Britain and the north-eastern United States.

Four-Letter Word had previously created brand guidelines for National Grid. The consultancy was appointed to the work at the end of 2009, according to the consultancy’s managing director Neil Quiddington. He says the consultancy was also asked to develop a graphic style for public-facing communications, adding ’We wanted to capture a sense of confidence.’

The work began to roll out last May.

May not be a problem halved in this case, however, the responses we received to last month’s question of your firm’s single biggest marketing challenge in 2011 (some are shown below) certainly show that, in coalition speak . . . we’re all in this together.

We could have taken an educated guess on this one, so thanks to those of you that shared your plight! As a small experienced design business, four-letter word can help address so many of these problem areas, so talk to us – we’re good listeners, and we’ll always advise on the most effective way to maximise your budget.

 “Justifying that marketing has a role to play in a down turn! Budgets and headcount are being cut.”

 “To deliver on objectives and targets with a reduced budget.”

“money!”

“Same as many I am sure – tightened budgets, trying to get more for less, trying to get all areas of a global group to agree to centralize to keep control of our brand etc”

“Reducing cost, increasing impact, awareness, retention in customers and essentially keeping my job!”

“Measuring ROI”

“probably price sensitivity, motivating customers to pay for some courses i.e. apprenticeships when many companies are laying off staff, not thinking about taking an apprentice on.”

“Biggest challenge is increasing demand for service and innovation despite reducing budgets.”

Neil Quiddington, Managing Director at four-letter word, will be a judge at the Scottish Design Awards 2011. Neil will join other branding experts from Fitch, 999 Design and The Partners to help contribute to the discussion on design quality in Scotland.

The Scottish Design Awards (SDA) is now seen as the largest Annual Design Event in Scotland and judging will take place on 15th March in Glasgow.

The SDA recently asked the panelists to answer the following questions. Neil’s responses can be seen below.

1. Where do you get your creative inspiration from?
My inspiration can literally come from anywhere. Books, television, advertising, art, travel, the web, architecture, nature etc etc. We live in a world of information overload, so for me it’s about focusing on the small percentage of that which inspires.

2. What is your favourite piece of design and why?
As my experience is in branding my choice is a brand design. To pick one is very difficult, as there are many good brand identities, created by the likes of Herb Lubalin, Milton Glaser and Saul Bass (to mention but a few), which have stood the test of time and are still classic pieces of design today. One which stands out in my mind is that of the ubiquitous FedEx logo, designed by Waltor Landor. I’m drawn to its simplicity and to its underlying powerful subliminal idea. Most people are unaware of the negative space that creates the arrow, but the logo still manages to communicate FedEx’s ethos and culture.

3. Did you always want to get into design? If yes why, and if no, what did you want to do?
No. As a boy I was very interested in Photography and was inspired by the likes of Laszlo Maholy-Nagy and Robert Capa. Hence, I began thinking about a career as a war photographer. However, some years later, I developed an interest in graphic design, inspired by the thought that I could, one day, make a career out of being creative. Did I make the right choice? I think so.

4. For you, what makes an award winning piece of work?
For me an award winning piece of work is one that stands head and shoulders above everything else. It must show originality, creativity and attention to detail as well as clearly communicating a message, or values. If it ticks all of these boxes, then it will also be memorable and will have achieved its marketing objective.