We’ve just produced a couple of lovely pieces for the London College of Fashion – one is a ‘corporate’ magazine entitled Sample, which coincided with the launch of London Fashion Week, and the other, entitled Capsule is a book documenting a selection of work from 2009 graduates from the Fashion Photography degree.

The SampsonMay team are off to the Capsule launch party tonight which should be good fun and the opportunity for a beer or two.

I felt a need to write and apologise for my over confidence in a June post promising our new website in mid-August. That said, the very title of that post (The cobbler wears the worst shoes) should have eluded to the fact that any agencies self promotion/brand comms are always the first to drop down the priority list and laugh in the face of any best made schedules and launch dates.

Although it’s a bit frustrating, at least I’m pleased to say that it’s because we’ve been busy helping our clients to communicate with their stakeholders and the net result has been some lovely work from the SampsonMay studio.

In addition to some mid year-end annual reports, we’ve also been producing a 12 language employee communications campaign for Rolls-Royce plc, a number of literature based projects for Rio Tinto plc and some beautiful fashion books for the London College of Fashion.

If the recent influx of pitches is a barometer for the state of the economy then hopefully things are starting to look up a bit. Yes they’re pitches but it was only a matter of weeks ago that companies were putting on-hold all that they could and budgets were being frozen so hopefully things are starting to look up for all of us.

And so back to my original point…our website. We’re nearly there – honest. Copy is being added, images cropped and final bugs are being banished from the code as we prepare to go live by the end of October (note the lack of commitment to a single date!).

Please stick with us and before you know it things will be looking a little different chez sampsonmay.com

Although the economic climate is still not brilliant, hopefully things are starting to look a little brighter for all of us.

We have a number of nice projects running through the studio – we’re just getting towards the distribution stage of a six month project for Rolls-Royce plc, designing all of their Global Code of Ethics materials…100 pages in sixteen languages plus a print and HTML teaser campaign has kept us nice and busy!

We have a number of Interim Reports and a few June year-end Annuals running through the studio and a lovely little project working on some design development work for Rio Tinto’s corporate magazine aimed at both internal and external stakeholders.

Our new website is also underway and on-track for a late August launch along with a number of other marketing and new business initiatives which we’ll reveal soon once we’ve fine tuned a few bits and pieces – until then, please watch this space…

At SampsonMay we’ve always had a bit of a passion for bikes and running (not that you’d necessarily know from some of our waist lines) and now that the sun is shining, the studio is currently planning its mid to late season events.

Ricky has entered into the world of track cycling down at Herne Hill and earlier in the year completed the Tour of Flanders sportif. Magnus has also been lured to the pull if the track and can be found at Herne Hill at the weekend. Not satisfied with just riding the bike, Magnus has also been on a spending frenzy with new toys to support his foray into trick cycling - basically crazy tricks on a fixie - sounds painful to me.

Sadly Kate is in the process of replacing her bike after some stupid b@*t!”ds decided to cut through numerous locks and steal it earlier this week.

Running is the immediate focus for Andy with the Bristol half next on schedule but the rumours are that Ricky and Andy will also be looking to tame the Exmoor Beast 100 miler in November.

So, as training starts/resumes for the studio, the lure of Glastonbury and other classic summer events has been put to one side for Lycra and deep heat - or at least until Monday anyway…a wedding in Ireland will put pay to any training this weekend other than lifting pints.

– Post From My iPhone

We’re gradually getting closer to updating our new website. We’ve been fairly manic on a range of client projects over the past months so what may take 12 weeks or so for a fee paying client is taking us a little longer when it comes to our own website! Still, we’re about to move into the site build stage and hope to be launching a shiny new site some time in August – although we’re not promising anything! Watch this space and hopefully it will look a little different in a few weeks…

A lost hero (apparently) has returned home after a short break in Charmonix, doing some fantastic Snowboarding (although there are no independent witnesses to his skills). The sun was strong and the snow wet, consequently he soaked his gloves and burnt his nose (which made us all laugh on his return) but as Magnus says “What else can you want in life?”

London is full of beautiful, small gardens, but none as good as this, the KK Outlet (Kessler&Kramer). If you where not there you lost out on some of the best greens in the city, I hope next exhibition will be as fun and quirky.

We are currently working on a global HR campaign to address potential issues within the work place of a new client and how they collectively conduct their business. One of the presented routes featured illustrations from Swedish illustrator and typographer, Karl Thomas ‘Kristian’ Möller. We worked closely with Kristian developing the themes and visual language for the campaign and the end results were a charming set of drawings and charachters which had real personality. Sadly, for our newly created chaps, it was decided to progress with another route and these guys have slipped into the draw marked ‘ones that got away’, we still think they are great though and suggest you check out Kristians website here to see more of his illustrations and beautiful typography.

The snow might have defeated most of London getting to work today but here at SMD we are made of hardy stuff* and most of the office has managed to get in somehow. For me the lack of trains allowed for a rare walk along a cold white South Bank whilst sipping from a guilt free hot chocolate – well nearly guilt free.

*hardy stuff or stupidity? Can’t decide.

Goodd, the Glaswegian interiors store, set up to promote good design, approached Justgonesix to see if they could sell some of our posters in their gallery/store. Our relationship began last year when they bought a copy of Radius 08 to hang in their flagship store in the heart of Glasgow, then after Goodd was featured in Homes and Interiors customers were coming in asking directly for our posters. As demand increased Goodd has become our first official supplier north of the border. Radius 09 and Storno now hang alongside other pieces – many exclusive to Goodd – by Established & Sons (including Barber Osgerby’s ‘Zero In’ table and Alexander Taylor’s ‘Fold’ lamps) and cult Dutch favourite Droog so we are in goodd (sorry) company.

Goodd, co-owner, Thomas Russell says ‘We felt there was a real opportunity to create something worthwhile as a design destination rather than a purely design retail store. Essentially, this is a new environment that presents important design work which no one else in Scotland is showing at the moment.’

If you want to find out more about Goodd check out their website or their online listing on Wallpaper, but better still if you are anywhere near James Morrison Street pop in and see them in the flesh.