new work – National Gallery.

12Jun2007

new work – National Gallery.

Another intriguing brief, this time courtesy of our friends at The Partners. 

To give the public a taster of what’s inside the National Gallery, The Grand Tour™ turned the West End of London into a giant gallery by lining the streets of Soho, Piccadilly, and Covent Garden with framed, life-size reproductions of some of the world’s most famous paintings.  

totalcontent was asked to supply all plaque copy for the project, which involved researching 45 iconic works of art and explaining each of them in 100 accessible, compelling words. The Guardian described the resulting copy as “witty... sharp, informative and unpatronising”. Deadlines were ferocious, but it’s not often you get to sell Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Caravaggio and their brothers in oils to the man on the street. 

Visit www.thegrandtour.org.uk to see old masters in some unlikely settings.

new work – Royal Mail.

1Jun2007

new work – Royal Mail.

Yes, it’s absolutely true. Jim’s first two initials are JK. And he went to the same university as JK Rowling. So it seemed somehow appropriate when Royal Mail asked him to write the stamp pack copy for the much-anticipated Harry Potter postage stamps. 

Celebrating the release of the final book in the saga, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, these stamps feature illustrated front covers of the seven novels that have made themselves a fixture in popular culture. 

Jim’s brief was to bring the story of the world’s greatest publishing phenomenon to life, from the early struggles to the later record-busting success. And to look back at how the bespectacled boy wizard became the best-loved character in modern fiction. His efforts were approved by JK herself – strange to think of her reading our words. You can order a Harry Potter stamp pack here.