Blast-off for Harrison Pursey’s new identity

It’s a rare occasion when a client takes the initiative to push a design group’s creativity – extending the length of a project dramatically as a consequence. But that was the approach taken by London recruitment specialist Harrison Pursey when it commissioned graphics group Blast to rethink it’s identity.

The aim was to help the agency – a leader in placing staff in the media sector – stand apart from the rest, in a market that has become crowded and competitive. The idea was also to reflect its changing role from purely filling jobs for media clients to providing a tailored staffing service.

The job – a logo, stationery, matchboxes, a bone-shaped ‘biscuit’ invitation, and a brochure – is relatively small in identity terms. But though Blast started work last May, the final proofs were still at the printer as Design Week went to press.

‘The client constantly surprised us by asking for the images and formats to be pushed further and further, working to the “does it make us smile” rule’, says Blast design director Martin Cox.

The star of the design is Tamsie, a lively terrier who guaranteed ‘a boisterous photoshoot’. Her job, as she gloriously poses on letterheads and other stationery, is to signify Harrison Pursey’s key function – to seek, find and fetch.

Though a metallic is one of the main colours, Blast chose an uncoated paper ‘as we wanted to keep a friendly and tactile feel’, says Cox. The brochure, an oversized A4 format printed on 350gsm GF Smith Accent, is substantial. The stationery, on 120gsm Zanders Distinction Publishing stock, gives the images of Tamsie a softness that might not otherwise have been achieved.

Apparently, she’s not as tough as she looks.

Design: Martin Cox, Blast

Client: Harrison Pursey

Photographer: Edward Webb