Silk Pearce campaign funds cancer care centres

Cancer support organisation Maggie’s Centres has named Silk Pearce as its lead creative consultancy, as the Scotland-based charity prepares to build five new centres in England and Wales.

The charity has strong links with design – its five existing cancer advice centres have been created by architects including Frank Gehry, Richard Rogers and Page & Park.

Maggie’s has recently commissioned architects, including Wilkinson Eyre and Piers Gough, to create the five new centres, due for completion by 2012. Funding for the new buil- dings comes through its £15m Silk Pearce-designed fundraising campaign, The Joy of Living, launched in March.

Silk Pearce sealed its position as lead consultancy last week when it published the brand guidelines for Maggie’s. The charity appointed the consultancy in September last year, following a recommendation from Maggie’s vice-chairman and garden designer Marcia Blakenham.

The charity confirms that the guidelines will be used to control all design work executed by its consultancies, including Maggie’s long-term design partner Studio LR, which is based in Edinburgh.

Silk Pearce creative director Peter Silk admits it was a challenge to reconcile Maggie’s calm, personalised image with the burgeoning size of the charity, which recently opened its first London centre in the grounds of Charing Cross Hospital (pictured).

‘This is the root of what we are tackling as a design issue. Maggie’s is talking to the Department of Health, so has to appear substantial, but it wants to preserve a very personal face,’ says Silk.

The charity is installing Silk Pearce-designed advertisements on the London Tube to promote fundraising event the London Night Hike, which takes place on 19 September.

‘Material for the London Night Hike needs to shout louder than the charity’s usual identity and brochures, so we used Courier typeface in black and white to give it more immediacy,’ says Silk.

Maggie’s reports that Silk Pearce’s next assignment will probably be creating marketing materials for a travelling exhibition of 11 photographs donated to the charity by Sam Taylor-Wood.

MAGGIE’S CREATIVE CONNECTIONS

Maggie’s patrons include

Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, Sam Taylor-Wood and Kirsty Wark

Design consultancies include

Silk Pearce and Studio LR