From WH Smith to Lippa Pearce

Jane Pollard, former group design manager at WH Smith, has joined Lippa Pearce as design management director.

Her appointment follows a wave of redundancies and restructuring at WH Smith. One design manager and two designers were made redundant. Pollard will not comment on the circumstances of her departure.

She was “in charge of the management of the central group identity and the rebranding of the WH Smith stores,” she explains. She developed strategies and implementation for office supplies brand Niceday, designed by Newell and Sorrell, and for Our Price and Waterstones.

Lippa Pearce managing director Giles Calver sees the recruitment of Pollard as “the culmination of our expansion plans of the past two years”. He feels she can offer “the unique perspective from eight years of practical retail experience on the client side”.

Pollard says she can offer clients advice about the presentation of internal communications. “These aspects are a natural support to graphic design, but are often neglected,” she says.

See News Analysis, page8