Identity and portfolio update for Chambers by R&D&Co

Chambers, the dictionary and reference publisher, is set to overhaul its visual identity and entire portfolio of titles, with R&D&Co appointed to create the designs.

The consultancy was selected following a three-way pitch against undisclosed competitors and will be retained to work through Chambers’ range of publications, spanning dictionaries, thesauruses, reference titles and puzzle books.

It is the first time that a single, coherent identity will run through all of the publisher’s titles and corporate communications.

The project is being overseen by R&D&Co partner Rob Andrews, but will involve the consultancy’s whole team.

Chambers churns out 30-40 per cent of its titles each year, so the design work is likely to run for ‘three to four years’ as the portfolio is updated, says Andrews.

The moves follow research undertaken for Chambers by consultant Gordon Kerr, a former marketing head at Bloomsbury Publishing, which revealed ‘a strong brand that has lost its way’, Andrews explains.

The identity will be revealed at the London Book Fair in March 2006, although the focus is on the new Chambers Dictionary, to be unveiled at the Edinburgh Book Fair in August.

Chambers was established in 1819, in Edinburgh, by brothers William and Robert Chambers.