Producing
corporate, staff, membership and client publications (see Publications,
below) 
Producing
corporate, staff, membership and client publications (see Publications,
below) I have produced publications including brochures, reports (including topical, statutory, departmental and annual reports) and staff and client newsletters as well as content for websites and intranets. See the main Editorial page for example of work for publishers.
I have produced these for a very diverse readership, including staff, managers, residents, tourists, regeneration agencies and inward investors, students and prospective students, university alumni and clients of different public services. I edited a National Union of Journalists branch newsletter for a couple of years.
Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society
I edit this quarterly magazine for society members, which I relaunched in 2011.
The role includes researching, commissioning and producing content, working with authors, design and layout and producing for print and web.
Download the Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society.
Westminster Business
This brochure (shown right and at the top of this page) was edited and
redesigned for Westminster Business School, in line with the client’s
corporate style. Images provided included photographs and graphics
This has included:
Click here for an examples of newsletter articles for council tenants
This could be over single issues – such as lobbying to change law or policy or to increase public awareness – or to support a strategy, such as those concerning rent arrears, accessibility or empty homes.
Three examples are given below.
Example 1: Demolition – or not?
This headline was above my rather worried-looking tower block on leaflets and posters.
Next to the tower block was written: ‘No, the council hasn't decided which blocks will be improved, refurbished or knocked down, despite the rumours.’
This immediately showed that a council knew of people’s concerns about the future of their homes and was responding to these.
Tenants were invited to ‘open talk at open days’ where they would be consulted about proposals and could raise any concerns. Publicity said that residents’ associations were involved in the events and that entertainment would be organised for the tenants’ children.
Example 2: The Great Southwark Prize Draw
This was a very straightforward campaign. Tenants were more likely to miss rent payments over the Christmas and new year period than any other.
Many rent arrears campaigns are negative and talk about eviction, even if an emphasis is put on help available. A more positive campaign was needed for Christmas. So the annual rent arrears campaign was based around a prize draw.
Tenants who paid their rent before Christmas had their names and addresses entered into a draw for a hamper. Those who paid between Christmas and new year were entered into a draw for supermarket vouchers.
The
campaign involved:
I designed the leaflets, posters and tickets, including the illustration, and was involved in publicity and evaluation.
I also designed a benefit calculator wheel, made of cardboard and easily taken into private interview rooms. Tenants and housing officers could ‘dial’ in rent, council tax and income to find out how much housing benefit could be claimed, if any.
Example 3: Empty homes – a new slant on an old problem
The campaign was intended to raise awareness of the many problems caused by empty homes and to encourage the public to call a hotline to report vacant houses and flats.
Rather than comparing the number of empty houses and flats with the number of people needing homes, my campaign concentrated on the financial costs, direct and indirect.
These costs included those of vandalism and lost council tax as well as direct costs to local people – empty homes can lower the value of neighbouring property and attract criminal activity.
Along with posters, leaflets and coverage in the local papers, campaign materials including house-shaped money boxes, which were intended to be taken home so the issue would stay in the public eye for longer. These were brightly coloured and attractive on one side, representing an occupied home, and grey and derelict looking on the other.
Example 4: Millennium myths
In Greenwich around the millennium, local residents had a number of concerns, ranging from power cuts and lifts getting stuck as a result of the Y2K bug (remember that?) to the council banning residents’ relatives from entering the borough on new year's eve.
A local campaign to address these concerns involved providing the local paper with enough material to fill a double-page spread. To go with this, I drafted 10 Millennium Myths - including the ‘Greenwich gran ban’ – which the paper reproduced verbatim. This allowed concerns to be addressed in an engaging and lighthearted way.
Christy Lawrance Communications home page • Editorial • Photography • Illustrations • Copyright
