ABOUT

Mike Abrahams wanted a unique way to promote residential development 100 Shepherdess Walk. He knew that passers-by are curious about what lies behind the hoardings we see everywhere in London, so he designed a display to capture people's attention while inviting them to take a peek. He then invited writers from Dark Angels to write a poem to be displayed at the development.

12 writers took part. In a poetic relay, we each wrote one line before passing the baton to the next writer. Our brief was as tight as they come: each line could be no longer than 34 characters, it had to reflect the theme of home and it had to start with the last word of the preceding line.

The display used a simple system of plastic plugs and a matrix of drilled holes. The holes allowed people to see the construction work and the plugs formed the letters and words. Mike rearranged the plugs each month to change the lines of the poem and I helped him to install mine.

Over the year, many people stopped to peek through the holes. And some rearranged the letters – which we'd anticipated as part of the interactive element of the display.

The result was an award-winning project that scooped two D&AD pencils: one for Writing for Design, the other for Wayfinding & Environmental Graphics.