City Slickers

Goldman Sachs Website

What do you picture when you think of the City of London - The Bank of England with its colonnaded fascade? Men in pinstriped suits and bowler hats? Traders frantically signaling instructions across the floor of the Stock Exchange? Or, perhaps computer screens animated by a dizzying array of charts and indexes?


The Blackstone Group Website

The persistence of such images is probably due to cinema and news media as much as to the city itself. Indeed, our most enduring impressions of the city are probably drawn from its history, rather than its present; crucially, from a time pre 1995. It was around this time that the city effectively reinvented itself to address the new economy created by dot.coms.

So, what is the contemporary face of the city? What do city institutions ask for when they work with designers? Below are the websites of three city heavy weights. Feel free to speculate on what the briefs might have been.


KBC Peel Hunt Website

To kick start the debate, I offer the following scenario:

Bank Chairman: 'I'm told we're due for a re-brand. We must ensure continuity. Something solid that reflects our history - oh, and a nice picture of head office.'

Head of Investment: 'Well sir, that doesn't really reflect the new economic power-base. We need to adapt.'

Bank Chairman: 'Our clients rely on our unchanging values. In fact, it might be good to involve some of our more influential clients in this consultation.'

Head of Communications: 'There's a problem with that, sir. They're all finishing their theses'.'

Bank Chairman: 'I beg your pardon.'

Head of Investment: 'They are science grads. The fact is, sir, we are moving into a knowledge economy. Ideas are the new currency and technology is the growth sector. The kids are making the future.'

Head of Communications: 'We need to reflect the values and practices shaping the economy now; networking, informality, intellectual capital, athleticism.'

Bank Chairman: 'How do we do that then?'

Head of Communications: 'We tap into the imagery of sport - to show that we're dynamic and performance oriented. We feature images of people, meeting up and working together - to show that we're collaborative and informal. And we work with the best designers to create a web sites that are extensive and interactive to reflect the range and sophistication of our capabilities.

Bank Chairman: 'Do you really think it will work?'

Head of Investment: 'We'll be laughing all the way to the bank- this bank!'

Joseph Bouzaglo