Judging a book by its cover

I know the entrance to our office is not much to look at, but what’s been interesting about where we have met people here has been that the exteriors have no branding on them at all. There’s no swanky reception with beautiful, fashionable people behind a desk.

Perfect Relations was the closest, but only once you got inside. On the outside, it seemed like we were popping round to someone’s house for tea. Only the frosted glass with the perfect relations logo etched in gave away the sophistication on the inside. Quicksand and 20:20 however, were literally like popping to someone’s house.

20:20 Social entrance

Quicksand entrance

Perfect Relations entrance

It was only once I’d met Shahna that I began to understand why. She told me that commercial space is so expensive for start-ups that they are pushed in to residential areas. She said this suits her as it means she doesn’t have to trek across the city from her home, which adds expense and time. So she has her office near where she lives. However, there are significant restrictions on signage in non-commercial areas, so even if they wanted to, they couldn’t set up the exterior as a space to show their design fare.