V&A Publishing creates beautiful, innovative and authoritative books on design, fashion, applied art, photography, sculpture and graphics that support the exhibition programme of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Our exhibition catalogue and book schedules often mean extremely tight deadlines, and all the related complexities of multi-author texts, late third party images combined with the challenges of designing substantial amounts of texts with hundreds of images. We’ve worked with Charlie Smith Design on two such projects recently, and we were delighted with their enthusiasm and ‘can-do’ attitude on even the most tricky project. The team is quick to respond to feedback and handle changes efficiently and promptly, meaning that no time was lost at the editor’s end. They have a collaborative approach to projects, understanding the limitations of tight budgets, but can work creatively within those constraints, and were very responsive to any changes required. Most importantly, they worked very hard to ensure that every deadline was met, and they did so cheerfully and without complaint, despite the pressures at the end of the project. I have no hesitation in recommending the calibre and excellence of their work.

Charlie and her team have worked on every aspect of the brand, from campaigns to signage to hoardings to internal comms. Their work is timeless, elegant and always meaningful. They are also an incredibly professional and lovely team to work with.