A special place

For two hundred years, Scottish publishers Chambers has been much loved. The company has always represented so much of what is noble and important about publishing – taking knowledge to the people and keeping the vibrancy of our language intact, and amongst word-lovers, its intellectual playfulness has always been much cherished. Yet its place in the lexicon of British life had diminished, overtaken by other sources of information and by market dynamics. They needed to find a new role.

New definitions

Very early on we realised that Chambers weren’t in the business of the scientific dissection of the language. Rather, they took a perspective on it, imbuing it with a quirky and distinctively Caledonian twist. The Chambers Dictionary is a linguistic launch pad not a testing ground and consequently is the book that writers want to keep on their desk. We coined a new phrase to describe the type of book it was – a coffee table dictionary. Once that was defined, the rest was easy – materials had to be sumptuous, the detailing well-considered, the typography refined and the whole effect covetable, but all without losing that sense of playfulness. The fun was then to push that idea across all the other titles in the range.

Off the shelf

Chambers has broken the mould for reference publishers. Since rebranding, the company has been filled with renewed vigour and confidence. Sales of their dictionaries have increased dramatically (39% up in the first month alone), and they have opened new sales channels both on the UK high street and around the world. And the recognition of the design cognoscenti through its many awards has affirmed that Chambers can truly be the coffee table dictionary.