Placemarque

A new look is on its way to world-famous Kew Gardens

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We’ve been appointed onto the design services framework for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, at its two gardens: Kew and Wakehurst, Sussex.

Kew Gardens was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. However, it’s far more than just a garden. It boasts numerous nationally significant listed buildings and an internationally significant landscape. World-famous for its botanical knowledge, Kew attracts nearly a million visitors each year.

Within our role on the framework, we’ll be working with the Royal Botanic Gardens on a variety of specific 3D design projects. Using the established “Kew” brand, we will be developing internal and external sign designs for the centre’s exhibition spaces and gardens.

Guy Warren, Placemarque’s Design Director said:

“The huge success of the gardens already offers a brilliant visitor experience, and we are excited to have the opportunity to enhance this through engaging, relevant and informative interpretation and wayfinding signage.”

We’re kicking off the new working relationship with a project to develop new welcome and exit signage at both Kew Gardens and Wakehurst.

Consistency between the two gardens will be key. The visitor experience at both venues needs to be familiar, whilst acknowledging the distinctiveness of each place.

This is particularly important for welcome signage: as the first point of contact with visitors, arrival signage must communicate Kew’s essential brand messages as well as engaging visitors with information on what they can see and do, encouraging them to experience more of the gardens and return again. Our first step will be to review the arrival journey sequence at both gardens, identifying opportunities for interventions and familiarise ourselves with the gardens’ existing navigational cues and challenges.

What a privilege to work at such a highly-renowned great British institution!

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