The vision here was landscape-led, meaning the site incorporated plenty of communal areas for people to gather, vehicle-free routes to encourage active travel, and areas set aside for wildlife. These spaces all needed to be legible, and the wayfinding was key to helping guide people around the site.

We worked with the existing visual brand to devise an eye catching and memorable site-wide signage concept.

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With buildings of this scale that have limited architectural differentiation, it’s absolutely key that visitors can follow a logical naming pattern. So, first up, we established a building naming strategy, bringing in a logical hierarchy and sequential building naming system to help people orientate themselves. Once established, we could review the level of information needed at each sign location, from the site gateway to the zones and the individual buildings. And we implemented the naming strategy across the entire site family for consistency.

With two scales of vehicles using the site – cars and articulated lorries – the gateway signs needed to be at two different scales. So, too, did car park signs which also pointed lorries in the direction of loading areas.

Our final design used plenty of industrial visual cues linking back to the site’s former life as a colliery. In particular, totem signs were comprised of built-up aluminium panels with a sub-frame to have the visual effect of an industrial “I-beam”.

Signs also incorporated fret cut details and uplighting to draw the eye.

At the gateway area, or “Konect hub”, the client proposed a communal space with eateries in shipping containers. So, we devised a signage scheme that adapted the site-wide signage concept onto the “Krate” retail units themselves.