A museum to inspire pride and passion

At the heart of the repositioned image for Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, was the need to continue to broaden the museums’ collective appeal through creating a fresh and contemporary image. An innate part of our work has been to present the museum to inspire pride and passion in people and create enduring curiosity and loyalty.

The developing new vision at Amgeuddfa Cymru needed to be reflected in a modern look for the visual identity and communications.

The design was influenced strongly by the need for dual language, especially to value the Welsh language. We created a diagonal counter balance for the logos which allows the Welsh and English language to work in harmony as a coherent and inclusive icon.

The dynamic shape creates a strong typographic style and inspires a highly distinctive way of recognising the museum. The use of this style creates a family of logos that draw the eye and is fresh and charismatic to command attention in communications. 

The integration of type and photography encapsulates the new style and energetic spirit of the museum illustrated in a wide-ranging and engaging brand guide to be used by both internal and external audiences.

The new image and visual style support a wider understanding and deeper relevance of Wales’ heritage, culture and role in the world. 

Defining the importance of heritage

The Heritage Lottery Fund has given more than £3 billion to heritage in the last 10 years.

The heritage prospectus we created known as ‘Heritage Compact’ sets out an agenda which is designed to encourage further political support and communicate an organisation which has broadened and modernised the meaning of heritage by insistence of involving new audiences.

It uses five themes: cohesive communities, transforming places, national pride and identity, active citizens, and foundation for the future, to demonstrate how heritage enhances modern society and is relevant to regenerating communities.

The prospectus is designed to challenge existing perceptions of HLF by creating a modern and intriguing view of its funding work. The communication lays down a challenge to politicians at national, regional and local level to value and support heritage more and to recognise the way it enriches our lives.

The concertina format provides an engaging glimpse of some of the many projects funded and allows a practical application of dual language - Welsh/English - when needed.

Enjoy England a brand for sharing

England Marketing, part of VisitBritain responsible for inspiring the British to enjoy England, needed to express its brand essence, values and brand experience qualities to regional tourist authorities and other stakeholders.

We were commissioned to create an inspirational and fresh brand book to inspire a shared approach to marketing England as a holiday and leisure destination. The book expresses the core idea of ‘Be yourself. Enjoy England’ appealing to people to feel there’s no place like home.

As the basis for our work, we needed to develop a close understanding of the research process and findings. We refined the positioning and themes and rationalised and modernised the visual identities to project a more contemporary image.

The brand book covers everything from creating brochures showing photographic style and tone of voice to moving imagery, voice over and music styles.

We set out to create a flexible design guide where the brand is fun, is shared not imposed and actively encourages a creative response. Getting the words and whole tone of voice feeling inviting and personal was crucial in putting across a compelling idea that this is a brand for everyone to share.

The book will be used to inspire England Marketing’s partners and other organisations around the country involved in promoting England as a destination, and for briefing design and advertising agencies.

Vibrant and ‘real’, Enjoy is for everyone responsible for marketing England to feel inspired and to share ideas for bringing England to life in a fresh and exciting way.