Part 5: #EustonGreenLink Project elements: Signage with Bolter Design
We’re so excited to be working with Bolter Design on developing a full signage proposal throughout the entire route and we spoke to them to find out more about the branding process and proposal for the Euston Green Link
Way-finding helps to create a sense of place and inclusivity. The Euston Green Link is not a route for a specific audience — it aims to attract visitors, residents and employees to explore the new destinations and eventually reach Regents Park. With signage designed by Bolter Design, we are hoping that their branding will make clear what is found in each ‘zone’ and invite the passer-by to try it out.
We spoke to Alice Best from Bolter Design to find out more about branding for Euston Green Link and how they’ve formulated their ideas:
“One of the main things from the branding point of view was that we wanted to reveal histories because Drummond Street has always been quite a transient space. It’s also been at the centre of a number of tussles between the public and private sector and it’s historically on the outskirts of London, especially Regent’s Place, that used to be an ice store and there was an artist’s pub where basically rural and urban communities would connect and exchange goods. There’s always been this exciting relationship between inner London and outer London in these areas, and we’ve felt like the way it’s been compromised by HS2 is not dissimilar to the way it has been in the past and this is definitely a moment of change that we should embrace. We should be taking advantage of that.”
“So, our main objectives are to get more people to spend time on Drummond Street, to reveal histories and to make it clearer where it’s come from and where it’s going to and embrace the communities as we go. We want people to spend more time on Drummond Street and therefore generate more revenue so that it becomes a space that changes for the good.”
First of all they’ve looked at the three contrasting areas:
“To the east side you’ve got the really multicultural area of Drummond Street which has all the delicious foodie spots. Then you’ve got Regents Place which we defined as work, architecture and glass. And then to the West we’ve got Albany street which is residential and relaxed.”
“Our main ambition is to embrace the community and to give the community a kind of identity, to educate and inform about the histories and cultures that exist on the street and to think about how the street is occupied all the way through the day on a 24 hour cycle. One of the effects of a main transport hub in the local area mean its used in an extreme kind of way because people are commuting, walking really quickly, so we want people to slow people down. We want to look at the metaphorical meaning of the space on Drummond Street and how can we make it more environmentally friendly. It’s evocative to people who know about it, but we need to attract new audiences.”
“Our colour scheme was primarily formed by the green requirements in the scheme, then we’ve looked at a Georgian blue and an off white. With the patterns we took inspiration from Georgian tiles, the Arts and Crafts movement, Eastern patterns, we’ve mixed them all up and turned them on their head and created our own. The colour scheme crosses rich Indian spice colours with more natural greens and blues.”
“Within the whole project there’s elements of green infrastructure, including planting schemes, way-finding, living walls and these are very much moving parts. So we’ve designed some planters, and looked at how we can integrate the brand into the planters. We’ve developed a business directory that’s very much like a browsing tool, a journey of discovery, rather than being a map, it should educate and inform about what’s on offer. How can we direct people away from euston road on to Drummond Street and increase footfall? We need the the implementation of our brand on that signage so that it becomes 100% identifiable.”
“We’ve looked at flag posts — 2 metres high, and we imagine with this what they’re going to look like when you look down the street so they have prompts to make you think about the surrounding area.”
“We’ve also looked at implementing painted street crossings and we want to think about how we give the area identity…How could this branding be used across marketing materials?”
We’re also developing interactive lettering that’s meant to be very instagrammable…
“We’re also looking at how impactful our branding could be offsite, so you can keep the integrity of the community led Drummond Street but also have references to green infrastructure. So we’d love to do onsite merchandise to show how useful the brand is on different scales.”
Find out more about Bolter Design here.
