Doncaster is the biggest town in England, it was also (according to Arts Council England’s data) one of the least arts-engaged towns in the country.

The venue was a new-build, part of a major redevelopment by Doncaster City Council. When we first visited, the building was little more than a steel frame.

The new arts centre, under construction when we first visited

Discovery

Our first job was to persuade their team not to rush into choosing a name (in a desire to install a sign on the building). The names on the table at that point were: Doncaster New Performance Venue; Camelot (a firm favourite of a senior local politician); or for it to be named after a local celebrity – Jeremy Clarkson and Brian Blessed were a serious possibilities.

There was significant opposition to the new venue, from local community groups who assumed they would be excluded, and from the local press who described it as a white elephant. We knew that the project would benefit from a period of communication with local people to dispel rumours and let them know what a brilliant new resource this would be (for everyone).

We spent time visiting the town and meeting with stakeholders. And, working with the Trust’s Chief Executive and recently appoint artistic director, Kully Thiarai, we facilitated workshops to allow people to have their say.

We met with local arts organisations, potential team members, and council staff and officers. We tailored each sessions to suit the specific group, including everyone in our discovery process.

We invited people to talk to us about their perceptions of the town, their hopes and frustrations about the new building, and their vision for this new cultural hub. It was insightful for us and invaluable for Kully.

Presenting our findings

We pooled our research into a report and presentation (with mood boards) detailing a dozen potential new names, under thematic headings. We shared this with a core group of stakeholders for discussion and debate, alongside a firm recommendation for the new name and the process (and joy) behind it.

Turning the brand into a visual identity

The final visual identity is an endlessly flexible solution, with brightly coloured triangles, representing the energy of crowds, thronging to their local venue.

The double-line type has allusions to the steel girders of Doncaster heritage, and the triangles are drawn from the ends of that type.

For the simplest uses, we created a badge that can be applied to other people’s printed materials. The visual identity then expands to be as flexible as our clients need it to be. We supplied locked-down templates that can be easily filled-in to create simple communications.

And we created the tools that allow our clients to experiment and push for imaginative and surprising solutions.

Our work didn’t stop with the handover of guidelines. As the opening date approached we worked with their newly appointed marketing team to create a suite of launch materials, including a the first edition (and template) for their events listing brochure.

And of course we designed their website…