Cities need work to keep them relevant. So it was with considerable excitement that we started work with ArtInvest on the creation of London’s most exciting new challenger brand, the waterside development of Canada Water Dockside…
While London’s appeal is undeniable — living and working in the planets most compelling city offers a wide variety of experiences. From the smaller spaces and challenging traffic of central London, to the vast architectural scale of Canary Wharf — each district does offers pros and cons.
Unusually, Canada Water Dockside’s location nestles rather brilliantly between the two.
Dockside is a doddle to get to… a 10 minute hop to the City of London (Bank) or to Canary Wharf. So it makes enormous sense to look to make the destination ready to welcome the next generation of Londoners, keen to live, work, play and visit.
INTRODUCING: A radically reinvented part of Zone 2 London. A healthier mix of nature, work and play.
Can you open the windows at your office?
If you can, you’re in the minority.
Is there as much emphasis on plants as there is on architecture where you work?
Live in a city?
Is health and wellbeing considered as carefully as how to fit in a tiny flat?
All of these conventions are being reconsidered at Canada Water Dockside.
Work has changed.
We need magnetic spaces not locked boxes.
Fresh thinking deserves a suitably fresh approach to the visual brand identity.
We worked with the ArtInvest team to arrive at the new strategy of ‘Building Optimism’ — pushing all those involved to look beyond the day-to-day and towards a larger goal.
Research revealed that, due to the waterside location — and the extensive green spaces surrounding Dockside, the air quality is some of the best found in central London. The feeling of calm that comes from being by the River Thames, the open spaces and lack of traffic all contribute to creating a terrific place to find ways to make the most of your time — be it working, socialising or residing there.
It was this elevated calm that led to us developing the position that this was not only London’s newest district, but that it was being designed specifically for people to flourish in — where they could have the space to find and realise their full potential.
This idea has been expressed in the line, ‘Find yourself at CanadaWater Dockside.’
Imagine a place where you can…
Find beauty. Find teamwork. Find peace. Find the future. Find flavour
The greatest experiences in life are the ones where we find ourselves.
CanadaWater DockSide.
Find yourself here.
Everything that Canada Water Dockside has to offer has the potential for residents, visitors and commuters to ‘flourish’. It was this insight that informed Dockside’s identity, the expansive 5.2 acre green site, the dock itself and the pairing of the 3 terraced buildings that have been designed to revolutionise working in an office by bringing the outside in. All of this planted the seed for the Dockside identity to act differently to other place branding, to breathe a breath of fresh air into the area…
The chosen direction was to create a Botanical Playground for Dockside that constantly adapts and showcases the very best of what the area has to offer.
This inspired the flexible and ever flourishing logotype, a behaviour that can be seen throughout the new branding. Bagoss by Displaay Type Foundry was the perfect companion, bold enough to enabling the flexible needs but characterful enough for everyday messaging.
Imagine a place where everything is designed to encourage you to flourish and you get close to what we are designing.
Building a Botanical Playground
Bringing Canada Water Dockside to life and showcasing everything it has to offer is what the new identity needed to deliver. Collaborating with Liam Pitchford we created a set of highly detailed and refined botanical forms that start to create a narrative around Docksides offering.
Dockside is a playground created for the community that call it home today and for the residents and workers of the future. Each Botanic has a selection of community members flourishing in the most exciting part of London.
The Purpose of the project? Don’t just build properties. Build optimism.
For people. For London. For the nation. For the planet.
Here, the teams are applying more considered and more considerate thinking to how people work and who they work with. By looking at every aspect of endeavours in CanadaWater DockSide they’re creating the next level of place makers.
Sustainable, healthy and people-first: that’s CanadaWater DockSide. A place where balance is embraced and ego rejected. Where you’ll find considered opinions, not mindless options. They’re building balanced space for London to think. Spaces to work, play, shop, eat and make more of.
The planet is under mounting pressure to better develop more ethical, sustainable, respectful ideas to connect communities, support livelihoods, grow responsibly and healthily. So, the team is looking beyond the immediately obvious into wider concerns to ensure we’re building places, spaces, services and ideas that don’t just fit in right now, they leave us all fitter and healthier tomorrow.
Creating a new benchmark in sustainability requires Superstar Architects, Developers, Planners, world class finance… (and us).
Dockside mascots
An extensive library of Dockside mascots were created with the wonderful Arcade studio adding an element of community charm throughout the identity.
They focus on a number of brilliant opportunities the space has to offer to find yourself at Dockside.
Countless sketches and iterations were drafted before the creation of the 3D models which were designed to be used as standalone assets to work in socials and focussed comms, as well as being integrated with the Botanical Playgrounds.
Placemaking is a very similar endeavour to what we look to do with brands… both efforts require lateral thinking and a collaborative mindset. Illustration, bespoke typography, strategy, animation, iconography, copywriting, CGI, storytelling, signage, advertising… it’s all here, and more.
An entirely cohesive, varied visual system has been developed — from a radical wordmark that constantly reinvents itself — like the people who work, live and visit — to a playful iconography to help people navigate the site…
This is a highly recognisable, enduring branding programme for a place being reinvented from many points of view for many differing audiences. It makes sense for this to be a visual shapeshifter where themes tie together — avoiding fixed repetitive stamps.
Iconography
With every area signage is hugely important, it helps people get around the site but also informs them what is available in the area.
To be used functionally on maps and signage to supergraphics in playgrounds, creating branded moments in community areas.
The iconography is informed by the brand typeface Bagoss, inspired by the gentle curves throughout.
You’ll find more than you were looking for on the Dockside — and the same can be said for the new visual identity.
A radical new theme of flourishing, digitally generated visuals sets out to open conversations surrounding wellbeing, retail, sport, socialising and work…
An identity that supports the idea that this is a place that supports people.
‘One of the most refreshing design projects I’ve seen in some time. The effortless flow between stylish contemporary iconography and organic visuals gives the project an elevated elegance that feels charming and unpretentious.’
Many thanks to the entire Art Invest Team + Rosie & Katie.
SomeTeam
Simon Manchipp — Founder & Strategist
Shaun Turnbull — Creative Director
Ian Dawson — Lead Senior Designer
Beth Baines — Head of Account Services