Project Overview
Principals were engaged by the Royal Botanic Garden & Domain Trust to strategically review the organisation and prepare a brand platform that emphasises the importance of their work in conservation, horticulture and science.
While this conservation-anchored territory was well suited to the three botanic gardens, it did not effectively encompass the Domain, a community amenity with a wholly different purpose, as a gathering place dedicated to celebration, not conservation.
The Trust had also been battling with criticism in the media suggesting that the Gardens have become overly commercial, when in fact the vast bulk of commercial activity happens in the Domain, a distinct venue that the Trust happens to manage in parallel to the Gardens.
Our recommendation was to create a clearer distinction between the Domain and the Garden precincts to help combat this criticism.
Project Commissioner
Botanic Gardens and Centennial Parklands
Project Creator
Project Brief
To create a separate visual identity for the Domain. The identity needed to be flexible and have the ability to work across digital media, events, environmental signage and be used in conjunction with ‘partner’ brands for the major activity that happens each year (Eg: Carols in the Domain)
Project Innovation/Need
To leave the public in no doubt that the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust are distinct entities with their own unique purposes, territories and activities that visitors to Sydney can enjoy.
The opportunity for the site is to focus on and amplify its energy and buzz as a center of activity gluing together Sydney’s inner city.
We identified the core positioning as Sydney’s Playful Heart – implying a spirit of celebration, sometimes festive and always raising spirits, even if you’re just out for a stroll.
Design Challenge
We need to capture the buzz and dynamism that the site accommodates, as well as the emotive and vital part it plays in the community, reinforcing the space as the people’s park.
To live up to the proposition, we need to drive this home as a lively hub of activity.
Given the space is home to a wide range of different types of events, the identity needed to be flexible enough to house, and comfortable enough to sit along side, other brands, and retain it’s own sense of identity. It needs to frame and embrace key themes of different activities and events as well as have a personality in its own right.
Effectiveness
The identity was immediately implemented for the summer festival season and throughout signage in the Domain area.
The Domain now feels clearly sign posted and the vibrancy of the identity works well with the environment and the activity within it.
It has identified the space as distinct from the Sydney Botanic Garden.
The identity itself was easy and engaging for the Domain in-house design team to use – giving them flexibility and inspiring them to new ideas and new communications opportunities through digital and environments.
Tags
Graphic Design - Identity and Branding
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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