Wayfinding for more than one million customers a year

Client

Storyhouse

Location

Chester

Discipline

Brand

Interiors

Signage

Strategy

Sectors

Built Environment

Retail & Leisure

Curved staircase with brass handrail beside a wood-paneled wall signed CINEMA, listing sections such as Reading Rooms, Biography and Fiction.

We have worked with Storyhouse since its opening in 2017. The building houses a theatre, cinema, library, cafe and restaurant that has become a focal point for the local community, with more than one million customer visits every year. 

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Following the launch of the brand identity, we were asked to create wayfinding pictograms and an accessibility map to help people of all ages and walks of life to navigate the renovated and extended building. In developing the pictograms we took inspiration from the stencil typeface of the Storyhouse logo, with icons featuring a distinct stencil aesthetic. The resulting set of twenty icons give the building and brand a unified look.

Red slanted wall with white theatre signage reading THEATRE and GARRET, door directions and icons for seating and refreshments.

Black door with white stylised women's restroom symbol, vertical brushed-metal pull and small round lock set in a white wall.

Red door with white wheelchair-accessible symbol, long stainless-steel vertical handle and round lock.

Minimal black right-pointing arrow composed of three short bars, centred on a white background.

Silhouetted man in a red jacket walking past a railing beneath a MEZZANINE → sign on a pale frosted glass wall.

White mezzanine wall labelled CINEMA THEATRE MEZZANINE above a cosy library with bookshelves, tables and sofas

Elevator doors with bold black stylised person icon and up/down arrows, beside a dark wall with white directory text and a red bench.

Pinned mockups of signage, icons and wayfinding layouts for a theatre/cinema on a white wall.

"Slide reading 'There are only three types of destination: Primary: Theatre, Secondary: Rooftop Bar, Pictograms: [restroom icons]' on black background.

Six white pictogram icons: coffee cup, cutlery, cocktail glass, men's restroom, women's restroom, and accessible restroom.

Peacock perched on a white interior ledge with long green tail draping above a diagonal wall sign reading CINEMA THEATRE MEZZANINE

Wood-panelled library wall with white CINEMA signage above shelves of books and a white perforated counter in foreground.

Six white restroom pictogram icons: men's, women's, accessible, family/accessible table, baby changing, and unisex.

Wayfinding for more than one million customers a year

Design Merriment Since 2013