Josephine was tasked with overseeing the production of a new threshold experience at the main car park of Crathes. This was to replace a ticket hut. It had to be something which would draw the eye of visitors so they would walk towards it. It had to summarise all that the site had to offer and give clear directions and ideas as to how to start their adventure.
She showed key staff a number of visual examples of similar structures from other sites, and wrote a design brief based on what they did and didn’t like. Staff were very keen to have something visually striking and unique.
We appointed Old School Fabrications to develop the structure, and they worked with 2d designer Shirley Lochhead at Tea and Type.
Jo briefed the design team to work within the existing design style for the site so that this new intervention would look at home with everything else on site. She was keen it would still reference the distinctive aesthetic of the painted ceilings in some way and existing interpretation on site, which had been put in place relatively recently.
To keep costs down we adapted the existing site map, which was a simple graphic map with illustrated vignettes and the designer introduced some colour in the artworking to bring it to life a bit more. We kept text to a bare minimum and concentrated on showcasing colourful images of the site’s highlights.
The resulting structure definitely makes a strong statement and does a good job of welcoming visitors to the site. We included a blackboard as a tidy way for staff to update visitors on events and promotions at the site.
