Here at Purple we are known for creating beautiful websites but a big part of our business is also helping clients create their own brand identity in the form of logos and printed material. Recently we have completed lots of exciting logo projects and one in particular for The NASH stands out.
Emily and Andy and their two children relocated from London to Hawes – where Andy grew up - to take on the challenge of renovating ‘The National School’. Built in 1845, it was once a school, then a community space, but had been in a state of disrepair for a number of years. It was on the market with the hope of attracting buyers who might return it to the community facility it once was. Emily and her family have done a fantastic job of sympathetically renovating the building. They now live in the next door school master’s cottage and are bursting with creative ideas for the venue.
Emily and Andy wanted a logo that captured the character of the building, as well as their hope that the space will be a place for local people to gather, learn and enjoy the arts. In order to get a sense of the heritage of The NASH, Sarah and I visited Emily and were given a tour. The building itself has lots of fantastic details: Y tracery window frames, cross beams, traditional lime plaster and beautiful stone work so characteristic of Dales buildings. We took lots of pictures and were brimming with creative ideas by the time we left.
We discussed colours for the logo and agreed they should be drawn from the surrounding hills and stone, opting for lichen greens, greys and complimentary shades of blue.
Our initial logo proposals were focused around the windows of The NASH but with so many beautiful features to choose from we were soon exploring other ideas. We incorporated the local wildlife into the design with the use of a swift silhouette, a bird known for soaring high and being forever on the move.
As the logo development progressed, it was decided that the clever use of a river that mirrors the one that runs past the bottom of the garden at The NASH was a strong element of the logo, but we were still missing the detail of the building that makes the venue unique. Emily then suggested we used another interesting architectural feature: the bell tower that creates an interesting shape at the gable end of the building. Our designer was able to capture this detail perfectly and with the added injection of a bright teal colour we feel the final logo really pops!
There are also subtler sides to this logo: the font used in the strapline echoes the font on a prominent stone sign inside the building that is engraved with ‘National School erected AD 1845’.
We have included the images of how the project progressed as we feel they perfectly represent the distillation process that is designing a logo.
Emily had this to say about working with us...
‘Scarlett and Sarah were absolutely brilliant to work with. They were charming, enthusiastic and very efficient. They understood our brief perfectly, but took it one step beyond by really distilling what we wanted to convey. I enjoyed the creative process and was impressed with Purple’s interpretation of our feedback each step of the way. I could not have predicted how well the result would turn out; now we have a logo that is visually very pleasing, but also an inspiring encapsulation of the venue and our aims.’