St George’s Garrison Church
Giving a new lease of life for a historic church site in Woolwich, London, with a new identity, website, and interpretation materials.
St George’s Garrison Church was identified by Heritage of London Trust Operations as a site of historic interest, earmarked for conservation and sympathetic architectural intervention to bring it back into use. Commissioned to create the communications tools to open the site to new audiences, we were delighted to get involved – particularly once we saw the spectacular original details paired with the striking new contemporary roof. The site deserved to be widely seen, and we were well-placed to help establish its profile.
- Sectors and services
- Heritage
- Brand presence
- Digital + Film
- Exhibition + Signage
Branding
Key to the brand would be imagery, which would help promote the church as a destination for events and venue hire. We married stunning photography with a simple wordmark set in typography sympathetic to the physical site. A variation of the wordmark was contained in an arched block, a clear nod to the new roof, which enabled the logo to be clearly legible against background imagery.
A small monogram was created for use in social media.
Website
We worked with the trust team to identify the structure and developed the design to appeal to both the community and heritage lovers.
Built to be editable by the volunteer team through a CMS, full training on the website was provided.
Over the years since we first created the brand and website, we have continued to work with the trust team to refresh the website as new strategic needs require changes in the structure, and help maintain it, ensuring it is fit for modern browsers.
“Fit Creative has a good eye for design and a sensitivity that suits the unusual character of our historic site. In addition, a cheerful and efficient service is offered – perfect for organisations operating with small staff teams.”
Alice Yates
Heritage of London Trust Operations Ltd
Interpretation design
A key element of making the site more accessible, especially on days when the doors are not open to the public, was the new interpretation sign. Designed to reflect the proportions of the pillars on the front of the church and positioned and aligned to work with the architecture, this bespoke sign is both durable with vandal-proof paint and changeable should the graphics inside them need developing or adding to.
A single colour sheet handout was designed to help visitors to the Church better understand the site and its history whilst walking around. With a tear-off panel to sign up to the newsletter, and a box to hold those forms, it means the trust can start to engage with visitors.
School packs were designed and created to engage with local schools and be relevant to the curriculum.
Signage
One of the first things we did was to apply a vinyl message to the temporary gates in order to be able to engage with the local community, even as other communications items, such as the sign and website, were still in progress. This also helped create a space as it notified locals that there was something going on within this once derelict site.
