MANOR ROYAL LINKS

Brand development, guidelines, print, signage.​​ & wayfinding.
manorroyal-links.org​​​​

Creating a place brand for a network of walking routes, public art and green spaces within one of the South East's largest business districts.

The Links is a new walking and wellbeing network connecting public art, green spaces and places of interest across Manor Royal Business District in Crawley. Commissioned by Manor Royal BID, the project seeks to encourage exploration, active travel and moments of pause within a predominantly industrial and commercial environment. The brand needed to support both physical and digital experiences, providing a recognisable identity that could be applied across mapping, signage, interpretation, events and online content.

The project began with site visits, stakeholder workshops and a review of existing branding, mapping and wayfinding systems. Understanding how people already move through the district was central to the process. Despite its scale and industrial character, Manor Royal revealed itself as a surprisingly green and thoughtfully curated place, with public art, pocket parks, wildlife corridors and hidden details rewarding exploration. Key themes emerged around connection, wellbeing, discovery and pride in place.

I proposed several visual routes for us to explore based on my findings, and we began crafting the new brand together using stakeholder opinions and the feelings of the team to guide us.

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The resulting concept builds upon the existing Manor Royal identity while establishing a distinctive voice for The Links. Inspired by the ribbon device within the Manor Royal logo, the brand uses a flowing graphic language to represent movement through the district. The ribbon acts as both a practical navigation tool and a visual metaphor for connection, linking people, places, stories and experiences across the network. The identity was designed to feel welcoming, optimistic and flexible, capable of supporting everything from quick lunchtime walks to longer explorations of the wider district.

Alongside the visual identity, the project includes the development of mapping, digital content and a toolkit for future interventions within the landscape. The aim is to create a scalable system that can evolve over time, supporting new routes, installations and opportunities for discovery as the network grows.

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“We worked with Holly on a vitally important project to the Manor Royal BID. Holly quickly gained an understanding of our key priorities, understood the context of the assignment and delivered something that felt authentic to the area on time and to budget. She remained responsive to our feedback throughout, was gently challenging where she needed to be and has delivered a solution we are very happy with.”

Steve Sawyer, Executive Director