English Heritage

A scalable design system to bring conservation to life and boost visitor engagement.

Service: Brand / Sector: Culture

Background

English Heritage invests millions of pounds annually into a vast array of crucial conservation projects. It is a vital part of their charitable mission and something they are immensely proud of. However, their existing design system was failing to do this vital work justice.

While the collateral successfully informed visitors, it failed to inspire them. The old system blended in rather than catching the eye, underselling the incredible mix of tradition, science, and skill that their expert conservators pour into every site. Furthermore, the existing setup was highly inflexible, struggling to accommodate the diverse range of content required to tell these stories properly.

The challenge

The brief was to completely overhaul the "Conservation in Action" design system to make it energetic, thought-provoking, and upbeat. The new system needed to shift the dial from purely informational to highly engaging, leaving visitors eager to take action and find out more.

Crucially, as a tool for a busy internal department, the solution had to be highly practical. The new framework needed to be completely flexible and easy for the in-house design team to deploy across a massive variety of complex, ongoing projects without creating bottlenecks.

Our approach

We tackled the dense content by designing an A5 layout that is concise, friendly, and visually engaging. We structured the flow by splitting the guide into easily navigable sections, dividing the information intelligently by specific interests and geographical areas to create a seamless user experience.

Crucially, we went beyond just graphic design to solve a major commercial pain point for the client. To save the Visit West team valuable hours and unnecessary stress, we took on full responsibility for managing the advert proofing. We liaised directly with their advertisers to ensure all artwork was accurate, print-ready, and delivered strictly on deadline.

The results

A robust, flexible design system adopted seamlessly by the internal design team.
Consistently appealing and inspiring creative that actively draws visitors in.
Noticeably greater audience engagement with conservation projects, both on-site and online.

We delivered

A modular and scalable design system built for long-term flexibility and ease of use.
A custom headline font and a bespoke pattern suite to elevate the visual identity.
Comprehensive brand guidelines and user-friendly templates for the internal team.
A strategic creative toolkit that successfully turns complex, technical information into engaging, accessible content.