The Salford stretch of the Bridgewater Canal is full of heritage and still full of life. Salford City Council wanted to create a bespoke identity as part of a Heritage Lottery Funded project to open up the canal as a visitor attraction.

This is exactly the kind of brief we like. We got to know the canal through stakeholder engagement, workshops, site visits and research. We discovered the stories of the canal and the surrounding areas, the role it had played in the past and the potential it holds for the future. The year it opened – 1761 – was key. This is when the story began. A brand palette was developed, inspired by Salford’s greatest artist, L.S. Lowry, alongside a range of graphic devices with a nod to the stonemason’s marks.

Taking that as the core of the brand, we developed a bank of superlatives to support the brand marque. A plain talking, contemporary tone, but one that’s not afraid to shout about its achievements as the greatest, finest, biggest and smartest.

After developing the brand, we went on to design and build the Est.1761 website.