Our work for Coillte

DMP signage guideline manual

21 April 2009

We have recently completed a signage guideline manual for the Dublin Mountains Partnership. This document will allow the various organisations represented within the partnership to present the DMP brand identity in a consistent manner across each of their existing individual signage systems.

Each partner organisation has its own corporate identity, chosen typeface and colour scheme. Therefore achieving satisfactory co-branding with the DMP was the core branding challenge that we had to resolve.  

Our technical challenge was to define a system that would achieve the optimum consistency across the wooden signs, used on public roads and on council land, and the metal signs used at the entrance to council sites located in more urban settings. 

The blue construction lines overlaid on the example guideline manual illustration above show how we used ratios to define the sizes and postions of the elements within all signs consistently for different sign sizes. In this instance the height of the capital D in the logotype forms the basis for all of the vertical dimensions.

Given the nature of the locations and properties involved we had to design for a range of classes of signs including approach road, threshold, trailhead and route-marking signs. As all of these signs fall within the scope of the Official Languages Act,  our design system is also fully bilingual.

National Trails Day

24 July 2008

National Trails Day, 28th September 2008 is a joint project involving several State agencies including Coillte, Fáilte Ireland, Comhairle na Tuaithe and the National Trail Office. The project is about working together to promote outdoor activities, nature walks, and to raise awareness of ‘Trails’ in Ireland. It’s a designated day and will encourage all walks of life to get outdoors! The logo conceived by BFK represents many types of people that will use the trails from families, to mountain bikers to advanced hill walkers. The logo, in both the Irish and English versions, works across a variety of platforms from regional and national advertising to promotional banners. The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon Ó Cuív, officially launched the National Trails Day with TV personality Kathryn Thomas in St. Stephen’s Green on 24th July 2008.

Dublin Mountains Partnership identity

16 July 2008

"Create a unifying brand mark that will be acceptable to five separate organisations and also eventually serve to promote the Dublin Mountains to residents and tourists." That was the challenge set out for us by the newly-established Dublin Mountains Partnership.

The Dublin Mountains Partnership is a management group for the mountains, comprising Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, South Dublin County Council, Coillte, the National Parks & Wildlife Service and the Dublin Mountains Initiative. Its remit covers development of trails for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, as well as improved signage and maps and promotional material. Usage of the brand identity is shared by the five stakeholders.

Our visual solution includes a novel monogram symbol derived from the initials DMP in a form suggestive of an owl or a rams head. We advised that a strong graphic symbol would be a beneficial asset to this brand. We designed this symbol so that it may be reproduced in methods that are in harmony with its natural surroundings: routed out of wood, for example.

The brand mark will initially be seen on signage at the main access points overseen by the Dublin Mountains Partnership. The new brand identity will visually unify the various locations and services. This brand identity gives the Dublin Mountains Partnership a strong basis on which to establish a brand for the Dublin Mountains over the coming years. We will be working with them to define the usage parameters for the brand mark, to develop the supporting corporate identity system and to specify all of the principal applications of that corporate identity system.

Healthy Forests, Healthy Nation

26 May 2005

Coillte compiled this document to outline their recreational policies in all aspects of their forest parks. It encompasses such topics as Forest Park facilities, usage rights and Coillte's partnerships with local communities. It is hoped that this policy document will act as a reference and general guide used by both Coillte employees and forest park users. Our cover design features a selection of imagery that displays a broad range of forest park activities. The document is divided into 18 separate sections, each indicated by colourful page dividers. We devised a clean flexible layout structure so that each policy would be easy to follow throughout the different sections.

 

An award-winning report

07 December 2004

Coillte has received its second ACCA Ireland Environmental Reporting Award for its excellence in sustainability reporting at a ceremony in the Mansion House in Dublin on 6 December 2004. The award was presented to Coillte for its 2003 Social and Environmental Report by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. According to the ACCA, Coillte's 2003 report "is well structured, includes thorough stakeholder engagement, is comprehensive, and communicates well". BFK designed this report for Coilllte. A complete copy of Coillte's 2003 Social and Environmental Report can be downloaded from its website.

More articles about our work for Coillte

Branching out 01 January 2003