The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) presented us with a request to design their Retrofit for the Future guide. The style was to follow an illustrative route, aiming to avoid an ‘academic’ feel. Explicit requirements were to improve usability and readability included photographs and white space.
Clear signposting
The design was informed by the key messages that TSB wished the brochure to communicate. Each of the 6 key project themes stood for a different aspect of the retrofit process – they were highlighted to emphasise the careful management that should accompany each project.
We developed each theme visually by selecting six shapes and corresponding colours.
Case studies
The case studies section proved to be most challenging. There was copy relating to each project theme on every page, and a further visual relationship to be communicated. In the case studies, the events of each project were categorised by theme using coloured boxes.
Where project actions classed under one theme influenced decisions that fell under another, a connection was created with directional arrows, showing the flow of influence in a chain reaction. This was the most aesthetically pleasing, and communicatively simple, way to illustrate this potentially confusing information.
Infographic
To demonstrate the pattern of influences between the project themes in a clear, accessible manner, we created an infographic. Placed towards the beginning of the guide, it illustrates the relationships between different elements of the project, employing the shapes and colours assigned to them.
The completed brochure design and print is very easy to read, helped in particular by the judicious use of white space. It communicates the process of retrofitting residential properties in a strong piece of print.
To view the fully project gallery, visit our Behance portfolio.