Placemaking, from a brand identity perspective: branding a space can help with wayfinding, understanding potential uses, and communicating brand attributes.

The brief on this one was to build traffic on the East Side of Granville Island – this would help support the tenants on the east side, distribute traffic and parking better, and elevate customer / guest experience by helping them discover new artisans and retailers.

We had to first create an identity and sense of place so people would know where to go. Leveraging the equity of one of the key roads, Railspur Alley, we branded the multi-block area as “Railspur District” on Granville Island.

Investing in the equity of “Railspur” provided good story telling – a railspur is a secondary rail track that branches off from a main railway line, providing access to industrial or commercial areas for loading and unloading railcars. Railspurs are typically built to serve specific customers, allowing them to receive or ship goods without disrupting main line traffic. Metaphorically, this is exactly what we were asking our customers to do – get off the beaten path and discover the east side of the Island.

Visually, to create a sense of place and help define the boundaries of the area, we colour coded poles and bollards in the district, added banners, created a large directional signage mural, posters and window clings for retailers, and produced shopping bags and wearables.