The Wolverhampton Civic Hall, now known as The Halls is a Grade 2 listed venue which seats over 3,000 visitors and has played host to leading performers including Peter Kay, The Specials and The Manic Street Preachers. It has been undergoing an enormous £38m refurbishment project that has transformed this prestigious building into a modern venue ready to host both national and global stars. We worked with MYCO – the main contractor responsible for delivering the project – to explore the wayfinding and visitor signage for this incredible building.

DEADLINES

The turn-around time for this project was tight and required the full signage audit, strategy, design and installation to be completed within just five months. Our in-house production facility and creative team allow us to be agile and respond quickly to visitor signage requests like this. Our process began with a site visit, followed by a creation of concepts and a moodboard. We then conducted a visitor signage audit, plotting each location on a map and coding each sign for our design studio and installation team. Once a moodboard concept was agreed, we began the design and artwork process in order to deliver a comprehensive proof document for client sign-off.

DESIGN

Our creative design began with the all-important site survey. Visiting the building helps gain an understanding of the architectural style and how the visitor signage should look. The construction of the Civic Hall was originally completed in 1938 and designed by Lyons and Israel in the Classical style. We were wowed by the beautiful marble floor and how each slab was framed with a delicate gold/brass trim. The main entrance was home to an impressive wooden display of Lady Wulfruna, a Mercian noblewoman and landowner, whose name bore the term Wolverhampton. The venue also boasted some original Art Deco furniture and fixings that were in-keeping with the time period of its construction. We were keen to incorporate some of the Art Deco style in the new visitor signage design, but we also needed to include the new venue branding and colour schemes introduced by the architects.

Following this site visit we immediately began designing three different concepts for the client to consider. Each design had been created to allow multiple production methods depending on budget.

• Concept 1 – Follows a simple art deco style with neutral colours and a delicate gold trim that has taken inspiration from the flooring
• Concert 2 – Uses simplified art deco shapes and gold elements but uses the new branding pattern and colour palette.
• Concert 3 – Takes inspiration from the original features such as the ornate wooden heater covers and Wulfrun display with gold accents.

VISITOR SIGNAGE AUDIT AND PLANNING

We returned to the Wolverhampton Civic Hall a few weeks later for a full audit and planning session. Armed with architectural plans and our signage audit kit we walked around each of the four floors, along every corridor and analysed visitor journeys, dwell spaces and thoroughfares. We liaised with the catering teams and management staff to development a visitor signage strategy that moved guests toward their seats and refreshment areas and away from the busy lobby and corridors. This process was the foundation for all design and installation works. The same week we plotted the signage positions and delivered a comprehensive audit. This document formed the quote that the client subsequently approved.

MATERIALS AND PRODUCTION

Our original concept proposal was designed with budget flexibility. Our creative team are experienced designers who understand the production process. We design with commercial awareness and manufacturing insight for a cost-effective solution. Our client chose Concept 2 and we developed this design to meet the budget for their suite of visitor signage. We selected a beautiful gold acrylic specially cast and ordered from Italy. We printed our wayfinding designs direct the this substrate and float-mounted these to the wall to hide the fixings. This method provided a level of security and also flexibility for future changes and potential sponsorships. The suspended visitor signage required a little more engineering. We wanted these signs to be fixed rigidly to the ceiling and not be able to ‘swing’ like some suspended systems. We designed a metal fabricated bracket and bar solution that mechanically fixed to the high ceiling and supported our acrylic signage securely. This custom-made bracket was powder-coated to match our acrylic signage.

EXTERNAL SIGNAGE AND PLANNING PERMISSION

As part of our signage remit, we were also asked to support MYCO with their external signage proposal to the council. We designed and proposed four separate elevations that included signage dimensions, materials, colours and photographic ‘mockups’ of the building. We explored a range of colours and finishes for each elevation, until finally we submitted two elevations for consideration. It was important that our external building signage was sympathetic to the Grade II listing of the site and considered fixings and minimal damage to the brickwork and fascias. Once approved we manufactured the external signage and arranged suitable access equipment to install the signage to the nine metre high frontage!

INSTALLATION

The installation was arranged in two phases. The internal signage was fitted across all four floors in just three and a half days using four of our professional installation team. Using our coded signage audit and plans they were able to locate and fit all 140 pieces of visitor signage quickly and efficiently. The second phase focussed on the external signage installation which was delayed slightly due to bad weather. All signage was delivered, installed and completed before the official handover to AEG Presents. Since completing this large signage project for MYCO we have been delighted to work more with AEG Presents to design, produce and install further signage for their venues.

GET IN TOUCH

If you’d like us to design your visitor signage we’d love to hear from you. We can arrange a site survey of the space and design to your brief.

Call one of our team today on 01332 613 900 or email ideas@mxdisplay.co.uk