In Tune with Heaven. In Touch with Daily Life.
Gloucester Cathedral
Purpose
- Building brands
- Creating journeys
What we did
- Brand architecture
- Visual identity
- Verbal identity
- Digital
Collaborators
- Photography: Dan Wilton
Gloucester Cathedral is the vessel for over 1,300 years of heritage and spirituality. Within its walls is a curious chorus of past and present, of facts and faith; a national treasure where kings have been buried and coronated, and a boy wizard went to school. The Cathedral’s aspiration today is to reflect its rich cultural history and become a place that is truly for all. But its communications were holding it back. We worked with the team to transport this ancient building into the modern world and conserve its future as a cultural destination, community hub and place of worship, all at once.
A story of duplexity
Our starting point was the Cathedral’s mission: ‘In tune with Heaven. In touch with daily life.’ We adopted this as our brand platform, opening up a visual story of duplexity - the ethereal and the material. To cement the Cathedral’s position as a destination, we grounded communications in a simple framework: ‘A place for…’. We set out to show that, whoever you are, this is somewhere for you.
Rethinking digital engagement
The altarpiece of this project was a new digital ecosystem. It was a radical rethink of the visitor experience across every interaction and a simplification of the myriad audience needs into clear, sequential journeys. We flipped convention by creating a single-screen homepage that channels different used based on what they’re looking for: to visit, to worship, to participate, to learn, to support. Behind each journey was a depth of content to drive repeat visitation to both the Cathedral and its website.
Living history
Places imbued with faith and tradition can unintentionally create a feeling of ‘it’s not for me’. But the heritage and history of these ancient monuments belong to all of us. Gloucester Cathedral is living proof that, whatever you do or don’t believe, we can come together as communities that celebrate shared interests. Its new brand and website now tell a complete story: that this is a place for architecture, for music, for history, for art, for faith. And, of course, for you.
