Our New Hand-drawn London Showroom Map
7th March 2018
Since starting my very first day as an Assistant Graphic Designer here at deVOL, I have been itching to write a blog entry for the online journal, and now, having been here for just over four months, seems as good a time as any. Whilst I could go into great depths reciting all of the varied, exciting projects I have already had the chance to work on since joining the team last October, today I wanted to introduce you to a fun little project that we have been chipping away at over the last couple of months – our new London showroom guide, How to Find deVOL’s London Showrooms & A Few of Our Favourite Places.
Aiming to design a guide to help our customers navigate from our Tysoe Street showroom, to our St. John’s Square showroom (or our St. John’s Square showroom to our Tysoe Street showroom!), we wished to create a map that was not only accommodating and useful, but true to deVOL’s ethos, also a little different from the norm!
Before long, what was initially supposed to be a simple guide from A to B (or B to A!) soon evolved into a half-square-mile map, detailing not only the locations of our showrooms, but also a good few of our favourite places in the surrounding area. Tried and tested by our lovely London-based staff, we selected fifteen of the very best restaurants, after work haunts, and must-see sights in our little corner of Clerkenwell. We wanted to not only create a guide to our showrooms, but also one that actively encourages customers to tour the very best of the surrounding area!
Once we had an idea of what we wanted our map to include, Laura, our Head Graphic Designer, and I were given the wonderful task of styling it with hand-drawn type and illustration. Whilst some of this remained rather functional, with illustrations acting as markers to pinpoint geographical locations, we were also encouraged to go a ‘bit wild’ with our ideas (resulting in some of the quirky little characters you may also find co-inhabiting the space – I’m particularly fond of the sausage-thief running loose in Spa Fields Park!).
Our next task was to decide on the best route for our customers to take during the nine minute stroll between showrooms, and after a chat with our London-based PR & Marketing team, Zoe and Letty, alongside invaluable input (and some product testing!) by our Creative Director, Helen, and Director, Paul, we had found a journey that was not only efficient, but also interesting to take.
Finally, after a thorough development process, and some guidance from Huw, our Creative Design Manager, we chose to house our map inside a six page roll-fold leaflet – a super handy size for popping into your handbag or back pocket. This format also granted us plenty of space to include brief descriptions about all of our favourite places (so hopefully you will see just why we love them so much!), alongside any of the showroom information you may need.
If you would like one of our new guides containing our map, they can be obtained free of charge from both our Tysoe Street and St. John’s Square showrooms. We look forward to seeing you soon, and hope that enjoy exploring our wonderfully eclectic area of Clerkenwell just as much as we do!
