In 2017 Oval began developing historic land and buildings in Digbeth, one of which was a workspace called The Arch, located on Floodgate Street.
Design agency Common Curiosity were approached by Oval to create a new brand identity for the building. In the process they found that the building was a former tube works factory, thus renaming the building ‘The Tubeworks.’
I was asked to create a case study for the project, chatting with founder Paul Felton and Designer Elliot Moss, to learn more about the design process, the empathetic approach to the buildings history and how the project also drew in the help of other creatives in Birmingham.
CC x Tubeworks
Pre production
Direction
Cinematography
Video production
Post production
Alongside the video, animation was used to show how the history of the building influenced the typography and mark. Designer, Elliot Moss talks about how adjusting the inline typeface of Digbeth Sans, created a look that resembled tubes.
By looking at the original posters for tube factories Common Curiosity could see that their layout often followed a grid-like structure, this was therefore replicated in Tubeworks’ assets, using similar illustrations, bold type and simplistic layout.
We’ve worked with El on several projects at CC, she’s helped us capture projects like our extensive installation of the wayfinding and signage system at The Bond in Digbeth and the process, design and application of The Tubeworks brand identity. On both these occasions, El has been able to take complex briefs with multiple elements, from historical imagery and animated content to interviews and live footage then knit them together into engaging videos with a clear, compelling narrative.
Her ability to take a brief and not only run with it but, intuitively raise the bar, bringing fresh perspectives to the brief is second to none. El is an absolute pleasure to work with, calm and accommodating and when an email lands in our inbox with a first cut from El, the excitement levels in the studio peak and each time she’s exceeded even our lofty expectations.
