Remarkable Pubs
A collection of lovingly restored traditional boozers across London. Full to the rafters with great wine, even better beer, jukeboxes, witty conversation and food glorious food. Remarkable create fantastically authentic British pubs. Hunker down my friend, you’ll be here until close.
Overview
Remarkable Pubs focus on restoring historical pubs. Rather than bulldozing over them with modern interiors, Remarkable instead sensitively reconstruct both the internal and external aspects of each building. They revive their period features and bring them back to their former glory. We met the MD of Remarkable over a pint and a packet of scratchings in The Shaftesbury Tavern and instantly realised just how much we liked the cut of his jib and luckily he liked ours too.
Services
Web Design + Digital, Graphic Design, Copywriting, Photography, Illustration, Branding + Identity Design.
The Challenge
- Remarkable were overhauling their marketing output, they wanted to start by restoring (rather than reinventing) their brand identity.
- Their website was as vintage as their pubs. Period features are great for buildings, but less so for websites. Theirs had slow load times and was very outdated. We were tasked with quickly and cost-effectively turning around a brand spanking new site for them, accompanied with charismatic copywriting and engaging photography.
- Finally, we were asked to design a set of flyers and graphics for a selection of their pubs. We were asked to ensure each set of artwork was tailored to the very distinct personality of each pub – rather than create a homogeneous set of designs.
Barefaced Solution
- We tweaked Remarkable’s brand identity to better reflect the company’s beauty, spirit and cheekiness. We moved Remarkable away from the stale design and dark colours that stereotype traditional British pubs. Instead, creating something pared back and fresh, yet sympathetic to the heritage of their pubs.
- The website acts as a directory for the company. Linking to the individual websites for each pub (created in-house by Remarkable). We kept things simple. We focused on designing a beautiful, simple and easy to use website, with clear navigation throughout. Nothing worse than trying to plan where to have a pint, only to be met with a maze of information. We added a dose of fun through features such as the ‘pub tombola’ and through jovial copywriting. Large and full size imagery across the site gives the viewer an idea of the brilliant atmosphere they can expect when visiting a Remarkable Pub.
- Each pub has a different story to tell. So we gently tailored our approach towards the flyers and artwork to be reflective of each individual location, whilst sticking to Remarkable Pub’s value of being sympathetic to their heritage. We went for a decidedly fun approach. Inspired by the colours, lettering and illustrations found on the vintage artworks and signage lining their walls, whilst taking direction from the history of each pub.
You’ll be here until close
We helped Remarkable move away from the stale design and dark colours that stereotype traditional British pubs. The design work created for London boozers are usually about as charming as a limp lettuce, conjuring up images of geezers getting lairy and dirty pint glasses. Instead, we wanted to show Remarkable’s true spirit through their refreshed brand identity. Their legacy is one of revival. The restoration of beauty, tradition and a dying British culture. Furthermore, with each pub that they breathe life back into they’re also rescuing the community spirit that emanates from these historic pubs. So we helped them restore their identity into a brand that would make people want to hunker down for the evening over a pint.
We were asked not to change the logo as it has affectionate origins with the founders of the company. Instead we created a secondary version of the original logo, which was flexible enough to work across various mediums. We then developed a colour palette featuring a primary ‘British racing’ green shade. A colour chosen for its heritage, distinctly British feel and welcoming, relaxing hue. A traditional font inspired by the logo was matched with a softer contemporary font. Finally, a distinctively tongue-in-cheek tone-of-voice was established, filled with witticisms and intended to feel like a conversation (in the pub) between old friends.
New photographic imagery was taken, largely from a fly-on-the-wall perspective. A slight grain was added to the images to add a retro filmic effect and to emphasise the composition, color and tones of the imagery. The end result allows the viewer to feel as though they’re sat in one of the Remarkable Pubs, watching the world go by over a pint. We then designed and built their main website utilising a clean, pared back aesthetic to allow the copywriting and imagery to shine through.
Fun, witty and dripping in heritage, Remarkable straddles the realm between time-honoured and modern. The new look and voice of Remarkable Pubs is inviting and approachable, traditional but not stuffy.