Clear identity given to stately home in Devon

Clear Communications has created the first brand identity and corporate style for stately home Dartington Hall, as part of a major investment by the hall’s owner as it moves to focus on the leisure market.

The medieval, Devon-based venue is owned and operated by the Dartington Hall Trust. The hall has 55 bedrooms for leisure break and conference visitors, plus a restaurant.

Though the hall’s main activity is in literary, arts, educational and social reform events, a large amount of its revenue comes from the commercial areas.

‘Until now, we’ve had a somewhat bitty approach to identity,’ says Dartington Hall general manager Paul Haresnape.

‘But we are increasingly becoming a leisure destination for individuals and groups and we wanted to come up with an image that would appeal to this market.’

The consultancy chose to borrow from, and point towards, the hall’s heritage in its design. The identity employs the crest of the original owner, John Holand, brother to Richard II. Against this is set a Gill typeface, in reference to the association with creative innovation at the time the trust was formed in the 1920s.

‘Because the offering is quite unusual, it needed a distinctive identity for people to sign up to,’ according to Clear Communications creative services director Peter Silvester.

Clear Communications has also designed an identity for the hall’s The White Hart restaurant, on the back of a major investment in the eatery.

The identities are being rolled out from this week across stationery, menus, signage, marketing literature and a website.

The consultancy was commissioned on the back of a three-way creative pitch in September.

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