St Katharine’s Dock/Pool of London

Client: Pool of London Partnership

Designers: Anderson Design & Marketing

Sign manufacturer: HB Sign Company

Using signs as branding is particularly tricky in a historically sensitive environment such as the Pool of London, the area stretching from the Tower of London to London and Tower bridges. This was the challenge facing Anderson Design & Marketing when it was appointed to come up with a graphic way of unifying the area, while retaining the identities of the contingent parts, with the ultimate aim of encouraging awareness of attractions other than the primary tourist destination, the Tower of London.

A further complication was the multiple nature of client the Pool of London Partnership, a combination of the London boroughs of Southwark and Tower Hamlets, the Corporation of London, and property companies Taylor Woodrow Properties, St Martin’s Property, Butler’s Wharf Forum and Historic Royal Palaces. Some of these organisations are implementing the new signs at their own pace and with their own variations.

‘We’re not interested in taking away the individual identities of the different parts through some false identity. We wanted to recognise that it is one area through the signs, so there are just occasional [Pool of London] endorsements,’ says Anderson associate director Richard Nicoll.

So far, signs for the St Katharine’s Dock area have been implemented. The designers came up with a standard set of icons for the various visitor attractions and a Berthold Garamond typeface, used by most of the Pool of London partners. The Corporation of London is likely to use its regular Albertus signage typeface.

Signs are rectangular, mounted on brushed anodised aluminium brackets on a sturdy steel post, topped with an oval finial with the name of the relevant client. St Katharine’s Dock signs are fingerposts which are more in keeping with the character of the area. The finial contains an image of St Katharine taken from an old woodcut, with the Ivory House from St Katharine’s Dock in the background. This portrait also appears on banners at the start of the docks alongside Pool of London banners.