Haverfordwest Place Brand
Client: Pembrokeshire County Council
Partners: Rooted in Place: Sensible, Lee John Phillips
Place: Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire
The community need
In March 2022, Pembrokeshire County Council sought to develop a place brand for the town of Haverfordwest. The town has recently received significant investment that will enable the development of critical assets to benefit the local community and attract visitors.
The project aimed to create a town identity, an 'umbrella brand' and a brand campaign to promote Haverfordwest. Intrinsic to the brand was the look and feel of public space and how people use and move through it, particularly as the new developments progress.
What I did
I worked with Giles Davis and Lee John Phillips, through our specialist branding agency Rooted in Place. Together, we provided communication, design and brand strategy.
Through a series of briefings, town walkabouts and desk research, we got to understand the investment strategy, perceptions of the town, how it's currently promoted and the need to fit into the wider Visit Pembrokeshire approach.
We then organised several community consultations, which included a social media-promoted online survey, a two-day drop-in surgery in the town centre and some targeted workshops.
We held the drop-in surgery in an empty shop unit. We strung photographs and sketches of town scenes up on washing lines and invited people to tell us what they love about Haverfordwest and where the town falls short. Over 300 people attended, including high school pupils and a local history group.
The combination of survey responses and face-to-face comments helped us understand the unique selling points of the town and create a brief for the design stage. From our research, we learned that the "best" things about Haverfordwest are (in order) the:
River
Central Pembrokeshire location
Castle
Friendly people
Independent shops
History and heritage.
We then wove these into an easy-to-recognise identity that communicates "The Heart of Pembrokeshire". We held workshops with the county council before consulting more widely on the design with the town council and local business circle.
The outcome
The main identity combines the castle, river and central position of Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire with a mercantile font representing the town's trading past.
The colour palette references Haverfordwest's natural and built environment, inspired by the river, the town's iconic buildings and tiles unearthed from excavations at the friary.
In July 2023, we:
Launched the place brand with local partners
Created an online toolkit for wider use
Produced some taster items, including shopping bags, mugs, pens, stickers and pin badges, for local businesses and other organisations.
The brand is now being used on site hoardings around regeneration projects and is also being considered in the town's future wayfinding strategy.
