Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust

Brand Strategy
Brand Identity
Digital Design
Print Design

Website build: Reformat

Photography: Julian Preece

Additional illustration: James Merry

The Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail offers over four miles of sculptures and installation art in the heart of England’s ancient woodland. For nearly 40 years, the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust and Forestry England have provided a home to works by some of the world’s leading artists. The trail welcomes over 300,000 visitors every year, and we invite you to enjoy the sculptures and their environment on a wide range of levels.

We were approached by the Trust to rebrand the organisation and build a new digital platform for the trail, alongside new printed items and signage.

The forest itself is an important element of the brand. Unlike other sculpture parks, all the artworks you see on the trail are site-specific, developed on location and inspired by the setting of the Forest of Dean. We wanted to bring the particular personality of the Forest of Dean to the brand, building brand assets and colour palettes inspired by the specific surroundings of the forest.

The site is built for media-rich content, with modular content blocks that allow sculpture information pages to be as in-depth as possible. The Forest of Dean is not a gallery, and although there are footpaths and signposts, you will not find labels and information about the artworks. Instead, you are encouraged to investigate the sculptures in your own way. The website content allows visitors to supplement the forest experience with more information before or after their visit.

We aim to design and build accessible web experiences as standard but accessibility was a particular focus here, including large text and high contrast options alongside a variety of different ways to engage with the trail including 360 degree tours for those who cannot visit and audio guided tours for those with visual impairments.