National Portrait Gallery
Europe
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National Trust, Cliveden
- Location
- Cliveden, UK
- Client
- National Trust
- Services
- Wayfinding
- Sector
- Culture + Civic
- Awards
- ISTD Certificate of Excellence for Exhibition Design and Signage Systems
A wayfinding scheme for the National Trust’s Cliveden estate
Benoy was commissioned by the National Trust to develop a signage and branding scheme for Cliveden, the 375-acre estate of formal gardens and woodlands overlooking the River Thames in Buckinghamshire. The wayfinding language marries the established National Trust visual identity with an expression specific to Cliveden, honouring its historic identity as a place of pleasure and leisure.
A welcoming, playful voice carried through the estate
The response centres on a tone and visual language that reads as welcoming and playful. Bespoke pictograms, a calibrated typography palette and a considered material approach give Cliveden its own voice within the National Trust’s wider brand framework. Visitors know they have arrived at a National Trust property from the moment they enter, but the wayfinding design allows them to also read the personality of Cliveden through every sign they pass.
A single design grammar across a complex estate
The scheme extends from arrival points and car parks through the formal gardens, woodland trails, café signage and visitor-facing collateral, holding a single grammar across very different part of the estate. Material choices balance permanence with a light visual weight, sitting against the listed Italianate mansion, formal parterre and informal woodland without competing for attention. The work was recognised with an ISTD Certificate of Excellence for Exhibition Design and Signage Systems.
