Byker Community Archive

Spanning life before redevelopment, the construction of the estate between 1969 and 1983, and Byker today, the archive will bring its social and architectural history together in one accessible space on the estate. It will also give local people opportunities to contribute, volunteer and work with the archive, ensuring its story continues to grow.

We were asked to create a brand identity that could give this new cultural space a distinctive presence while feeling authentically connected to Byker and the community it represents.

That presented an interesting challenge. Byker already has an incredibly strong visual identity. Its distinctive architecture, rooflines, geometric forms and bold use of colour make it instantly recognisable. We wanted to draw on that rich visual heritage without creating an identity that focused solely on the architecture.

At its heart, the Byker Community Archive is a living archive. It exists not only to document buildings and landscapes, but to capture the experiences and memories of people, past and present. The identity therefore needed to feel unmistakably Byker while remaining open, accessible and flexible enough to accommodate different voices, stories and perspectives as the archive develops.

Working closely with Silvie Fisch and Harper Perry, we created an identity rooted in the visual language of the estate itself. Drawing inspiration from Byker’s distinctive rooflines, bold architectural shapes and iconic colour palette, we developed a simple graphic system that feels immediately connected to place.

Rather than creating something fixed, we designed a flexible visual language that can adapt and evolve alongside the archive. Its shapes and forms provide a recognisable framework while creating space for the photographs, memories, stories and contributions that will become the archive itself.

The result is a distinctive but deliberately simple identity: one that celebrates Byker without competing with the stories it exists to tell, and which can continue to be shaped by the community it represents.