Jodrell Bank

Jodrell Bank observatory began when a few academics began tracking meteors in a muddy field in Cheshire. 75 years later it welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to a UNESCO World Heritage Site while also staging festivals, lectures and events.

It has become a global landmark of scientific discovery and home to the development of radio astronomy. It helped transform celestial observation and continues to unlock the universe today. It is symbolised by the mighty Lovell Telescope, built in the fifties and named after the site’s founder. This is still one of the largest radio telescopes on the planet and an icon of human imagination and ingenuity.

But it had never developed a visual identity that did justice to the site’s achievements, or a verbal platform to talk to its many different audiences, whether they be academics, school visitors, families or festival-goers.

From the off, we knew that an idea inspired by the giant telescope would be the ideal design solution. But it took weeks of experimentation to find a way to do this successfully, and in a way that didn’t clash when placed near images of the dish itself. The final route began a motion sketch that turned, tilted and swayed, much like the telescope itself. It became immediately clear that this could be the way forward – a symbol designed for constant motion that we could ‘freeze’ when we needed a static version.

After much experimentation, we also discovered that as the logo passes through its vertical or horizontal states, we can ‘switch’ between scenes, creating a hypnotic optical effect.

The theme of circularity and rings then infuses the whole scheme, coupled with bold and punchy sixties style typography which itself harks back to the era of the space race – and Jodrell Bank’s unique role within it.

There's a short film of the whole project here https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/697340859