Creative Places - West Cork Islands
Creative Places | Uniting West Cork’s islands through a vibrant arts brand
Piquant embraced the challenge of developing a brand for the West Cork Islands that fosters cultural expression and community participation. By connecting islanders through their shared heritage and innovative design, we created a dynamic brand system that engages all seven inhabited islands.
Our creative brand system integrates local traditions and modern design, encouraging islanders to shape their identity actively. This multi-channel approach has enhanced access to arts programming, celebrating the unique culture of the West Cork Islands and uniting their communities.
A place for creativity
Creative Places is a programme for places in Ireland that have not benefited from sustained investment in the arts and creativity. The project aims to build sustained arts investment and create opportunities for local arts programmes across Cape Clear, Sherkin, Heir, Whiddy, Bere, Dursey, and Long Island. In order to realise the aims of this initiative, they needed a brand system that could reflect the unique perspective of the islanders while encouraging participation in the arts.
Developing the brand
Through continuous dialogue with island representatives, we realised this brand system would need to be activated by the islanders and that a blend of in-person and digital brand touchpoints would be required as a foundation to build a stronger shared identity. A significant challenge of the project was geographical: with no direct ferry routes between the islands, developing inter-island connections would be complex and logistically demanding. While researching the history of each island and discussing daily island life with locals, the design team came across rope-making workshops that are held on each island, and connect younger families with their rich nautical heritage. Ropemaking and knot-making is a timeless practice for islanders, fishermen and military sailors, all of whom have, at one point in time, called these islands home. Inspired by this practice, we developed a seven-looped knot that would become our logomark, a loop for each island.
The supporting system was built using a colour scheme based on the unique geographical location of the islands, a blend of professional and user-generated photography that explored the cultural activities of the islands, as well as a distinctive approach to illustrations. This large bank of illustrations, created using brushes and ink, were rough and imperfect, speedily made in a way that could be replicated by anyone in the community. The subject matter of the illustrations were chosen by islanders and reflected aspects of island life and history. Whether that was the cable car on Dursey, the local stamps of Long Island (which were produced illicitly, to the annoyance of An Post in the early 70s) or the traditional Hanorah boats of Heir Island. This ever-growing suite of illustrations acts as a challenge to all islanders: to collectively map the culture of West Cork’s seven inhabited islands.
Making the arts accessible
As part of this brand development process, we sought innovative ways to disseminate information pertaining to the project to all seven islands, which included social media communications, using the island radio station, and completely restructuring the Creative Places: West Cork Islands Annual Report as a local newspaper which was delivered to all islands. These efforts were all aimed at making the arts more accessible and engaging for all islanders.
Impact
By creating a brand system inspired by the islands' shared heritage and nautical traditions, we found a way to speak to both historical and contemporary island life. The inclusion of community-driven elements, such as rough illustrations, enables islanders to actively participate in shaping and evolving their brand. The multi-channel communication approach has significantly improved accessibility to arts programming, ensuring that the creative spirit of the islands can thrive, uniting and celebrating the unique culture of West Cork.
