London Fashion Week – event signage

For almost a decade we've had the privilege of producing the graphics and signage for London Fashion Week. This high profile event is currently held at The Store Studios on the Strand. It's a spacious venue with big wide rooms and unfinished whitewashed walls. We work with Blonstein, a highly regarded creative production agency who we've had a long and successful partnership with over the years, to make sure everything runs smoothly from start to finish and with as much visual impact as possible.

The graphics usually use a combination of print, cut vinyl decals and video messaging – some applied directly to walls, and some hung for directional or designer name signage. Large statement wall graphics are placed throughout the venue, and whatever material is used for these main areas, is used throughout for directional signage.

The main wall at the designer areas and reception entrance prove to be very popular as a destination to take the obligatory, 'Here I am at Fashion Week' pic.

Blonstein are very good at briefing us on logistics and graphic coverage required for the event. This allows us to order in materials in advance and plan the studio around the event production. We work closely together with the client to organize the working schedule and highlight any potential issues ahead of time so we're all prepared. Events like London Fashion Week, and the following London Fashion Week Festival, need to be well drilled to make the most of the time available for production and installation.

After our initial briefing, both parties sit down and Blonstein shared a mood board with us for the upcoming event. This is where we add our experience and expertise. We're able to make suggestions about materials and methods to produce the graphics according to the venues makeup and character. One of our suggested materials was to use dichroic vinyl, used in Autumn 2017. This is a premium grade non-PVC film used to create shimmering, decorative colour shifting effects when viewed from different directions. We used two kinds, Nebula for the translucent film on glass and Aurora for the walls. It's this sharing of knowledge that helps to make LFW the visually exciting spectacle it is.

Much of the signage is made up of the designer names, navigation, and directory graphics. Hundreds of pieces of cut vinyl lettering are produced for each event. These are checked, and then double checked, against a comprehensive spreadsheet before being packed into their relevant areas and delivered ready for installation at the venue.

At the end of London Fashion Week, the event changes to the London Fashion Week Festival. This is when the event opens up to the public and involves a new set of graphics from us. This new signage is produced, prepped and prepared ready for the midpoint fit out and the start of Festival.

It's fair to say we love, and feel honoured, to work on London Fashion Week each year.