Newcastle Upon Tyne is well known for it's independent businesses. More recently, there has been an upsurge in the craft and creativity of these businesses: Lane 7 is one of these. Not long ago, I was invited to a staff night out at the venue, which offers a first class dining experience, ten pin bowling, ping pong, pool and karaoke. We decided to hire the private suite for karaoke, and though booking only two hours, ended up staying for free for a further two: the atmosphere and the hilarity was that good. Throw some drinks in the mix, and you've got a great night.
The concept of Lane 7 is brilliant: reminiscent of a venue more likely seen in London, the place boasts a lot of aspects missing from the Tyne nightlife, all in one area. I actually spent the entire evening annoying my co-workers by talking about branding and stealing business cards and placemats.
The branding of Lane 7 was designed by Wonder Stuff studio, an agency based in the North East. The first project of this size for the studio, Lane 7's high class bar/restaurant/bowling alley/karaoke/ping pong/pool hybrid was a new concept for the North East and for all involved, therefore Wonder Stuff had the difficult task of making it a success: they also documented the process over on Identity Designed. As an aspirational designer, it's great to get to see and read the process of industry professionals.
With a brand being the heart and soul of a business, Wonder Stuff understood that the main areas to focus on were the interior, service and communications. They began the project by putting together a mood-board of similar venues and branding influences from across the world.
Basing the interior on a New York inspired warehouse style look and feel, they then had to generate a name. The brief was to create something edgy, flexible and distinct that would tie in with the interior style. After umming and arring, and throwing ideas back and forth, Lane7 was devised. Lane was an obvious reference to the bowling alley, and also a sense of geographical location. The 7 came from the 1,024 possible outcomes of a game of bowling: 1 + 0 + 2 + 4 = 7.
Following the name generation, Wonderstuff then had to create a logo. As you can see from the images above, the process was a lengthy one. They decided to use the relationship between the similarities of the L and 7 to create a bold, confident and ambigramic (a symbol whose elements remain the same when viewed from a different direction or orientation) identity, inspired by the constant movement of the bowling ball.
Within the interior and logo, the studio designed a homage to the vintage stylings of ten pins 1950's days: with a hand drawn typographic approach throughout, they developed this into an all-encompassing brand identity system. Following this, they designed a full range of touch points such as letterheads and leaflets, business cards and badges, mugs and menus. This crafted an identifiable characteristic for the brand.
In the brands physical presence the studio was also involved: working alongside local interior designers to ensure the brand, rather than the budget, dictated the design, and designed both internal and external signage, posters, and graphics which fit the venue. They also ensured the staff lived up to the brand, advising the staffing and uniform policy.
It's quite obvious to see why Lane7 is so popular and successful: the design studio had almost full reign on the project and were able to make sure every aspect was neatly in tune with the identity system. This allows the brand to be all encompassing. Whilst I was there, it was clear I wasn't the only one interested in the design: I heard my coworkers and others there at the bar and alleys talking of how beautiful the place was and how much effort had gone into the venue, and it's true. Seeing the North East become a haven for independently owned businesses is great, but seeing those businesses progress to such distinctive and energetic varieties is truly exciting.
I think my favourite aspect of Lane7 is the logo. After stealing a business card and returning home, I pulled out the business card from my purse upside down and noticed it was an ambigram. It's simple, symmetrical and subtle: the best kind of logo. The whole venue is playful, as seen with the hilarious bathroom signs: and it just works.
Wonderstuff Studios managed to bring something creatively new to the North East: something on trend, contemporary and visually stunning, and I highly suggest you check it out. You can find out more here, here and here.
