Established more than 50 years ago, The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Its collections contain more than 150 million items, in over 400 languages including books, magazines, manuscripts, maps, music scores, newspapers, patents, databases, philatelic items, prints and drawings and sound recordings. In short, in order to find what you're looking for, it requires a highly sophisticated way-finder system. Enter illustrator Andrew Joyce!
When the library contacted us last year, they were looking for a full suite of characterful illustrations to adorn their new way-finder signage, both inside and outside of the iconic site, as part of a colourful brand update.
Following a VIP tour and site visit, Andrew studiously immersed himself in the Library's brief, thoughtfully crafting each illustration with meaning and a touch of humour. He carefully depicted details like the distinctive round windows of the Members' Room and the Library’s study chairs, even contemplated the question: "Did Leonardo Da Vinci ever doodle?".
Now installed, the new signage combines a clear and functional visual identity with Andrew's illustrations. Employing Andrew's trademark bold visual language, intuitive icons, and high-contrast colours, the design ensures easy navigation while complementing the Library’s architecture. The illustrated assets work to enhance accessibility and efficiency, improving the visitor experience for the library's thousands of annual visitors.
Scroll down to hear how Andrew found his way around the project.
What was the creative brief like? was it very prescriptive?
For me, it was a really useful balance of knowing what specifics were needed whilst also giving enough space to play around with ideas and provide some different options. They already had a clear idea of where the illustrations would be used and provided clear but open headings for each illustration such as; “Deserve a treat?’ for the cafe or “Need space to think?” for the study rooms. I was then given free rein to visualise these headings however I saw fit.
The overall aim was to create images that would give the space warmth, personality and a human face to the visitor facing communications but there were also other details and conditions to keep in mind. For example, they wanted to stay away from the generic visuals that may come to mind when thinking of The British Library and promote some of the other, lesser known collections they have and services they provide.
They also wanted to include the wide range of visitors they have, from families to students, professional researchers to hobbyists etc. This helped provide a really useful framework but also give me enough room to play around with comfortably.
Were there any particular challenges or surprises that came up?
I think the main challenge was to resist the urge to include books everywhere. To make sure that the illustrations were boiled down and simple enough to be easy to understand, fun to look at and yet not repeat myself in each one. There were some cases where the same idea could have been used for multiple headlines so when making a larger amount of illustrations for a project like this it was important to provide some variety and use a good amount of different visual cues.
In terms of surprises, I also had a specific image of The British Library before visiting, somewhere where professional went to read old book whilst a librarian in white gloves turned the pages for you, so it was a surprise to me to see the various ways people actually use the space, from families enjoying a day out to friends meeting for coffee etc.
I also didn’t realise that they collected more than books. Alongside DVDs, stamps and maps it was fascinating to see notebooks and sketchbooks from famous icons throughout history such as Chopin, Leonardo DiVinci and The Beatles.
What was your research process like? How useful was it to explore the site to inspire your work?
Going on the tour was really useful as there are things that are very specific to The British Library i.e. certain furniture that was designed specifically for the study area, so this was a nice challenge to make sure things like this were included and accurate.
Just seeing the variety of people, collections, furniture, activities and architecture all provided a really useful visual starting point when coming up with ideas and making sure they were accurate.
Did you sneak in any hidden details or Easter eggs that people should look out for?
I always try to include my children in illustrations when I can, and this time was especially meaningful. I hope they can go and see themselves on site for many years in the future.
