A brand to bring High Street Kensington to life.
Bringing High Street Kensington to Life with a Fresh Brand and Digital Experience
High Street Kensington is one of London’s best-known destinations – a place where retail, culture, hospitality, businesses and local communities come together.
Kensington BID wanted to create a new brand and website that could better reflect that mix, celebrating everything the area has to offer while giving people more reasons to discover and engage with it.
We created a fresh and flexible identity for High Street Kensington, together with a new digital platform designed to bring the character and energy of the neighbourhood to life.
The new identity needed to feel unmistakably contemporary while being flexible enough to represent the many different sides of High Street Kensington.
At its heart is a simple graphic idea.
The main HSK identity incorporates an extended line – a distinctive device that can change in style, pattern and character depending on where and how the brand appears.
Putting the neighbourhood at the centre
High Street Kensington isn’t simply a collection of shops and businesses. Its character comes from the people, places and experiences found along and around the high street.
Photography therefore became an important part of the identity.
Rather than relying on overly polished or generic destination imagery, we used real-life photography to create a fresher and more relatable picture of the area.
Combined with the graphic language, it gives the brand a strong sense of personality while allowing the neighbourhood itself to remain the focus.
Extending the experience into the street
The identity was designed to work beyond traditional brand communications.
We explored how it could come to life through street marketing, using the flexible graphic system and playful use of language to create moments that could capture the attention of people as they moved through the area.
This gave High Street Kensington a visual toolkit capable of working across campaigns, communications and the physical environment – creating greater recognition and a stronger connection between the brand and the place it represents.
Creating a digital destination
The website brought all of these elements together.
Designed to showcase the best of High Street Kensington, it combines the new visual identity with photography, interactive content and connections to social media.
The emphasis is on discovery – giving visitors a more engaging way to explore the businesses, places and experiences that make the area distinctive.
Rather than simply providing information, the website gives High Street Kensington a digital platform through which the destination can continually evolve, promote what’s happening locally and encourage people to experience more of the neighbourhood.
A flexible identity for a changing high street
The new brand gives High Street Kensington a clearer and more contemporary way to communicate what makes the area special.
From the adaptable line at the heart of the identity to photography, campaigns, street marketing and digital, every element is designed to celebrate the variety and energy of the neighbourhood.
The result is a brand that can continually change and evolve while remaining recognisably High Street Kensington.
