This is Bankside

This is Bankside, where food, art, history & mischief run rife. We use blind alleys & wrong turns to deliver untold joys. The things Instagram yearns to find. Hidden gems in plain sight. “This is Bankside” was created to represent the distinct sense of otherness the Bankside neighbourhood has had throughout history. It is a place with a rich industrial heritage coupled with landmark commercial and residential developments and world- famous destination brands making it one of the most visited districts in London. The “This is Bankside” destination marketing campaign was created to further promote this uniqueness. On appointment of the design agency A-Side, the team explored the defining characteristics of the area, concluding that the brickwork was a key definitive feature of the neighbourhood with multiple textures, styles and architectural outputs. The brickwork is representative of the building blocks of the imagination. On their own, they are strong, but together they are a stronger, which is the ethos of Bankside. A-Side created 26 building blocks to represent all the “places of interest” in the neighbourhood. But like any good brickwork piece, there is room to grow, evolve and create more, essentially ‘building’ the destination brand from the ground up. To capture the sense of otherness, the icons are abstract and the colours in the brand pallet are distinct and unique. The campaign points out over 26 places of interest in the area from the more well-known such as Borough Market, Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe to the hidden gems such as Lant Street where Dickens used to live, Great Suffolk Street Parade and Union Yard Arches. The purpose of This is Bankside is twofold. Firstly, it is to ensure that the destination has its own distinct identity and look and feel, so people know when they have arrived in the neighbourhood. And secondly it is to bring to life the places, people and stories that make this historic area what it is today. Keep an eye out for the public realm and wayfinding activations dotted around the area, both above the eye line and below it! Discover more about each Place of Interest and the inspiration behind the design. There’s too much to see and do and smell and hear and bump into. A rare urban acre where distraction is the art of attraction. Lose yourself to find yourself. Better Bankside, a Business Improvement District (BID) with over 850 businesses in Bankside, London SE1. Better Bankside, a Business Improvement District, exists to make Bankside a better place to live, work and visit.