Thorpe Park Rebrand
For 2024, Thorpe Park is positioning itself as “The Home of Feel Good Thrills”, and to mark this new chapter they wanted a total rebrand. They tasked me with taking their new logo and designing a full suite of brand assets for their teams to use for marketing, merchandise and in-park applications.
Colour Palette
I started with a broader colour palette, rooted in their iconic rides; I wanted them to be vibrant, fun and colourful to tie into their “feel good thrills” ethos. I was also determined to give them more colour choices when applying the brand - no more being stuck with only blue and orange to play with. Unlikely colour pairings also help give the logo and patterns a modern, eye-catching twist.
Brand Patterns
For the patterns, I experimented with using shapes found in the logo, keeping it at the heart of everything. To reinforce the thrill aspect, I was inspired by the flowing, energetic forms of coaster track, EKG lines, seismograph readings, tyre treads and rushing blood cells. When paired with the colours it created a fun take on the flat, graphic, geometric patterns of the 1960s with a hint of 1970s psychedelia. These seamlessly repeating patterns lend themselves perfectly to murals, merchandise and marketing assets.
Brand Icons
I was also keen to create a suite of icons, again born from shapes in the logo. This would ensuring that every design element felt harmonious as a set, while reinforcing the overall brand. A custom icon set is a way of making every touchpoint uniquely “Thorpe Park”
Fonts
Brand Applications
The Brand Relaunch trailer, showing all the assets in action.
Thorpe Park 2024 Map
As someone who's been obsessed with park maps for 30 years, it was a huge honour to get to design one for Thorpe Park. My main goals for this project were to make the map fun to pore over with lots of details, while being clear and simple for guests to navigate.
The app required that the layout geographically matched the park, meaning building footprints and paths were locked. Roofs can also be a liability in Google Maps-style top-down maps, sometimes coming across like a sea of grey boxes; instead I used them as opportunities to add themed details to show what's inside.
For the print version I moved attraction names off the map and into side panels to declutter it. Attractions are now grouped by area to help navigation, and I added descriptions to help guests decide what to ride, or where to eat. The thrill rating has now become a symbol, rather than a group in itself, so you can see which rides in your vicinity are suitable.
From one map-lover to another I hope you all enjoy it, and it gets you excited for Thorpe Park's 2024 season!