New signage for a 200-year-old market.
Bilston Market has been trading for around 200 years. Its redevelopment, led by City of Wolverhampton Council and built by Speller Metcalfe, gave it a new canopy, new stalls and upgraded public spaces.
Beta Signs, part of Frost Group, delivered the full signage package for Speller Metcalfe. That meant built-up gold lettering at the entrance, wayfinding across the site and pictograms painted straight onto the brickwork.
The entrance
The market’s name sits in built-up gold lettering across the mesh cladding above the main entrance, beneath the gold line of the roof. It appears again on the painted brickwork.
The letters are built with enough depth to hold their shape in full sun, so the name reads clearly from a distance.
Wayfinding
Grey directional panels carry gold lettering and arrows around the site, pointing visitors to the indoor market, covered market, market office and public toilets. The condensed lettering used at the entrance carries through to every panel.
Projecting signs mark the market office and toilets, so both can be picked out from along the building.
The covered market
Under the new canopy, every pitch has its own numbered marker. Gold numerals on dark plates are fixed to the steel frame above each bay, high enough to be read down the length of the market.
It gives traders a fixed address and customers a way back to the stall they came for.
Painted wall graphics
On selected walls, large pictograms are painted directly onto the brickwork in the same gold. At that scale they can be read long before lettering can.
The paint follows the texture of the brick, so the graphics sit as part of the building.
The finished market
Gold on grey, from the name over the entrance to the number above each pitch. The signage gives the new market a single identity and makes a large open site easy to move around. Delivered for Speller Metcalfe as a single package.