What was once the largest printing factory in Europe is today a new multipurpose space seeking to change the face of London’s cultural scene: Printworks London. The building will host events ranging from the arts to fashion to film to food to theatre in six spaces split across sixteen acres, so when the Leeds, United Kingdom–based design studio Only was tasked with creating a brand for the new venue, it knew that Printworks’ identity had to offer a framework flexible enough to promote such diversity. Only found a solution in the building’s own identity as a former printing press. Huge rollers common to historic printing presses informed the dynamic wordmark; wrapping type around such cylinders generated infinite iterations of the logotype. Typographic expression and the movement inherent to historic printing processes thread throughout the wider identity, like the layouts that Only derived from printed newspaper sheets, which offer a snapshot of the printing process and embrace the mistakes and messy nature of the press. With its fresh identity, the space is poised to make news once again.

onlystudio.co.uk