Owner Graeme Wood’s ambition in developing this 42ha site was to apply a light touch to the existing infrastructure and reconfigure its destructive history while also rescuing a precious stretch of coastal landscape from the effects of long term industrial damage.

We were commissioned to create a brand identity that allowed the site and its quirky infrastructure to speak for themselves. Giving a nod toward the complex history while bringing the site into a new chapter.

To anchor the brand firmly in the site’s history we started with a graphic representation of one of its most eccentric pieces of repurposed architecture. The former ‘slew wall’ forms an enormous C-shape at the centre of the site. Once part of the wood chip distribution system, it now serves as a modern amphitheatre-like outdoor performance space. This graphic C-shape coupled with bold typography became a versatile, rotating logo and word-mark.

To bring the brand into the present, we developed personality and tone-of-voice characteristics that are surprising, optimistic and cheeky to represent the paradoxical play between the contemporary spirit of SBM and its infamous place in Tasmanian history.

The sheer scale and complexity of the site required a staged approach to signage and wayfinding. In keeping with the upcycling ethos we made use of old-growth logs left by the site’s original occupants to form major herald-type signage at key nodes around the site. Other signs reflect the architectural palette, green colourbond with layered fibreglass cladding to reference the multi-layered history of the site. Signage for the glamping site uses a basic street sign system to continue the utilitarian aesthetic, wrapped in reflective vinyl to help guests find their way back to their accommodation at night. A walking tour of site interpretation and history is dotted about the site with circular anodized panels.

Spring Bay Mill now has a growing reputation as one of Australia's foremost sustainable events venues with a thriving business in weddings and business events and has won several tourism and design awards for sustainability, regeneration and community development.