Long Barn Lavender Collection
Visual Identity Refresh, Packaging, Signage, and Environmental Design.
Lavender has long been a universal emblem of calm, healing, and continuity—a botanical narrative woven through centuries. At Long Barn, nestled in the Hampshire countryside, this legacy flourishes in lush lavender fields, grounding a collection of English-made products. In reimagining its Lavender Collection, the Studio sought to honour these traditions while embracing sustainability and contemporary design, crafting a visual identity, signage, and packaging system that speaks to Lavender’s timeless appeal.
The Brief
Long Barn’s challenge was to elevate the Lavender Collection’s in-store and online presence, reflecting its heritage while appealing to today’s audience. The brief demanded a careful balancing act: retaining the essence of Long Barn’s established identity while introducing modernity, adaptability, and environmental consciousness. The goal was not just to repackage products but to reframe the experience of lavender itself, transforming it into a narrative of history, sustainability, and design ingenuity.
Designing the Identity
The identity refresh began with a considered revision of the logotype. Subtle historical flourishes were simplified, preserving a sense of lineage while achieving clarity. Drawing on the typographic vernacular of 1930s Britain—Gill Sans, Underground, and Mrs Eaves—a typeface suite emerged that bridges eras, simultaneously timeless and modern.
A signature roundel was refined, adding an understated emblematic element across applications, from packaging to digital touchpoints. The result is a flexible, cohesive system adaptable across Long Barn’s retail, café, and e-commerce platforms without sacrificing character.
Sustainable Packaging as Design Practice
Sustainability became central to the project’s ethos. Traditional plastic containers were replaced with recyclable glass bottles and aluminum cases, each screen-printed with lavender sprigs. These materials are tactile and durable, inviting reuse and reinforcing Long Barn’s ecological values. Lavender’s organic structure inspired a cyanotype motif, subtly unifying packaging while emphasizing the plant’s natural beauty.
This visual language extended seamlessly to product displays, invigorating existing ranges while drawing new customers into the story. As both plant and symbol, lavender was recontextualized—its history celebrated, its form reimagined.
Signage and Wayfinding
Wayfinding became an act of storytelling. The signage system offered more than direction; it framed lavender as an experience. Over 100 discreet signs were designed for the gardens, each blending seamlessly with the landscape. Rare varieties were marked with a Plant Heritage stamp, offering botanical discovery for the curious visitor.
Inside the Barn, notes on lavender’s history and uses were incorporated into displays, encouraging exploration. In the café, signage gently connected customers with the fields beyond, offering moments of pause within the bustling retail environment. This thoughtful approach turned navigation into a contemplative activity, underscoring lavender’s meditative qualities.
Retail as a Sensory Space
Within the oak-framed Barn, the Lavender Collection was given space to breathe. Lavender-inspired “pauses” punctuated the store, allowing visitors to reconnect with the sensory essence of the plant. Cyanotype imagery framed café windows, visually linking indoor spaces with the lavender fields beyond.
This spatial rhythm extended to the gardens, inviting visitors to linger, reflect, and share their experiences online, transforming the lavender fields into a physical and digital community hub.
Reflection
The Lavender Collection is more than a product line; it is an invitation to engage with lavender as a symbol, a material, and an experience. The refreshed identity pays homage to Long Barn’s heritage while positioning it firmly in the future, embodying the plant’s calming, versatile nature in every detail—from the recyclable bottles to the serene wayfinding moments.
As lavender grows, so does its story at Long Barn—a celebration of design as a bridge between past and present, tradition and transformation.
Discover more about Long Barn's Lavender Collection and their rare collection of heritage lavenders here
