‘Culture is all our stories and how they are interpreted to help us understand each other. This pack of buttons was brought from Bombay Stores. It represents Bradford’s textile heritage, our diversity and our distinctiveness’—a quote from Jennifer Sobol as part of an extensive Culture and Me Survey that backs up the Culture is Our Plan ten year strategy and it’s ten ambitions.

Uncovering this quote inspired the design of a distinct and diverse set of buttons that, became the identity for Culture is Our Plan. 100 buttons were created, with a rich mix of shapes and textures that gave each button new meaning and individuality. An idea that was further explored in the second edition of Bradford’s culture story—the Heritage Action Plan. This edition saw the buttons take a design steer from Bradford’s historic architecture, libraries, landscapes, tourist attractions and it’s UNESCO City of Film status.

In print, the buttons were used to decorate pages of the printed plan— organised on the cover, then spilt out onto the pages throughout the A6 pocket sized book. Online took more of a dynamic, animated approach. With the homepage on the website acting as a digital jar of buttons. Further rollout onto event stands and presentation slides helped create a vibrant and consistent identity for the launch.

cultureisourplan.co.uk