Welcome to the new identity and website

From the Glasgow Wood Recycling Project to just Glasgow Wood Recycling, and finally to Glasgow Wood. We might be taking a word away each time, but we certainly haven’t been reducing our operations.

We’re still doing the things we’ve always done, and as the years have passed, we’ve actually expanded and evolved to do even more for our community and planet.

So you’ve made it to this article, which means that you’re well aware of our new website, logo and branding! But to help explain the design choices behind all of this, we gathered some comments from the two teams involved.

After approximately 10 years of Glasgow Wood Recycling, we thought it was time for a rebrand which helps to better encapsulate our many facets, because recycling wood is not the only thing we do. With the help and hard work of Adam Piggot, Meghan Rae, Eilidh Dickson and Jack Thomas, we’re very proud to finally be sharing Glasgow Wood with you all.

The Colour Palette

Along with a new logo and logomark, Adam and Meghan also carefully selected a new colour palette for us, which was inspired by machinery and equipment found in and around the workshop, retail space and Barclay Curle Complex. Forming the colours behind the vibrant palette, you can see where the inspiration came from.

Accompanied by a selection of more muted tones representing the tones found in the timber, there’s a huge amount of versatility available for us to begin rolling this out across printed materials, signage, social media and much more.

The website

Our new website was designed by Eilidh Dickson and Jack Thomas, two Glasgow-based digital designers. With Eilidh looking after the visuals, Jack was the man behind the scenes looking after the coding and development of the site.

Recalling her initial contact with Glasgow Wood, Eilidh said:

“When I was first introduced to Peter, the Glasgow Wood story really excited me — the whole circular/environmental model of it — it’s something every business should learn from. It’s been a pleasure to work with such a forward-thinking organisation and help them expand on their vision.”

Full of energy and excitement for the work ahead, Eilidh began the process by developing wire frames (a set of images which displays the functional elements of a website or page, typically used for planning a site’s structure and functionality), which helped to form the foundations of how you see the website now. Confirming these with us, Eilidh was then able to move onto the design.

Explaining to us about what inspired her, Eilidh told us:

“The aesthetic design choices I made were informed by how I personified the business; It has a humble, to-the-point nature, championing quality and community growth. Needless to say, their products speak for themselves, so the surrounding design had to compliment them, rather than overshadow. The natural tones felt right for obvious reasons, and the interface details were made to be accessible yet minimal.”

Once the design was complete, it was time for Jack to step in. With several of new features and components, one being the calculators, there was a lot of work involved in updating the website from where it was previously.

“Jack Thomas, our developer, skilfully built every new component onto the existing content management system so the site could continue to be updated in the same way, but with all its added features and functions, within an entirely new display. He also contributed front-end ideas, and made decisions that helped successfully shape the outcome.”

Looking back over the project, Eilidh and Jack said:

“We thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with both Peter and the wider team at Glasgow Wood, and gladly would again.”

With the website now live, we can see places for further development and upgrades to functionality which will not only help to improve the customer journey, but also how this website can assist the Glasgow Wood team in dealing with enquiries. It’s been a great first step, and we’re now looking forward to the journey ahead.

Peter Lavelle, CEO of Glasgow Wood provided a final comment:

“We’ve known for some time we needed to look at our identity and our website and we’re delighted to have been very ably assisted by Adam, Meghan, Eilidh and Jack in addressing our needs. In both these large undertakings we were regularly consulted and thoroughly involved, and remained confident throughout the process of a very positive outcome. Of course our customers and partners will be the ultimate judges, but for us we’re totally happy and would recommend our designers and developers to anyone thinking of similar projects.”

Adam Piggot specialises in brand-led strategy and design for the common good, focussing on socially-engaged organisations such as Glasgow Wood. You can find out more about Adam and his work on his website at adampiggot.com.

Eilidh Dickson is a digital designer based in Glasgow, working predominantly on websites for individuals and organisations doing good for people and planet. You can take a look at Eilidh’s portfolio by heading to eilidhdickson.me.

If you’d like to learn a more about the Barclay Curle Complex, take a read of the news feature linked below, written by Peter Lavelle.