An independent footwear shop opening on a busy Swansea high street — already named, ready to fit out, needing an identity that could carry the room. We led with a single idea: take the letters of STEPS and replace them with geometry that moves. Diagonal slash marks. The motion of a stride, built into the wordmark. Tested at four feet tall before anything was commissioned.
The E is missing on purpose — replaced with three angled bars that read like footprints, like motion lines, like a staircase tilted forward. A logo that does the thing the brand name says.
Sharp cyan against near-black — electric without being aggressive. The signage was designed in parallel with the logo, not as an afterthought. The proportions, the kerning at scale, the breathing room around the slash marks — all decided at fascia size, then scaled down. Not the other way around.
Every specification made with the physical space in mind — fascia depth, viewing angle from the pavement, how the cyan would read against the black trim already on the building. Install day was about turning the lights on, not finding out what worked.
Open day. The fascia reads from the far end of the street. The cyan picks up the daylight without going neon. The shop knows what it is before you walk in.
Elysium Gallery Studios
210 High Street
Swansea, SA1 1PE
Booking Q3 2026