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Day 1: It was a busy day. We arrived at the SHINE studio just as the furniture guys were ready to start installing our fancy new desks. After a quick shuffling and tidying up of all our stuff, we were ready to go and just leave the furniture guys to it.

The train to Inverness wasn’t until noon, so we had a bit of time to kill… second breakfast? We think so!

After second breakfast, it was time to catch the train. Now that we had started eating and drinking it was hard to stop. So, we had some beer and wine…

We arrived at Inverness train station after a pretty long train journey, ready to pick up our hire car and get on the road. Excitement!

On route, we stopped off at Glen Docherty to admire the views, take some photos… and play in the snow of course!!

After traveling along some of the most beautiful (yet terrifyingly narrow) roads, we finally arrived at The Torridon, with a warm fire to greet us. We freshened up and rendezvoused at the Inn pub, ready for a delicious meal and an evening of beer.

Following dinner, we went for a midnight walk with Ryan hoping to take some photos of the stars. However, we were disappointed with the presence of clouds in the sky, and didn’t even manage to see the Northern Lights!

The walk was short and brief, due to it being rather cold outside, and we needed to be well-rested for the next day, which promised to be a busy one.

Day 2: Another delicious cooked breakfast to start the day off properly (could get used to this!). Being in Torridon, it was decided that we absolutely had to do an activity. So, because of the cold weather we picked clay pigeon shooting. Some of us were quite good at it…

After this, we split up, with Peter and Martyn off to explore on the mountain bikes, while Jennifer, Karen and Ryan went for a walk along the shores of Loch Torridon.

Back to the hotel for a quick coffee to heat up and before long, it was time to hit the road again. Back to Glasgow!
#ShineHighlandFling

The Torridon are one of our major clients and we have been working together for some years now. We have worked on their branding, website, marketing materials and other design-related activities.
So when they decided they wanted a branded whisky bottle, we were keen to get involved and start designing.
The design brief was two-fold; we wanted to incorporate the branding of The Torridon as well as making it look like a whisky brand. To do this, we had to bring in two different styles that worked together and carry out research into what is expected from a whisky brand.
We came up with three quite different concepts ranging from the more traditional designs to slightly more contemporary.
It was also important to keep the end user in mind and create a design that would appeal to The Torridon’s customers. So once we had decided on the final three ideas, we put it to them to see which they liked best. We ran a competition on social media and asked the audience to vote on their favourite design.
 

This is quite a simple design. No frills. A slightly more traditional idea, this label showcases the ingredients of the product and looks very clean and simple.
Here’s what people had to say…
“This is the ‘softest’ looking label and the one I like the most”
“Sleek, in a simple clean way.”
 

This design has more of a modern twist to a traditional whisky bottle. Using a copper foil, we wanted to ‘class it up’. We added subtle colour and grey tones, to create that contemporary look and fell.
Here’s what people had to say…
“It’s different!”
“Clear and modern!”
“It’s unique!”
“I like Option 2…. Colourful barrels!
“Nice, rustic yet modern…”
 

As this is an own-brand whisky, it made sense to do a design with the hotel in the forefront of the design. It doesn’t get much more ‘Torridon-y’ than this. This particular concept was inspired from other whisky brands, using sectioned labels in the packaging.
Here’s what people had to say…
“This one captures your venue in a classy way”
“I love Option 3! The hotel is majestic and truly one of a kind!”
“Love Option 3 because I love castles”
“Classy and timeless and ageless”
 
And just to throw another one into the mix, one voter said, “Is there one with Rohaise on it?? That would surely get everyone’s vote.” (Rohaise is one of the owners of The Torridon)
However, despite that excellent suggestion, we had to pick a winner from these three options.
And the winner was ……… Option 2!
Taking into account the contemporary look, this design incorporates the sophisticated branding of The Torridon and is a clear winner.
So, we put it to The Torridon customers to find out which design they preferred,  now it’s your turn. Which is your favourite design?

The Torridon is a resort in the North of Scotland, featuring a luxury hotel, inn and boathouse. They were delighted to learn that they are on the route for ‘North Coast 500’ (NC500), which has been called Scotland’s answer to Route 66. As the name suggests, this involves a 500-mile scenic tour of Scotland’s North coast. You can read more about the ‘NC500’ and view the map on the official website here.
We have been working with The Torridon for a number of years now. We have since become their ‘out-of-house’ marketing department and manage all their design needs. Recently, they approached us asking for a new design for their signage. (To see other projects we have been working on with The Torridon, such as their new website and brochures, have a look at our page here.)

Creating an effective signage campaign can be challenging and the design should be simple, aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand. In-keeping with the luxury branding of The Torridon, SHINE used tonal colours with a high contrast to create a contemporary styled sign.

With the use of simple silhouettes, the signs feature graphics that provide illustrative information to help customers to interpret the signs and find their way more quickly. The symbols are a modern and simplistic take on traditional Scottish branding.

The design strategy used by SHINE builds on the basic principles for all signage, keeping the look simple and illustrative. This method is used in many other signage designs, such as in airports, where there is a strict code to follow. Read our recent blog about The Design Strategy Behind Airport Signage for more information.

As a creative agency, we are very interested in the design of signs and how effective they can be. This is why we have created a Pinterest board of innovative and cleverly designed signage around the world. Check it out here to see other examples of well-designed signage. We’ll be adding to the board often so please follow if you want to keep updated.