Greene King pub pictorials and signage illustration
Visual concept, pictorial identity and exterior development for Greene King’s Heritage pubs a collection of more than 80 of the estate’s most iconic sites.
VISUAL CONCEPT
PICTORIAL ILLUSTRATION
PUB IDENTITY
SIGNAGE DESIGN
EXTERIOR VISUALISATION
BRAND APPLICATION
ROLLOUT SUPPORT
Greene King’s Heritage pubs are some of the most characterful sites in the estate historic buildings with established names, loyal locals and stories that are often woven into the communities around them.
WithPencils helped define the visual approach for the Heritage concept: a way of making each pub feel individual and rooted in its own story, while still sitting clearly within a wider Greene King family.
At the centre of the work was the pictorial sign.
Each pictorial was drawn by hand in a traditional woodcut-inspired style, developed from the pub’s name, history, building and local references. The aim was not simply to create a sign, but to give each pub a recognisable identity of its own.
From the outset, the illustrations were designed with foresight. They needed to work at scale on a hanging sign, but also reduce clearly into a logo that could live across menus, beer mats, pump clips, websites, social posts, marketing material and wider point of sale.
That made the pictorial more than a decorative element. It became the starting point for each pub’s identity.
We also created visualisations to show how the signage and wider exterior approach would work on real buildings. These helped establish the look and feel of the first sites, showing how the signs, colour, lighting and other exterior details could come together before rollout.
The result is a collection of individual pub identities that feel authentic, hand-made and deeply connected to their setting each with its own story, but all recognisably part of Greene King’s Heritage estate.
