City of Lincoln Council and Lindum Charterholme - a new brand to welcome in a new style of living in central Lincoln.
Defining an identity for this groundbreaking urban project that brings rural living into an urban setting.
Written by Daniel Sharratt
Charterholme is a bold new urban development for the city of Lincoln that brings together the best of rural-inspired living with the energy and opportunity of a city-centre location. Designed to support sustainable communities and create better places to live, this project required a brand that could signal ambition, build public trust, and reflect the development’s long-term value for residents, investors and the city itself.
Optima was appointed by the City of Lincoln Council and Lindum following a successful competitive pitch. Our task was to create a name and visual identity that would define this significant project – capturing a new approach to city living while appealing to a complex network of stakeholder groups, including local authorities, government, developers and future residents.
An extension to the west of the City of Lincoln, Charterholme is designed with architecture and urban planning that consciously challenges surrounding areas with eco-friendly ways to live, with over 3,200 homes designed for high-density urban living each equipped with features such as air source heat pumps and EV chargers.
What's in the name?
Building on the core themes of the development, including green spaces, housing, economy and transport, we developed a full brand identity system to communicate the project's long-term vision and broad social value. A strong, modern wordmark is supported by a versatile colour palette, with colours linked to the four key pillars of the project.
The master visual identity is rooted in tree architecture, encompassing natural formation and growth patterns that develop over time to reflect the progressive planning within the space of Charterholme. Within this visual approach, there is freedom to represent the brand in different styles to suit the messaging and audience. Whether that is a modern representation to support transport narrative, or an illustrated intricate translation for a living and family campaign, there is room for a fluid interpretation.
This graphic toolkit gives the Charterholme team a flexible set of brand assets, making it easy to adapt across print, signage, web and community engagement materials.
The visual language blends organic shapes with structured forms, symbolising the balance between nature and urban infrastructure.
Delivery and Rollout
Optima supported the full rollout of the brand across both digital and physical channels. This included the design and build of a dedicated website to help inform and engage the community – providing updates, sharing key documents, and reflecting the transparency and ambition behind the project. We also delivered branded hoardings and signage to support on-site communications and raise awareness.
For the final delivery of the project, we supported Lindum and City of Lincoln Council with the design and rollout of a number of supporting assets. This included the delivery of a dedicated website for the development to further enhance community engagement and transparency via news an progress updates along with hoarding boards and signage.
A follow up to this work was to further support Lindum Homes directly with the evolution of the brand to support the first wave of housing developments nested under the name of ‘One at Charterholme’.
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