Brief
Create a hand-rendered typeface and visual identity that rebrands Salt River, focusing on the area’s unique architecture, complex history, and continuing story.

Insight
Salt River has changed greatly over the years, from being an industrial hub with large factory buildings and housing for the workers to becoming a more ‘trendy’ area due to the influx of upmarket businesses and housing, but this has also brought the many consequences of gentrification to the community’s doorstep. The people have had to adapt substantially if they wish to keep living here. Consequently, the old buildings of Salt River are not being regarded with the reverence usually reserved for ‘monuments of the past.’ Instead, the residents see them as structures to be adjusted to meet contemporary needs.

Concept
strctr (pronounced structure) is a typeface that serves as a metaphor for the ever-changing purposes of these buildings. The typeface was three-dimensionally crafted from paper so that the audience can pick it up, move it around, and tangibly change it. The letters contain small bearing balls that serve as weights and shift with each adaptation, either balancing or unsettling the new positioning. The concept aims to make people realise that the buildings that house all of us are just structures that can and should be changed to suit our needs.