As you might imagine, the life of a Gurkha soldier makes for a fascinating read, and that’s certainly what we found when we were asked to create a brand to represent the work of an oral history project charting the lives of a group of Gurkha soldiers now living in Colchester.

The team at Gurkha Stories began collecting the oral histories of Gurkhas living in Abbeygate House, run by the Gurkha Homes Project, a few years ago. The project has a simple philosophy; to create an archive that captures a flavour of the lives of retired Gurkha veterans.

As the project gained momentum, so did the need for a brand identity and a website to showcase its work, and to bring the history of Gurkha soldiers to life.

Banbury Howard was briefed to create a brand that worked together with the archive, to breathe energy into the Gurkha Stories archive and to showcase it effectively and inspirationally.

First choosing the colour palate, we selected tones of khaki, sand and burgundy to reflect the colours worn within the Gurkha uniform. The parchment effect works well as a backdrop for our hero images, reinforcing the historic nature of the project.

We developed a number of options for the logo and the Gurkha Stories team felt that it was the iconic hat that gave the instant recognition and association they were looking for.

Having created the brand, we then designed and developed the Gurkha Stories website to showcase the project and to bring the stories to life for a wide target audience, including school children. The project has been further promoted through amazing presentations, a book, digital exhibitions and workbooks.