SAVING ST PAUL'S THE WATCH

AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Client: St Paul's Cathedral

​

May-October 2025 

 

Graphic design: studio HB  

Exhibition design: Drinkall Dean

Film by: Screen Sized Films

Build contractor: setworks

Graphic contractor: Omni Colour

As 2025 marked 80 years since the end of the Second World War, Drinkall Dean were commissioned by St Paul's Cathedral to create an open air exhibition to capture the imagination and engagement of a wide audience including tourists and younger people. The exhibition told the story of The Watch, a group of volunteers (both men and women), the destruction they witnessed and the disasters they prevented. We were to highlight, amidst devastating destruction around the City, how St Paul's remained standing, the iconic dome rising out of the surrounding rubble. 

​

The St Paul's archive gave the creative team access to a huge and rich resource for the interpretation, highlighting the work undertaken by The Watch. In particular the photography, which was people centric and highlighted the everyday. These images showed beautiful details of uniforms, equipment and tasks as well as the a clear picture of the damage and the restoration. We wanted to tell a story about real people, real lives, real events, told in their own words – how people got through one of the darkest, most terrifying chapters in our nation’s history. 

​

The graphic concept drew from two forms of light: the large, expansive and far reaching search lights that were used during the Blitz and, as a stark comparison in scale, the light of the small hand held focussed torches that the men from The Watch would have used when protecting St Pauls. We were inspired by the building, its complex corridors, staircases and domes and how the archive photography showed light and shade and gave us interesting stretched symmetry and silhouettes. Applying this approach to our typography, titles appeared to be lit from a particular source and gave a gently distorted edge. Printing on matt powder coated steel the totems were characterful, engaging and eye catching. The imagery and text was applied to all four sides of the totem, often with a single image across all sides that came into focus from one angle of view.

 

​