English Heritage World Builder Challenge Trails

We worked with English Heritage to design a playful, paper-cut visual language for their nationwide World Builder Challenge trails. The goal was to make history fun and interactive, using graphics that help turn historic sites all over the country into creative spaces where children can sketch and design their own historical elements. We took the project from concept design all the way through to final artwork, creating 24 fully illustrated trail marker designs across 4 different themed trails: City, Forest, Fort, and Legend.

The trail markers use a clever visual cue to guide families as they search each site. White shapes – like trees, animals, and buildings – placed into the colourful scenes show children what options they can choose from, or inspire them to invent their own creations in their trail booklets.

To keep the experience fresh, each English Heritage site hosts only one themed family trail at any given time, and the trails rotate throughout the year. This encourages families to travel and visit different landmarks across the UK if they want to complete all four unique challenges.

We delivered final, print-ready files for all 24 illustrated trail markers, the accompanying trail booklets (including large-print versions), and a bespoke Stamp of Creativity designed to reward children upon completing the challenge. We also created a full set of digital images for the English Heritage website, including graphics for each individual trail and a combined graphic for the overarching event.

Deployed nationwide across famous UK English Heritage sites, the project successfully brings history to life and keeps families exploring for longer.