Next Door

A Collaborative Client Project

Project Overview: Reimagining Winchester’s High Street

As a team of Digital Media Design students based in Winchester, our goal was to design branding and promotional materials for a hypothetical company aimed at tackling the growing number of empty shop units in the city.

Our concept, named Next Door, imagines a company that offers temporary, affordable rental spaces to local creatives, entrepreneurs and start-ups. These underused retail spaces could then become vibrant, short-term storefronts, making the high street more accessible, active and community-focused.

Although this brand was not created for real-world implementation, it was developed to be realistic, research-informed and visually cohesive, as if it could be taken forward. The project allowed us to explore how creative design can address real urban challenges such as retail decline and barriers to entrepreneurship, particularly within Winchester.

While the branding was a group effort, each student focused on a specific aspect of the project for individual assessment. My role was to lead the merchandising and social media strategy, producing visual assets and digital engagement ideas to support the proposed brand identity.

Naming the Brand: Why “Next Door”?

The process of naming the brand was an early and important phase in our development. As a group, we explored several name ideas that reflected transformation, growth and opportunity. After several discussions and feedback sessions, we chose the name Next Door.

We felt it captured the core themes of the project:

  • A new opportunity, representing what lies behind the "next door"

  • A sense of locality and community, since someone “next door” is relatable, close and familiar

  • A metaphor for access and movement, representing progress without barriers

The name balances professionalism with warmth and reflects the optimistic, inviting nature of the concept. It also opened up creative possibilities in terms of messaging, tone and visual identity.

Research & Development: Addressing a Local Need

This concept was developed with Winchester’s current retail environment in mind. Like many UK towns, Winchester has experienced a noticeable increase in vacant shopfronts in recent years, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports in the Hampshire Chronicle (2023) and publications by Winchester BID confirm concerns about the vibrancy and sustainability of the high street, with many spaces sitting empty for long periods.

At the same time, Winchester is home to a large number of students, artists and small-scale creators, many of whom struggle to access retail space due to high rental costs, long contracts or logistical complexity.

The Next Door concept aims to provide a possible solution. It imagines a low-cost, low-commitment retail space that would support both economic regeneration and community development by giving local talent the chance to test ideas and connect with audiences in person.

While entirely conceptual, we used real-world challenges to shape our proposal, ensuring that our brand had relevance, feasibility and community value.

Inspiration and Comparative Research

To inform our development, we researched a range of real-world platforms and initiatives:

  • Appear Here, a service offering short-term retail rentals across major cities

  • The Pop-Up Club, an initiative that provides temporary retail for independent makers

  • Meanwhile Space, a social enterprise that activates vacant properties for community use

These models helped us understand how similar businesses function and succeed. We also explored retail trend reports, particularly from the British Retail Consortium (2022), to understand how consumer behavior is shifting and where physical retail still plays a vital role.

We then adapted these ideas to the local context, envisioning how a brand like Next Door might realistically benefit Winchester.

Brand Identity: Visual Style and Audience Appeal

Our intended audience includes:

  • Young people aged 16 to 40 in and around Winchester

  • Students, artists, designers and start-ups with small budgets

  • Local residents or hobbyists with business ideas but no access to retail space

To communicate with this audience effectively, we designed Next Door to feel:

  • Welcoming and friendly, using conversational tone and approachable messaging

  • Modern and clean, with a professional but not overly corporate look

  • Community-driven, highlighting collaboration and local engagement

  • Creative and resourceful, encouraging new ideas and low-barrier access

We used a consistent color palette of light blue, soft green, black and white. These were chosen for their emotional qualities (calm, fresh, grounded) and their visual clarity. Our branding also included a custom logo, developed as a group through multiple rounds of feedback, iteration and refinement.

My Individual Role: Merchandise & Social Media Visuals

For my contribution to the project, I focused on developing the merchandise designs and social media page mockups for the brand. These are key visual assets that help bring Next Door to life, providing a tangible and digital presence that aligns with the overall identity of the concept.

Merchandise Design

I designed a collection of branded merchandise that could be used to promote Next Door or be sold by businesses occupying the temporary retail spaces. These mockups reflect how the brand would translate onto physical products, helping to create a sense of community, professionalism and visibility.

The merchandise included:

  • Tote bags

  • T-shirts

  • Hoodies

  • Caps

  • Mugs

Each item was designed using our agreed brand colors, typography and logo variations to ensure consistency across formats. I created mockups in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, considering placement, scale, and how the branding would interact with different materials and garment types.

These deliverables were intended to show how the brand could feel present and wearable, offering both functional use and promotional value.

Social Media Mockups

Alongside the merchandise, I produced a set of social media post templates and page mockups to represent how Next Door might appear across platforms like Instagram and Facebook. This work focused purely on the visual layout rather than full campaign planning.

Deliverables included:

  • Sample Instagram post and story templates

  • Feed layout mockups

  • Visual style for feature posts or announcements

  • Example use of hashtags and logo placement

These templates reflect the friendly, modern and community-driven tone of the brand and are designed to be reusable by future renters or marketing partners. The visuals were created using tools like Canva and Adobe Illustrator to simulate how branded content would look online. I have also included one infographic that i used ai for, just to experiment and get a different perspective, and also for potential inspiration, however I didn’t particularly favour this design. (Cartoon style infographic - AI Generated - Not claimed as own work)

Reflection: Learning Through Application

This project was a valuable opportunity to work within a realistic framework, even though the brand itself was hypothetical. It allowed me to apply my skills to a problem with real relevance to my local area and to develop design outcomes that felt purposeful and considered.

I learned how to:

  • Work within a group to develop a cohesive brand identity

  • Apply research into real-world businesses to conceptual projects

  • Design for both physical and digital environments

  • Think critically about branding from the perspective of user experience and social impact

I also gained practical experience in file formatting, brand guidelines, mock-up creation and digital strategy. These are skills that will be essential for future client work.

Project Deliverables Summary

My individual contributions include:

  • Merchandising mockups (tote bags, flyers, posters).

  • Social media page templates.

  • A section of the group brand guidelines, focused on visuals and tone of voice.

  • A published portfolio website featuring this work, development notes and reflections.

All assets were presented as if for client handover, following the brief’s requirement for professionalism and usability.

Conclusion: Design That Opens Doors

Next Door is a project, it was created in response to real issues facing Winchester, from declining footfall to limited access for emerging businesses. This project challenged us to think about the intersection of design, economy and community, and how creativity can offer solutions that are practical, inclusive and full of potential.

While Next Door is not a company we are launching, it is a brand we imagined with care, strategy and a deep understanding of its context. Through this assignment, I was able to explore how visual design can help open doors, both literally and metaphorically, for people, businesses and ideas.

References

AI experimental infographic
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