Ashton Square: Made in Makerfield identity

Why it matters

StudioDBD has been tapped to brand Ashton Square, the regeneration of a former car park on Ashton-in-Makerfield’s historic market ground. Funded with £6.6m and backed by Wigan Council, the scheme will become a flexible public square with kiosks, greenery and market stalls, and is due to be complete next year.

An identity that keeps being made

Rather than nostalgia for coal and factories, David Sedgwick’s identity for the project foregrounds craft, community and momentum. Branded 'Made in Makerfield', the platform treats the town’s history of making as an ongoing activity — the people, businesses and events that continue to shape the place.

"It creates a brand that isn’t finished on launch day." — David Sedgwick

The visual language leans on bespoke typography influenced by mechanical forms and tools, warm colours and photography that puts people ahead of industrial spectacle. Ribbon-like graphic motifs reference Walking Day, a local civic tradition once centred on the market stalls that occupied this very site, folding movement and memory through signs, banners and wayfinding.

From workshop to square

StudioDBD’s approach is deliberately open-ended: local traders, community groups and events can use the 'Made in Makerfield' platform to add their own stories, making the identity evolve as the square is used. That user-led growth is central to the brief — the brand is meant to be layered by new market stalls, school banners and festival activity rather than fixed on a single launch moment.

Art Corner and community input

While the square is being built, a nearby Art Corner run with Outhouse and Everyday Wigan gives residents a place to drop in, attend workshops and help shape the final public space. It borrows the wider identity but keeps its own playful icon set to show what can be made there.

After a media surge focused on a by-election that made Andy Burnham the UK’s Prime Minister, the quieter story here is civic: a small town reclaiming its market ground with a brand that invites the public to keep making it.