St Paul's Cathedral carved its new wordmark in stone — with its own stonemasons

A working cathedral serving worshippers, volunteers, schools, Londoners, civic institutions and 800,000 annual visitors wanted a 'vibrant, working brand' to match a ten-year vision: wider educational reach, new voices and a visitor experience worthy of a world-class cultural landmark.

The wordmark was carved into stone by the Cathedral's own stonemasons, then digitally rendered — an identity made the way the building is.

Simple Revolution ran discovery from volunteers and choristers to stonemasons and the Bishop of London, including a love-letters-to-St-Paul's exercise, then delivered the strategy and verbal identity: the positioning line 'Your cathedral, always' and tone-of-voice principles 'Welcoming', 'Stirring' and 'Enduring' ('Speak from the pulpit, not the balcony'; 'Open the doors wide'). Pentagram designed the typographic identity, chiselled into stone by the Cathedral's stonemasons and digitally rendered for the final wordmark. The brand launched in March 2026.

Launched March 2026. In May 2026 the work won a D&AD Wood Pencil, listed in the awards archive as 'Bringing the Inside Out: A New Voice for St Paul's Cathedral' alongside work from more than 80 countries. The agency reports the process united staff, volunteers and partners around one story; full impact is not yet measurable.

St Paul's Cathedral — Christopher Wren's post-Great-Fire landmark, drawing nearly 400,000 worshippers and around 800,000 visitors a year — had come through Covid recovery, added new trustees and senior leaders, and set a bold ten-year vision. It asked branding agency Simple Revolution to turn that vision into a clear story and a revitalised identity, with Pentagram as design partner.

Simple Revolution's discovery ran from volunteers, choristers and stonemasons to board members and the Bishop of London, including an exercise asking people to write love letters to the building. That fed a new vision, mission, positioning and set of values, expressed in the line 'Your cathedral, always', plus tone-of-voice principles — 'Welcoming', 'Stirring', 'Enduring' — with guidance like 'Speak from the pulpit, not the balcony' and 'Sound like one cathedral, not many chapels'.

Pentagram's visual identity is the piece that travelled: a typographic wordmark chiselled into stone by the Cathedral's own stonemasons, then digitally rendered to keep a human touch. The brand launched in March 2026, and in May 2026 the work — listed by D&AD as 'Bringing the Inside Out: A New Voice for St Paul's Cathedral' with Pentagram London and Simple Revolution credited — won a Wood Pencil.

A 1,400-year-old landmark turned its own craft tradition — stone carving — into the production method for its identity.

The verbal identity gives a broad institution one decision-making line, 'Your cathedral, always', usable from policy documents to service pamphlets.

Third-party validation: a D&AD Wood Pencil in 2026, recognised alongside work from 80+ countries.

When rebranding an institution people already admire, let its own craft make the identity: the masons' chisel turned a wordmark into evidence that the brand is literally carved into the place.

The identity went live in March 2026 and took a D&AD Wood Pencil in May 2026. Simple Revolution says it is too early to measure the brand's full impact.