Creativity with a practical approach
Imagemakers is an award winning design agency, established in 1989 by Jane Sillifant, which was borne out of a life-long passion to bring history and nature to life. We love what we do and take a thoughtful, creative and practical approach to each project we work on. From concept to scheme sign off we combine creativity and practicality to overcome the toughest logistical and design challenges no matter the project size, subject matter or setting.
Our skills include:
- Audience Development and Activity Planning
- Interpretation planning and strategies
- Concept design, 3D visualisation and spatial design
- Audio-visual solutions (e.g. scripting, directing, filming, installation)
- Digital media (e.g. websites, apps for tablets and smartphones)
- Illustration
- Interactives
- Public art
- Branding and identity
- Signage and orientation
- Technical drawings
- Fabrication management (e.g. value engineering, factory checking, tender process management)
Heritage contexts
- Museums and galleries
- Historic buildings and monuments
- Historic towns and cities
- Protected landscapes and nature reserves
- Parks and gardens
- Places of worship
- Industrial heritage sites
- Canals and waterways
- Visitor centres
Our clients
We work all across the UK, in Europe and in China. We deliver schemes for a wide range of clients including local government, national agencies, charitable organisations, partnerships, community initiatives and the private sector.
How we work
Craftsmanship, local distinctiveness, sustainability, timely delivery and cost effectiveness are all critical elements of a successful project. We apply a range of research, consultation and creative techniques, including: qualitative and quantitative analyses, workshops, focus groups, brainstorming, formative evaluation and testing. Visitors are constantly exposed to technological innovations in their daily lives and have high expectations. Our creative thinking, combined with our knowledge of ever-changing, cutting-edge technology, adds interest and excitement, enabling your stories to be told in truly engaging ways.
Our People
Jane Sillifant
David Revell
Janette Hemingway
Scott Alexander
Scott is an award-winning designer and producer with over nineteen years’ international experience, designing, developing and delivering projects across the events, entertainment and heritage sectors. Having extensive studio experience, coupled with considerable on-site work across Europe, North America, mainland China and many Gulf States, Scott’s experience is truly global.
Highlights include projects with: The British Museum, Gloucester Cathedral, Royal Ontario museum, The National Museum of Oman, Wuhan Civilisation Museum (China) and World of Discoveries (Portugal)
Charlie Curnow
A highly experienced production & project manager, Charlie’s in-depth knowledge is drawn from more than 30 years’ design industry experience. He worked for high profile agencies including the Saatchi group, before entering the world of heritage interpretation. He provides technical design input whilst ensuring Imagemakers’ projects are executed efficiently: overseeing programming, cost control, procurement, contractor management and on-site works. Charlie’s also central to the new business side of Imagemakers, working with colleagues to prepare tenders.
Martin Liu
Vikki Li
Gavin Leech
Gavin joined Imagemakers back in 2001 after completing his BA (Hons) in Graphic Design & Illustration at the University of Suffolk. Gavin has played an important role in the company’s development ever since. Originally working on illustration and conceptual design, Gavin has broadened his talents significantly, by developing new skills in 3D modelling, design / build for web as well as mobile app user interface design.
David Masters
An HLF Mentor for Public Engagement with Heritage, David brings wide-ranging experience of interpretive planning, implementation, research and evaluation to Imagemakers. He has worked for clients throughout the UK, Europe, Africa, China and South America. A specialist interpretive planner, he has produced advisory and best practice guidelines for the Heritage Lottery Fund, delivered numerous workshops and presentations, and edited both Interpret Scotland and the Interpretation Journal. A member of Imagemakers’ Senior Management Team, David has led teams planning and delivering a wide range of local and national scale interpretation projects, and in 2013 was nominated as a Fellow of the Association for Heritage Interpretation.
Philip Songhurst
Phil joined Imagemakers in 2008 following an exciting and varied career path through education, leisure and tourism. He combines a lifetime’s passion for heritage and the environment with extensive practical and ‘people’ skills to efficiently manage a wide variety of interpretation projects. Phil holds a detailed working knowledge of job costings and programming, design materials, production methods and fabrication processes.
Matthew Jones
Emma Delow
Julie Zhao
Chris Mitchell
Chris has a wealth of experience across the design sector, covering conceptual two and three-dimensional design, museum galleries, exhibitions, models and graphics for exterior and interior environments. He is also an excellent illustrator, utilizing a diverse range of traditional and digital media to create visually inspiring images. His speciality is archaeological reconstruction, where he applies his flair for spatial design and visualisation to reimagining archaeological sites.
Ian Haswell
Krystal Fanning
Awards
2013
Museums & Heritage Award Finalists
North York Moors National Park
2015
iDing National Design Award Winner
Yanghu Wetland Centre, Changsha, China
2015
Discover Heritage Commendation Award
King Richard III Visitor Centre
2015
Museums & Heritage Award Finalists
King Richard III Visitor Centre and Falkland Islands Museum
2017
Discover Heritage Award Finalists
Tank Museum and South Downs National Park
2019
Discover Heritage Award Winner
Gloucester Cathedral Project Pilgrim
2020
Wayfinding and Environmental Graphics | Design Week
Award Winner
Design out Drowning, RNLI
Heritage Fund (HF) projects
We have a long-established experience of the Heritage Fund and a very strong track record of delivering successful HF funding applications. We are an HF Mentor for Public Engagement with Heritage, and have undertaken nearly 30 major grant application commissions resulting in grants of over £50 million to date.
We offer:
- Activity Plans and Action Plans, reflecting our established focus on audience development, inclusion and well-being
- Interpretation Plans and Strategies
- HF Development Stage and Delivery Stage applications and mentoring support
- Brand design for heritage sites and projects
- Community engagement and consultation
- Research and evaluation
- Project delivery
Development Stage and Delivery Stage
We help to prepare Development Stage and Delivery Stage applications, supported by interpretation planning and design through RIBA Stages 1 to 3.
Delivery and best value
For RIBA Stages 4 to 7 we provide a comprehensive design and project management service to ensure your project is delivered on time, within budget and to the highest quality.
We work under both ‘design and mange’ and ‘design and build’ contracts, depending on the client’s preference. We competitively tender our suppliers to ensure best value and minimise the risk for our clients.