MakeGood designs The Story Trail campaign
Amaze has partnered with Wild in Art to bring you The Story Trail – a free, fun and family-friendly adventure.
Between September and November 2026, you can explore a city-wide gallery of more than 30 BookBenches. Each one is an open book, designed by a talented local artist and waiting to be discovered.
We worked very closely with MakeGood, a design agency based in Brighton, to bring our vision of The Story Trail to life. We chatted with Becky Alford (co-founder of MakeGood) about the creative process…
Before the campaign
Becky shared that since her daughter’s recent autism assessment, she has found Amaze to be “an invaluable source of support during this time.” This made her and co-founder Meg, feel passionate about working on The Story Trail to support Amaze. Becky found that Amaze website’s clear and accessible resources made complex information easy to understand, and goes on to say:
“Experiencing this first hand reinforced just how vital trusted, well-designed information and sharing real life stories are for families on similar journeys. The Story Trail was created in hopes of enriching the community and making everyone feel like they belong: The Story Trail creates space for people to share their vulnerabilities and challenges through personal stories that foster empathy, connection and support. It was important for us to create something that everyone could enjoy.”
Amaze hopes that The Story Trail sparks conversations in the community, not just about the art but also about us and the people we support and Becky believes it will do just that and adds, “the conversations may also highlight systemic and environmental challenges that families face, helping to build understanding across government, public and education sectors.”
Designing the brand
MakeGood and the Amaze team went over campaign objectives and audience needs to shape their creative direction. After a few options, the sculptural form of the BookBench, particularly its peeled-back pages, became the key inspiration for The Story Trail logo. They introduced vibrant colours and patterns through peeled-back graphics and illustrated city scenes, wanting to reflect the diversity and creativity of Brighton & Hove.
The blank pages of The Story Trail’s logo were an intentional design choice. Becky says: “We hope that over time the campaign assets can be adapted to represent and showcase the artists involved.” These will evolve as The Story Trail unfolds.
The Story Trail’s mascot, Benchy, was designed with expressive eyes and a playful personality to bring BookBenches to life and encourage curiosity and this digital version of Benchy, was later produced into a physical sculpture, by local artist Emma Fish. Becky expressed that “seeing the character translated into a physical, shared artwork felt like a full-circle moment of what The Story Trail represents in a public space.”
We’re really excited to see the brand produced by MakeGood across the campaign this autumn.
Find out more
- To find out more about The Story trail check out our Story Trail page.
