Ostra Ferries
A new identity for a ferry line that leaves every hour, on the hour.
Client
Ferry operator, harbour and islands
What we made
Identity, signage, timetables, ticketing app
Timeline
10 weeks
Year
2026
The brief
Ostra has run ferries between the harbour and the islands since 1911. Its signs, tickets and timetables had been redrawn by a different printer every decade. Passengers couldn’t find the right pier, and the brand looked older than the boats.
The approach
We started at the piers, not the logo. Watching people board told us the identity had one job: get everyone to the right boat on time.
The wordmark is cut from a tall, condensed face that reads from the far end of a pier. The timetable became the heart of the system: one departure a line, the hour set large and the minutes small. It runs on the signs, the tickets and the app, so every touchpoint answers the same question first.
The colours come from the harbour itself: the deep navy of the hulls and the pale sea green of the water at the slipway.
What changed
Every pier, ticket and timetable now speaks the same language, and the hour you need is the biggest thing on all of them.
Made by
Inés Valcárcel
Founder and creative director
Anoushka Deshpande
Technical director
Saoirse Kinsella
Senior designer, identity
Romilly Hart
Producer
Our part
Strategy, identity design, wayfinding, product design, development
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