Marlon Tate

Ponders End Youth Centre in Enfield, London, provides a wide range of things to do and places to go for young people aged 11 to 19 (or to 24 years for people with a learning difficulty or disability). Inside the building designed by Pollard Thomas Edwards architects, offers activities, including music, sports, dance, film, cooking, art and drama. Enfield Council came to us to help create an engaging identity of the Centre able to attract interest from local youth groups and their families.

Marlon Tate partnered with London-based Pollard Thomas Edwards architects to redefine how a Youth Centre club should look like today. We took inspiration from early 80s and 90s arcade video games (considered by many the exact opposite of a Youth Social Club) and created pixel-inspired supergraphics with coloured tiles for the lower-half of the building’s façade. The concept was to illustrate the range of activities offered inside in a way that would culturally resonate with the new youth community. The tile-based mural represents human figures achieving something worth capturing like tennis players, dancers, drummers and boxers as well as aspirational typographic messages.