From opening their first site in Rotherham, expanding into Sheffield and now with their new site in Doncaster, the team at Play Valley really know what it takes to create a wonderful play facility for children and parents alike.
As Play Valley was already an established brand across South Yorkshire, we needed to ensure that our frame design and theming resonated with their existing sites whilst also evolved their branding to target a slightly older age group alongside their core target market.
The team at Play Valley wanted to separate the baby / toddler area from the main junior frame and also wanted to retain the ability to add new features and attractions in the future. They had a clear vision of what they wanted to include within the play areas with plenty of gamification and a stand out feature that would make this frame instantly recognisable for years to come.
Having already received multiple design from other companies, none had been able to recreate the vision that Sarah & Simon had so they approached The Play Company to solve their needs but we needed to complete our proposal within a week as they had a deadline to be open by.
Given the tight deadlines involved, the first thing we did is hit the road with Elliott and our Senior Creative Designer Jurate, travelling up to sit with Sarah & Simon to discuss all of the possibilities within their brief. This allowed us to be able to debate a wide range of options with them across both the frame itself and the development of the branding and to quickly reach decisions.
Their current branding invokes the beauty of Yorkshire with lush green fields and endless blue skies so Jurate developed this to include planets and the night sky onto the top tiers of the frame and she demonstrated her eye for detail when helping design the artwork for the transition from earth to sky through clever use of the clouds for the tree tops and a keen eye for colour and aesthetics.
We instantly knew the statement feature had to be a volcano slide and demonstrating his ability to think outside the box, Elliott proposed a blue football pitch (possibly the worlds first!) at the top of the frame, complete with interactive targets from our good friends at Rugged Interactive.
For the baby & toddler area, we needed to create a frame that provided a safe and calmer environment for the younger children to enjoy that would keep them entertained for a long time and ensure that the children wouldn’t stare at the Junior frame in envy. Mirroring many of the same features from the junior frame (adjusted for age), we also included a creative zone featuring Jolly Heap magnetic blocks that children (and adults) can use their imagination to create all kinds structures from castles and turtles to cars and bugs.
We are always impressed with our own work(!) but this completed frame provided us with one of those “WOW” moments.
Not only is this frame packed with a huge variety of features and obstacles all designed to allow parents to relax whilst their children play, it is also stunning to look at.
The quarter volcano is the perfect centrepiece for the junior frame and the attention to the design detail is outstanding. Sarah and Simon are over the moon and having opened their doors, so are their customers.
As for adding to the frame in the future ….. watch this space, something really cool is coming soon!
The Play Company International Limited based in South Devon was established in 1998. We provide soft play maintenance, cleaning services and play area sales to customers throughout the UK.
