Narrative Environments Studio

Contributing to inclusive, informed, and healthy communities by aligning placemaking and experience with brand.

What’s your story? Our story?

RECENT NEWS

HONOURED I’m thrilled to have been asked to judged the RGD’s 2025 Branding Awards, a competition that recognizes the best in branding and identity design from around the world. Learn more.

ON THE BOARDS This Fall, we began working with the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation on an interpretive masterplan for one of their properties.

Basin Head, Prince Edward Island

An interpretive plan for the Basin Head Fisheries Museum and the Basin Head Marine Protected Area, located on Prince Edward Island’s eastern end, will guide future updates and development of the site.

We are storytellers—our process and outcomes are designed to help stories unfold.

We respect where we work, we are open-minded, we ask tough questions, we forge relationships with clients, and we craft memorable, lasting experiences for diverse audiences.

We build brands

  • Visual identity

  • Brand positioning and naming

  • Print and marketing collateral

We shape experiences

  • Branded environments

  • Wayfinding and signage

  • Placemaking

We connect with audiences

  • Website development

  • Social media campaigns

  • Motion graphics and animation

We protect culture

  • Interpretive planning

  • Exhibition design

  • Strategic planning

Testimonials

John is an exceptional professor and mentor. His ability to transform complex cultural and historical themes into compelling designs is truly inspiring. His elaborate case studies of large-scale projects were a highlight of my learning experience, providing invaluable insights into a thoughtful and effective design process. I’m deeply grateful for John’s guidance and the lasting impact he has had on my growth as a designer.

—Aprajita Singh

John is a pillar in the Eastern Canada design community. Whether professionally designing experiences for the built and natural environment through his practice, Narrative Environments; teaching the next generation of designers at NSCAD University; or, writing thought-provoking articles on pressing design issues for international design periodicals—John brings a passion and curiosity for the field of design that you cannot help but be inspired by. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with John under a pro bono capacity and marvelled at his talent to bring people together and coordinate their efforts to create powerful change. He is a thoughtful collaborator, empathetic leader, and a masterful champion of the creative process. He will make the outcome of any project better by simply being part of the conversation.

—Greg Dubeau

John and my working relationship has spanned several decades and it has always been a pleasure to partner with John on interpretive and wayfinding projects. Unique vision, creative honesty and attention to detail are qualities rarely found in one person, but they are found in John and you can see that reflected in his amazing work.

—Philip Prozenko

News…

For the past month, we have worked with our latest client, the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia. We are headed to fabrication and will share the results shortly. Until then, it's been exciting working for an organization whose focus i
Sign location plans are an industry standard for indicating each site sign. Some colour code their plans, some are automated, and others are hand-built, and there are varying perspectives on labelling, especially numbering. Developing sign location p
James Orton Woodruff, a New York resident who established the Superb Stamp Pad Co., is often credited with producing the first rubber stamps using a machine. In the early 1870s, other entrepreneurs joined in, and by the early 1870s, the rubber stamp
The history of St. George’s is the story of tennis, a game that arrived from England in the 1870s, sparking a tennis boom across North America. For the first fifteen years, St. George’s consisted of three grass courts on Dartmouth's Canal
Forbes Magazine (2005) once ranked the pencil as the fourth “…most important [discovery] in human history.” Stating that mass education and literacy were possible because of the pencil, Forbes states “Cheap, reliable and conv
Kerry and I have collaborated on numerous projects over the past twenty-plus years, and our friendship goes back four decades. We have helped each other with design knowledge and expertise, from websites to brands. Already established in Halifax&rs

Follow us on Instagram