Building Cellnex
Cell City
Year • 2023 – 2024
Building Cellnex Cell City
2023 – Present
Cellnex is a leading telecoms company, known for its extensive network infrastructure and innovative work in smart city technologies. As someone passionate about urban design and eco-friendly cities, I was particularly excited to collaborate with them on this project.
I was tasked with designing materials for a workshop, including a 2m x 2m floor mat depicting a fictional city, A4 lesson guides, A5 instructional cards, and presentation slides. The aim was to create engaging, educational resources that aligned with Cellnex’s vision and brand identity.
A key component was the floor mat, designed to accommodate micro:bit computers. It allowed participants to explore smart city concepts by moving the devices around the map. The design had to be visually engaging, informative, and reflective of the technological innovation Cellnex champions. The final product was both a practical workshop tool and a vibrant representation of a modern smart city.
Cellnex is a leading telecoms company, known for its extensive network infrastructure connecting people around the world. Their staff volunteering programme encourages them to give back by visiting local schools and teaching young learners about engineering and the telecoms industry.
Working alongside Digital Skills Education, I was tasked with designing learning materials for a workshop, including a 2m x 2m floor mat depicting a fictional city, A4 lesson guides, A5 instructional cards, and presentation slides. The aim was to create engaging, educational resources that aligned with Cellnex’s vision and brand identity.
A key component was the floor mat, designed to accommodate micro:bit computers. It allowed participants to explore smart city concepts by moving the devices around the map. The final product was both a practical workshop tool and a vibrant representation of a modern smart city.
Cellnex is a leading telecoms company, known for its extensive network infrastructure connecting people around the world. Their staff volunteering programme encourages them to give back by visiting local schools and teaching young learners about engineering and the telecoms industry.
Working alongside Digital Skills Education, I was tasked with designing learning materials for a workshop, including a 2m x 2m floor mat depicting a fictional city, A4 lesson guides, A5 instructional cards, and presentation slides. The aim was to create engaging, educational resources that aligned with Cellnex’s vision and brand identity.
A key component was the floor mat, designed to accommodate micro:bit computers. It allowed participants to explore smart city concepts by moving the devices around the map. The final product was both a practical workshop tool and a vibrant representation of a modern smart city.
Cellnex is a leading telecoms company, known for its extensive network infrastructure connecting people around the world. Their staff volunteering programme encourages them to give back by visiting local schools and teaching young learners about engineering and the telecoms industry.
Working alongside Digital Skills Education, I was tasked with designing learning materials for a workshop, including a 2m x 2m floor mat depicting a fictional city, A4 lesson guides, A5 instructional cards, and presentation slides. The aim was to create engaging, educational resources that aligned with Cellnex’s vision and brand identity.
A key component was the floor mat, designed to accommodate micro:bit computers. It allowed participants to explore smart city concepts by moving the devices around the map. The final product was both a practical workshop tool and a vibrant representation of a modern smart city.
Cellnex is a leading telecoms company, known for its extensive network infrastructure connecting people around the world. Their staff volunteering programme encourages them to give back by visiting local schools and teaching young learners about engineering and the telecoms industry.
Working alongside Digital Skills Education, I was tasked with designing learning materials for a workshop, including a 2m x 2m floor mat depicting a fictional city, A4 lesson guides, A5 instructional cards, and presentation slides. The aim was to create engaging, educational resources that aligned with Cellnex’s vision and brand identity.
A key component was the floor mat, designed to accommodate micro:bit computers. It allowed participants to explore smart city concepts by moving the devices around the map. The final product was both a practical workshop tool and a vibrant representation of a modern smart city.
Full Case Study
Inspiration
This project took me back to SimCity 4 — a game that first sparked an interest of urban design, and public transport.
While urbanism has always been a personal hobby rather than a professional focus, I was excited to bring that enthusiasm into a real-world design project.
Early Concepts
Straight away, I thought of the classic city playmats. I used that familiar idea as a jumping-off point but quickly realised there were loads of ways to represent a smart, connected city through children’s play.
I focused on keeping the design playful and educational, while subtly introducing concepts like smart infrastructure and connectivity.
Designing the Playmat
The Cellnex playmat was created to work specifically with micro:bit computers and a range of 3D electronic components, like traffic lights, solar panels, and entry gates. Students place these pieces on the mat and see how they interact within a smart city environment.
This meant I had to design the city layout with real-world scaling in mind, ensuring the streets and spaces physically worked with the hardware. The mat had to balance being vibrant and fun while also making sense functionally.
Working with the Brand
One of the trickier parts was that Cellnex didn’t have full brand guidelines for this kind of project.
Instead, I pulled inspiration from their logo colours and overall aesthetic to create something that felt true to their brand without relying on strict templates.
Inspiration
This project took me back to SimCity 4 — a game that first sparked an interest of urban design, and public transport.
While urbanism has always been a personal hobby rather than a professional focus, I was excited to bring that enthusiasm into a real-world design project.
Early Concepts
Straight away, I thought of the classic city playmats. I used that familiar idea as a jumping-off point but quickly realised there were loads of ways to represent a smart, connected city through children’s play.
I focused on keeping the design playful and educational, while subtly introducing concepts like smart infrastructure and connectivity.
Designing the Playmat
The Cellnex playmat was created to work specifically with micro:bit computers and a range of 3D electronic components, like traffic lights, solar panels, and entry gates. Students place these pieces on the mat and see how they interact within a smart city environment.
This meant I had to design the city layout with real-world scaling in mind, ensuring the streets and spaces physically worked with the hardware. The mat had to balance being vibrant and fun while also making sense functionally.
Working with the Brand
One of the trickier parts was that Cellnex didn’t have full brand guidelines for this kind of project.
Instead, I pulled inspiration from their logo colours and overall aesthetic to create something that felt true to their brand without relying on strict templates.
Designing a Living City
To make the city feel real and engaging, I designed a full set of brand elements — shops, stations, hospitals, cafés, and more. I basically built a mini design system, so everything looked consistent and made sense together.
This solved the problem of the city feeling flat or confusing, helping students instantly recognise different parts of the environment and making the whole experience more immersive and fun.
The final mat worked really well, especially with the real-life objects on top. Light reflected nicely off the surface, making everything feel more vibrant. Cellnex were delighted, especially with how naturally the colours and design fitted their brand without needing formal guidelines.
Mixing isometric buildings, flat roads, and 3D components created a simple but effective blend of 2D and 3D, making the smart city ideas easier for students to interact with and understand.
The Final Mat
The final mat worked really well, especially with the real-life objects on top. Light reflected nicely off the surface, making everything feel more vibrant. Cellnex were delighted, especially with how naturally the colours and design fitted their brand without needing formal guidelines.
Mixing isometric buildings, flat roads, and 3D components created a simple but effective blend of 2D and 3D, making the smart city ideas easier for students to interact with and understand.