I designed a new brand identity for We Act Radio, a progressive AM radio station in Washington, D.C. The identity includes an acronymn (above) and a full logo (below). The lightning in the full logo is intended to appear differently every time you see it; here I have included three different lightning strikes in a short animation.

The staff at We Act Radio sought a bold identity that expressed action and motion; their goal is to motivate audiences to make change. After throwing obvious, cliched solutions out the window (the raised fist being the most predictable), I decided to use lightning as an elemental representation of action. Its other associations include electricity, power, and ideas. The effect is very bold and dramatic, just like We Act Radio’s personality.

Over the weekend, I went to a baseball game at the Mets’ new stadium, Citi Field. Paula Scher’s Citibank logo (famously sketched on a napkin during a client meeting) is in gargantuan scale on the facade of the stadium. The tentacles of advertising have greatly extended their reach since the last time I was at a ballgame – it seems that even the sponsorships are sponsored these days. The stadium walls are a busy collage of ads – some of them animated digital billboards. The announcers on the Budweiser Jumbotron announced the winner of the PNC bank baseball quiz (an audience member held up her prize – a PNC bank travel mug – and forced a half-smile). On the stadium’s television screens, one logo swept over another – “This! Brought to you by that!” Now that all stadiums seem to have brand names instead of name names, we joked that the next logical step would be to rename the players themselves: Carlos Gatorade at first base, Ryan Delta Airlines at shortstop, and so on.

The subway ad seems like a no-brainer now that I think about it – ad execs must’ve been clamoring for a shot at that enormous, moving billboard for years. But who let them have it? The cash-strapped MTA? Being forced to endure ads taller than I am when the G train (finally) pulls up is invasive, abrasive, and obnoxious. I hope that the public does not become too complacent about the ever-expanding role of advertising in our lives. We have voices when it comes to this kind of thing, and social media has proven to be especially powerful in expressing our backlash against it.

The music fans who launched Festivals For Less are committed to providing great deals on tickets to live music festivals. The identity I designed for them incorporates a primary ‘ticket’ logo with a series of secondary icons. The typography is modern, but the decorative elements add a festive, nostalgic flair – and I find that the curled stripe resembles a bass clef.

Proof Pudding is “the ultimate blog of food and proof.” Having designed the original logo and site a few years back, I decided it was time for a refresh. The new logo (above) is a bold stamp of approval emphasizing the concept of ‘proof’: when site author The Proofmeister grants a recipe or restaurant with his approval, that’s Proof.

The identity carries over to a series of header banners I designed – which now rotate on every page load. The banners (thumbnails below) feature the site’s logo, title, and slogan emblazoned over bold close-up photos of food. Proof!

Regardless, the results of the contest have been published online – although I don’t know when it was launched or if the NEA made any noise about it at all. They almost seemed to lose interest in the project shortly after launching the RFP – and who can blame them? They must’ve been swamped with questions and backlash from day one.

Winning design by Why Not Smile, LLC

NEA Art Works logo submission by Dan Redding

In conclusion: just say no to speculative design work.

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Above: two-color Greenpoint logo.

I’m happy to present my Greenpoint logo and full brand identity for the Greenpoint Business Alliance. As I mentioned earlier, I was hired by the GBA for what was easily the most personal challenge of my design career: to brand my home of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. What I have developed is a flexible brand identity that can be presented as a one-word Greenpoint logo or a full brand identity for the GBA, depending on the context. These elements will be visible around the neighborhood this weekend on a holiday shopping brochure that I designed.

Above: complete GBA logo.

I submitted a proposal for this job many months ago and I’m sure the competition for the project was very strong given the quantity of talented designers in the area. I was thrilled to be approved for the opportunity. Then I started working and realized the enormous stature of the challenge ahead: this neighborhood has been my home for almost a decade and I was determined to design something great for it. It is a neighborhood of contradictions. We are an ‘urban village.’ Right there in the name is the loaded word green (I’ll get back to that) and another word that has several definitions as both noun and verb. We are known for our vibrant Polish community yet also home to every other kind of people. We have a history of toxicity that is difficult to ignore and also difficult to acknowledge. How do you brand a place, a home, with such complex history and so many stark juxtapositions?

Above: detail of the Greenpoint identity in action on the pages of my holiday brochure.

After I was hired, I began by returning to square one. I hit the Greenpoint library and dug up a ton of history. I took long walks through a neighborhood I’ve spent years in and tried to re-open my eyes, to see what is there that I’ve taken for granted. After going through every possible logo concept imaginable – wordmarks and iconic images and the humorous or sarcastic logos I’d draw when frustrated – I returned to two basic elements: the color green and our potent name. These symbols offer so many connotations without excluding any of our diverse population or history. They are familiar to all and yet carry a variety of meanings.

Above: A Greenpoint headline from the Brooklyn Eagle

The color green is the neighborhood’s single most potent symbol. The neighborhood has landmarks (the clock on Manhattan, the Monitor statue in McGolrick, St. Anthony’s church) but none of them are quite recognizable or universal enough to carry the weight of the whole neighborhood’s symbolic representation. We may not always think of color as a symbol but it absolutely is. Greenpoint was given its name by Dutch sailors who used the neighborhood’s “verdant peninsula” (a phrase I encountered that rang through my head often) as a navigational landmark (much like Red Hook). We were once marshy farmland, ‘the Garden Spot of the World.’ However, not much remains of our leafy past, and in fact, we have a recent history of manufacturing, factories, and an oil spill. How’s that for a contradiction? The bright side is that the modern connotation of green is what many in this neighborhood strive for: a healthy and environmentally sound way of life. We were once green and green is what many residents work hard to return to every day. Along the way, we are always Greenpoint.

My final logo unites the word Greenpoint with a green arrow, creating something of a visual pun that embodies both words. I believe that it’s a strong mark because it carries a range of connotations, both literal and emotional. The arrow seems to say, ‘Up with Greenpoint.’ It says green point, literally. It implies ascension and carries an emotional meaning about our affection and pride for the neighborhood. Lastly, it seems to point to our location on a map, at the Northernmost edge of Brooklyn.

It is my hope that this brand identity has enough flexibility that it can be used as a visual identifier for both the Greenpoint Business Alliance and the neighborhood itself. I hope Greenpointers are pleased when they see it and I hope to have done justice to the job for all of the proud people who have lived and worked in Greenpoint. Many, many thanks to the GBA.

Above: a Brooklyn Eagle illustration of the Civil War ship the USS Monitor, aka the “cheesebox on a raft,” built in Greenpoint.

Motion and animation emerged in identity during the 1980’s when brands like MTV and Nickelodeon adapted their identities for the television format. Those themes have only recently become dominant factors in the industry. Today, identity is adapting to a variety of emerging and evolving formats: 3D and the handheld web among them. Here’s a look at some of today’s advancements in identity design that have the potential to grow into major themes.

Three-dimensionality
BFI Identity by johnson banks

The British Film Institute identity designed by johnson banks utilizes motion and animation – de rigeur qualities in identity these days– but its real innovation is its use of three-dimensionality and light. Discussing this identity at the Brand New Conference, Michael Johnson described his decision to avoid predictable and outdated concepts (film reels, clappers) in favor of an elemental signature of motion pictures: the lens flare. The result is a dazzling, illuminated identity that implies the distance between a light source and the viewer’s eye.

The MTV logo is often credited with being the first identity to adapt to the television medium. Now that television and cinema are going 3D, one can imagine identity systems that literally jump off the screen to expand and move in three dimensions. When asked about identity design’s potential in coming years, Johnson said, “I tend to think that it can only get better from here.”

The Brand Universe and the Anti-Logo
Universiteit Twente Identity by Studio Dumbar

The identity for this Dutch science University is a daring revision of the meaning of identity. Studio Dumbar partner Tom Dorresteijn explained that the “basic material of the identity” was not a logo or a color scheme, but “a world of exploration”: an array of colorful organic and geometric forms. The spare, minimal logo exists as a matter-of-fact typographic label that quietly identifies the “universe of form.”

Studio Dumbar’s approach to branding prioritizes artistic personality over conventional corporate identity. Bold concepts are used to dramatic, awe-inspiring affect; this feels like fine art as identity.

Much like the world of fine art, designers often seek to shatter the conventions of the previous generation. Now that identity has been liberated, where do we go from here? Someday, rebellious identity designers may return to that forbidden, shattered sacrilege: the logo.

Flexibility
PwC identity by Wolff Olins

Brand New founder Armin Vit cites the PwC identity by Wolff Olins as “the most encouraging sign in all of 2010 that interesting, daring work can be done with corporate clients.”

Launch PwC Animation

This is an identity that is flexible enough to expand or shrink in size depending on the media and format. Its scalability is its greatest strength, and it may be the first time that usability trumps symbolism in identity: its bright rectangles provide no representational meaning of their own, but rather canvases for text and image.

Diversity
La Transat AG2R La Mondiale identity by Studio Dumbar

The visual identity for this international yacht race includes 26 different symbols in eight colors representing the style of maritime flags. This broad range of striking symbols comprises a visual language of its own. The next generation of identity designers may eschew a single mark or identifier in favor of the development of diverse ‘languages’ of communicative symbols.

Interactivity

Interactivity shows so much potential in identity design – and it’s virtually unexplored terrain. We talk about interactivity often – but few identities can actually be edited, customized, or played. Google’s PAC MAN doodle turned their logo playable, but as web and handheld platforms evolve, this will just be the tip of the iceberg for the individual user’s personal experience with interactive brands.

Conclusion

The Brand New Conference featured a wide variety of inspiring and daring work. However, it’s worth noting that just because something is new doesn’t make it good. Identity design will continue to adapt to mobile, 3D, and whatever newfangled contraptions disrupt the market next year. With studios like johnson banks and Wolff Olins at the helm of identities in those arenas, the results will surely be exciting – and likely, controversial. Despite the thrill of the new, these firms will continue to find their most powerful tools among design’s timeless sources of communication: concept, composition, color, and symbolism.

Dan Redding: In your presentation, you described a sea change in identity during the last few decades – as though it’s been liberated. Do you have any desires or predictions about how it will go in the next couple of decades?
Michael Johnson: I think you’re right… twenty years ago, everything was so static, and so fixed, and people wouldn’t want to be a logo designer. The fact that people are interested – the fact that there’s a conference about it – that itself is a sign. If people are progressively seeing identity and branding as the core of a project, of an organization, and then things spin off it, that’s very exciting. I tend to think that it can only get better from here, actually. If twenty years ago, [identity designers only worked on] blue chip organizations and now, we’re doing charities and cities and countries…
There’s something infectious about it.
There is something infectious about it! I’m naturally quite optimistic, but I do think that people will always want to identify themselves somehow. In fact, they’ll want to do it more and more. Progressively more and more.
And if you’re taking risks, as you advised in your speech-
Well I am small enough to take risks, to be fair.
If we all do that, then we’ll decide where identity goes.

Armin Vit Interview

Dan Redding: During the last couple of decades, we’ve seen a sea change – identity’s been liberated, it’s come to life with animation, et cetera. What do you see in the next couple of decades? Are there any trends you think will catch on?
Armin Vit: Well, I think the work that has been going on in the past twenty years – moving away from just a simple icon into something that’s a little bit more flexible – I think we’re seeing it pay off now. I think that in the next few years, there’s gonna be more animated identities that can do different things and react to the different mediums… like the iPad. So I think we’ll see a lot more interactivity with identities. You can see that with the PwC identity that Wolf Ollins did. For a corporate client, it’s amazingly interactive, within the context. You’ll see a lot more identities coming to life, just because of all of the different mediums that it has to exist in now.
Are there any other identities recently that you think will have a big impact or will be imitated?
I think the AOL identity – and I’m not a PR person for Wolff Olins – but what they did is starting to have the effect where other brands are saying, “Things can be a little more abstract and ethereal. We don’t have to be so literal.” I think AOL is having repercussions. On the other end of the spectrum, Gap has some big repercussions. It showed that if you don’t it right, it’s gonna come back and bite you on the ass. You have to get it right.

Greenpoint, Brooklyn has been my home for roughly eight years. I was recently hired to brand the neighborhood for the Greenpoint Business Alliance. To say that this was enormously exciting for me is probably an understatement. I submitted a proposal for the job many months ago and seriously desired to work on this project, which is very personal to me. I’m happy to say that the logo is complete and we’re very happy with it. We’ll be unveiling the logo and other materials next week.

For now, I highly recommend reading the ‘I Remember Greenpoint’ section at this site. Greenpoint residents from as far back as the 1930′s share memories of the days when the McCarren Park Pool was actually a pool, Manhattan Avenue was lined with movie theaters, and the neighborhood was still known as ‘The Garden Spot of the World.’ My favorite quote comes from one fond former Greenpointer, who wrote, ‎”It’s been said that I live in the past. Who could blame me when I come from Greenpoint?” And that’s not the only tearjerker you’re likely to read!

More on this project very soon.

Here’s a shot of my Planet Booty logo in action behind the band while they get their funk on during a Halloween performance.