Design in Identity

California Academy of Sciences identity






Identity, Education

The California Academy of Sciences, located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, reopened in an iconic new building designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano. The $488 million, all-green, LEED® Platinum Certified building not only represents a new chapter in the institution’s long history, but celebrates a new kind of museum experience—dynamic, thriving, interconnected and all about the natural world. It is, uniquely, a natural history museum, aquarium, planetarium and four-story rainforest, all under one living roof.

The San Francisco office of Pentagram designed the identity, environmental graphics and collateral print materials that rebrand the institution as a vibrant, living museum. But it’s the identity, described as The Fabric of Life and inspired by the organic curves of the building’s roof, that underscores every component of the project. Radiating outward from a center oculus, the symbol appears to be growing—an interpretation of the cyclical and dynamic nature of the natural sciences. Based on the Whitney typeface by Hoefler & Frere-Jones, the customized logotype grounds the symbol, echoing the horizontal format of the building. The colors of the symbol speak specifically to the Academy’s location and mission: international orange (the color of the Golden Gate Bridge) is strongly connected to San Francisco and the architectural details inside the building; green represents life and the natural world; and gray represents the city’s famous fog and the concrete building (and its LEED® Platinum-level rating).

Kit Hinrichs, partner-in-charge; Laura Scott, associate.

(From http://www.commarts.com/exhibit/academy-sciences-identity.html)

pentagram.comwww.calacademy.org



Yoshi's Jazz Club and Japanese Restaurant rebranding

Identity, Consumer

Chen Design Associates (San Francisco) led a rebranding effort, in conjunction with the launch of Yoshi’s second Bay Area location in San Francisco’s Fillmore District, that would raise Yoshi’s visual communications to the level of its world-class jazz entertainment and cuisine. Jazz music and Japanese food, two familiar yet distinct visual categories, created an unexpected third from fusing the typography and cut-paper aesthetic of classic jazz album cover vernacular and Japanese symbology and textiles. The result? A flexible new visual toolbox that tells a unique story with sophistication, simplicity and an element of surprise.

Joshua C. Chen/Laurie Carrigan, art directors; Max Spector/Kathrin Blatter/Shadi Kashefi/Joshua C. Chen/Laurie Carrigan/Will Yang/Glenda Alvarado, designers; Joshua C. Chen, creative director; Max Spector/Kathrin Blatter/Shadi Kashefi, illustrators.

www.chendesign.comwww.yoshis.com




Bus Stop identity

Identity, Consumer

Wanting to convey the atmosphere recalled so fondly from her youth in London, the owner of this Philadelphia-based shoe boutique approached gdloft to create an identity for her new store. To bridge a distinctly British heritage with the store's location in the United States, the business cards, letterhead and signage all employ layering and only register a full mark when viewed with the intended degree of transparency. In that way, the identity expresses ideas related to memory, recall, reminiscence, reflection and fading. Further pushing the construct, the core circle and bar shapes are also completely separated for use on bags, postcards and receipts.

Allan Espiritu, art director; Matt Bednarik/Allan Espiritu, designers.

www.gdloft.comwww.busstopboutiqu ...


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