Prepared by David D. Emory, March 2011
 
 

The Atlanta Streets Alive! (ASA) project was started in late 2009 and has resulted in two ciclovía-style street closure events in Atlanta to date (May 23 and October 16, 2010), with at least two more planned in 2011.

A number of artists and designers have been involved with ASA, and while many high quality materials have been produced, to date there has been relatively little consistency in the overall visual presentation of the project. ASA's many promotional pieces (marketing literature, t-shirts and merchandise, maps, web content, etc.) have been created largely independent of one another, with no overarching visual framework in place to ensure a unified look and feel for the project.

Given that many people first encounter the project through these materials — the website, a poster at a coffee shop, a postcard from a friend — it is important that the project have a distinctive and memorable visual identity that, over time, will hopefully become strongly associated with "Atlanta Streets Alive" in the public consciousness. Outlined below is a proposal for a comprehensive rebranding of ASA that is intended to provide such a framework going forward.
 
 

In designing a visual identity for ASA, my intent was to create a branding scheme that incorporates the following characteristics:

• A clear visual connection to the defining characteristics of the ciclovía movement, specifically the street environment and the diversity of alternative uses for it.
• A degree of flexibility that allows for adaptation to the full range of potential applications (print, online, merchandise, etc.)
• Legibility in applications where graphical elements will be rendered at a very low resolution (e.g. Facebook/Twitter profile icons) and/or color depth (e.g. t-shirts)
• Applicability to "guerrilla" or viral marketing strategies (i.e. unconventional, low-cost methods for raising awareness of the ASA brand in the community)

 

A ciclovía in its essence consists of taking an environment typically dominated by impersonal, mechanized activity and repurposing the space for use by people in unconventional and creative ways. Playing off this idea, the overall theme of this rebranding proposal can be described as taking the visual language of the street — specifically, the familiar imagery of traffic and wayfinding signage — and adapting it to express the liveliness and vitality of the ciclovía experience.

The proposal is organized into two primary components:

• An iconographic component based on the familiar diamond-shaped pictographic warning sign (e.g., the "pedestrian crossing" sign), but adapted to depict the variety of activities one may see at a ciclovía.
• A typographic component, influenced heavily by the typography of both local and international transportation and wayfinding signage.

Both components are explored in more detail below, followed by a sampling of potential applications.
 
 

The proposed iconographic component is based on a simple concept — variation on the yellow traffic warning sign — that is intended to provide both visual continuity as well as the opportunity for evolution and individuality going forward.

Rather than defining a single, static logo, the proposal instead provides a "template" of sorts. Certain elements — the diamond shape, yellow-orange color, and pictographic representation of human figures and activity — are intended to remain constant, but the specific image contained within can draw from the multitude of sights one may encounter at ASA — dancers, drummers, skaters, hula-hoopers, circus performers, etc.

The above images should be seen simply as a starting point or proof-of-concept; ultimately there are as many possible variations as there are potential activities at a ciclovía.
 
 

The typographic component consists of both a wordmark, the primary text-based visual identifier for the project, and a display typeface, used as the primary font for headings and titles in print and online materials. The display typeface will be covered first, as it served in part as inspiration for the design of the wordmark.

In keeping with the theme of invoking and adapting the visual language of the street environment, the search for a display typeface focused on types that are recognizable from wayfinding or transportation infrastructure. At the same time, I also wanted a typeface with an appealing, "friendly" personality; this rules out many signage / transportation fonts that tend to be cold and impersonal in nature.

After considering many possibilities, I ultimately settled on a longtime favorite — ITC Johnston, a contemporary update of the iconic Johnston typeface made famous by the signage of the London Underground (right). While still recognizable as an "infrastructure" font, ITC Johnston has, as its designers put it, a "sociable" quality that many transport typefaces lack, and I believe it will be a good fit for the project. (As an aside, the connection to public transit is perhaps particularly appropriate this time around given the streetcar tie-in for the 2011 ASA.)

ITC Johnston comes in six variants (three weights in both regular and italic) that will support a variety of print and online applications:

 

Next, the wordmark is the component of the visual identity that renders the text "Atlanta Streets Alive!" in a distinctive and memorable fashion. The proposed wordmark, below, utilizes custom typography designed exclusively for ASA.

The goal in designing the wordmark was to create type that is eye-catching and unique, while also incorporating visual references to transportation typography (e.g. the hooked 'l' and diamond-shaped dots of the 'i' and '!' allude to Johnston, while the angled tops of the ascenders of the 't' and 'l' invoke a common feature of urban street signage, including Atlanta's).

The wordmark is designed to be adaptable to various configurations depending on the space available. In addition to the two-line version above, one- and three-line versions were also developed for more horizontal and vertical applications:

It is also intended for display with a variety of color schemes, backgrounds, and visual contexts:

Finally, the wordmark is intended to be combined with the pictographic sign motif, as well as any applicable slogans or taglines, to complete the visual identity. Below are is an example (a potential website or email header graphic) that combines all of these elements:

 
 

Below is a gallery of potential applications of the proposed branding to variety of mediums. These designs are for illustrative purposes only; the actual designs for each application will be refined after consultation with the ASA team members responsible for that product.
 

Print Materials

 

Brochure — Below are sample 8.5x11" pages from a general sponsorship/marketing brochure (a potential front cover and a representative content page):

   
 

Stickers — One application I find especially compelling is the production of stickers (possibly 4x4", which can be inexpensively produced through online print shops) for a number of the activity sign pictograms. This is an area where there is potential for a "viral marketing" approach, as the reference to ASA would be fairly subtle (in the design below I do not include the wordmark at all, though the website URL is incorporated into the black border of the sign).

The idea would be to distribute these widely and hopefully make the images a frequent sight around town; people may not grasp the connection to ASA immediately, but when they see the more conventional promos (posters, online ads, etc.), the association will be established and perhaps strengthened as well.

 

Merchandise

Online vendors such as CafePress allow for the production of a wide variety of branded merchandise. The proposed ASA branding should offer a good deal of flexibility in how merchandise is produced and marketed — for instance, rather than a single static t-shirt design, a "line" of shirts featuring depictions of various activities can be offered.

 

Social Networking Graphics

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter present special challenges in that they impose highly restrictive limitations on how a brand is presented graphically. Both services, for instance, most frequently display a organization's logo as very small (50x50px) icons. The current ASA branding does not lend itself well to these applications.

Below is one example of how the ASA Facebook page could be rebranded with the proposed new identify. The specific activity pictogram displayed can be rotated periodically to help keep the page fresh and dynamic.

   
 

Feedback on this proposal is welcome; please direct comments to .