Harrison Park
Extended Practice
OUGD603
Capital North
Background
Target Audience
Capital North is great economy, great transport, great education and great culture. These four strengths are evident in a number of Northern cities, making the region a credible second capital of the United Kingdom helping to redress the economic balance across the country. Partnered with London it can fight for Britain’s share of the global economy.
Investors Families Education Investors Everyday Commuters People with an interest in the North
Brief To brand the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and create awareness of it’s many and varied attributes to the rest of the world.
Mandatory Requirements Build a brand and Identity that spans across a vast rand of products: Posters Trains Environment
01/08
Harrison Park
02
Extended Practice
Reference
OUGD603
Capital North
Porto
Location Branding
Inspired by the stories in the tiles we developed more than seventy geometric icons that represented the city and its people. The icons were designed based on a grid that could connect them with each other, creating a continuous network that evokes a tile panel. These icons became a visual code to represent the city. A code that can live by itself, viewing each symbol individually, or as a network of symbols that show the never-ending complexity of our city. The icons could also be more illustrative, telling stories, showing the landscape, translating our passions.
‘Don’t confuse destination branding with a beauty contest. Destination branding will raise your country’s popularity. An attractive logo usually will not.’ To raise curiosity and interest, the visual language avoids clichés and concentrates on the strengths of the north. Reducing the identity to a logo cannot achieve this goal. The brand is more than just a logo, it needs to tell the story of the city town or place simlar to Porto or Shrewsbury’s branding. However Capital North is more than a single location posing a large problem.
02/08
Harrison Park
Extended Practice
OUGD603
Manchester
Leeds
Liverpool
Hull
03
Development
Capital North
Four Strengths
Logo
Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Hull are four cities in this region and there are many more. However we are focusing on things that matter to people. Capital North is not bound by the borders of the four cities, but united together by its strengths.
Going of the concept of a sqaure being the strongest form for Capital North once al cities are combined, but how are the individual cities branded?
‘Together our northern cities can be more than the sum of their parts.’ Four things coming together to form the strongest possible outcome is a square, the sum of all the cities equals a square as a visual metaphor.
Each city is broken down into four categories; Culture, Education, Transport and Economy. These four categories are gauged to form a unique rhombus-esque shape representitive of each city.
03/08
Harrison Park
04
Extended Practice
Development
OUGD603
Capital North
Logo Each of the cities representitive logos is then placed in a sqaure (the strongest form that can be created by four things coming together). One logo is placd in the each of the corners and a shape is formed around the outer edges where the paths cross over. This system can work with no matter what city is decided to join capital north and shows the diversity of the branding system created.
04/08
Harrison Park
05
Extended Practice
Imagery
OUGD603
Capital North
Imagery The use of photographic elements throughout the branding add visual depth to each of the cities basic rhombus shaped logos. The interaction of the logo with its representitive city is showing the importance of each of the four categories and how they work hand in hand.
05/08
Harrison Park
06
Extended Practice
Imagery
OUGD603
Capital North
06/08
Harrison Park
07
Extended Practice
Application
OUGD603
Capital North
Posters The posters again carry on the use of imagery and logo shape playing on the visual metaphor, representing the interaction between city and logo.
07/08
Harrison Park
08
Extended Practice
Application
OUGD603
Capital North
The Campaign The overall capital north logo is used in full force to represent the campaign and push forward the idea of a stronger north. Due to its simplicity it is applicable on almost everything without have to change a single bit.
08/08