Expanding what an art centre can be

Awesome agencies / News

Creating visual identities for the arts is a complexed business. Capturing the spectrum of passion and culture whilst balancing the publics perception rarely leads to a unifying vision. The trick to success seems to be in finding that happy medium of artistic expression and community engagement which thankfully Manual have managed to find.

First up, who are Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts. YBCA is a new kind of art centre, whose work spans the realms of art, civic engagement and public life, much of the San Francisco community knew them only as a venue or host for performances and events.

There was a general lack of awareness around their vision and dedication to redefining what an art centre can and should be, and this was at the core of the creative challenge Manual were asked to help solve through creating a new identity and communications strategy.

Tapping into this lack of awareness Manual began to defines art as an active, participatory experience—thus enabling YBCA to establish themselves at the centre of the conversation and effort to shape the city of San Francisco.

At the heart of the identity is a new iconic logo—drawn from YBCA’s geographical site and a conceptual representation of the notion of expanding and extending. Across all communications the logo connects to visual content via a simple and flexible graphic system.

The visual identity and communications were brought to life across all touch-points including signage, exhibition graphics, brochures, posters, outdoor advertising, identity guidelines, and a new website.

The easy in which the identity system bridges across all the brand touchpoints really does highlight it’s strengths as a fresh, bold brand. The way it can be playful one moment and then passive the next shows what a successful collaboration between client and agency can deliver.

manualcreative.com

YBCA_Map-Logo-Animation_TI_03_SMLobby-2998x1999BTJ3-2998x1999Bus-Side-2998x1999Entrance2-2998x1999Billboard_2-1-2998x1999LightBoxes_Campaign2-2998x1999NF3-2998x1999NFposter_2-2998x1999Range_03-2998x1999SG2-2998x1999Spring4-2998x1999Stationary_01S-2998x1999Stationary_02S-2998x1999  Wall-graphicWavywall_Hero-2998x1999  YBCA_iPad4-2998x1959