Responses by Caterina Bianchini, creative director, Studio Nari
Background: The purpose of this project was to create an identity for the newly launched Home, a multifunctional creative space by photographer Ronan Mckenzie supporting Black and Indigenous people of color.
Reasoning: The concept was grounded on the idea that a home isn’t just where you are, it’s who you are. A sense of “identity” is core to every individual and creates a piece of home in yourself. Home is one’s sense of selfhood and creative expression, and the freedom and safety to keep evolving. “Identity” reflects the composure of knowing you are already home wherever you are. We wanted to create a logotype that held this concept at its core. We began by creating lettering with accentuated serif feet, aimed to create a sense of being rooted, aligning with that sense of belonging. The letters M and E are connected as a subliminal celebration of identity, and relating back to our overarching concept of finding the meaning of “home” within yourself, as well as within Ronan’s creative space.
Challenges: There was nothing that was challenging about this project, but we did want to ensure the creative was doing the project justice. We wanted to create something that felt really connected to Ronan and her vision for this space and her community. The fact that it has a hybrid element to what it is going to offer as space was interesting from a creative standpoint as we had to ensure the brand identity was flexible and able to adapt across assets.
Visual influences: Ronan provided many images she had taken of textures or places she had visited, so we used these images as a way of creating a color palette and adapting texture to ensure that what we created had that sense of “home” across the brand.
Favorite details: We apply a lot of subliminal details when we create brands. For this particular project, we referenced the feeling of home in all artwork, that full feeling you have when you are home. You feel safe, you feel happy, you feel home. The application of the brand plays with this idea with the logotype or color block application taking up different amounts of space across brand assets but always fully filling whichever space it is in. I thought this was a really nice idea and touch, and it’s not necessarily obvious, which make it more interesting.
Time constraints: If we had more time, it would have been interesting to do more market research on this idea of “What does home feel like?” and use that insight to develop the brand.
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