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Brand a neighborhood? Meet the Meatpacking District

The ask: brand a neighborhood. Our goal: create a brand with the power to change perceptions about the Meatpacking District. Notorious partly by its namesake, partly by its now-closed hourly hotels and partly by its status as the mecca for NYC club culture after dark. The challenge for Base was that the newer side of the neighborhood includes art, culture, design, fashion, food and technology that seems at odds with the neighborhood’s past. How would we reconcile such a clash? Then we realized, that’s exactly what makes it so great.

The Meatpacking District is a living breathing neighborhood contradiction — night / day, culture / commerce, chic / gritty, high heels / cobblestones…

Min Lew, Partner

The Meatpacking District identity celebrates opposites working together. We wanted it to feel as dynamic as a walk down one of its streets. The logo is split at different locations between a bold sans-serif and an elegant serif. A nod to the Meatpacking District’s past and present.

Inva Çota, Designer

We selected images that spoke to neighborhood personality but also created interesting points of friction when brought together. Sacha Maric’s photography played a critical role in bringing this vision to life.

Jake Post, Director of Operations

We wanted the identity to be beautiful but also useful for visitors. One problem we knew needed to be solved was that although the Meatpacking was a vibrant place, most visitors were unaware of all that was happening. So we created brochures with easy-to-navigate maps to help highlight activities in the neighborhood.

Inva Çota, Designer

We adopted the line “New Original” as we were working through the identity and loved the sentiment. It was the perfect summation of our contrasting work. When it was time to launch, we took over the annual Open Market event and used the line as a theme throughout.

Geoff Cook, Partner

We used the split logo idea as structural device to organize the content where each side is a column that scrolls independently. Which means you can simultaneously read the latest content from neighborhood businesses and plan your visit at the same time.