Brand a neighborhood? Meet the Meatpacking District
The ask: brand the Meatpacking District. Our goal: create a brand with the power to change perceptions about the neighborhood. Traditionally notorious for its namesake, now-shut-down hourly hotels, and status as the mecca for NYC club culture, the Meatpacking district has recently experienced significant change. The challenge for Base was to reconcile the clash between the newer side of the neighborhood – art, culture, design, fashion, food and technology – with the area’s colorful past. Then we realized – this clash is what makes it so great.
Min Lew, Partner
Inva Çota, Design DirectorThe 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.
Jake Post, Director of OperationsWe selected images that spoke to the neighborhood’s personality and that created interesting points of friction when brought together. Sacha Maric’s photography played a critical role in bringing this vision to life.
Inva Çota, Design DirectorWe wanted the identity to be both beautiful and useful for visitors. One problem we needed to solve was the lack of awareness of all that was happening in this vibrant neighborhood. So we created brochures with easy-to-navigate maps to help highlight activities in the neighborhood.
Geoff Cook, PartnerWe 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.
We used the split logo idea as a structural device to organize the content: each side is a column that scrolls independently. This means you can read the latest content from neighborhood businesses and plan your visit at the same time.
The Meatpacking District is a living breathing neighborhood contradiction — night / day, culture / commerce, chic / gritty, high heels / cobblestones…