Express Newark
WHAT IS IT ?
A multi-year, comprehensive assessment of faculty, student and staff needs, as well as community requirements, resulted in RUTGERS UNIVERSITY - NEWARK creating the "collabor-torium" known as EXPRESS NEWARK. This collaborative laboratory of researchers, artists and academics is housed in the former Hahne & Company Department Store in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Cross-sector and cross-institutional publicly engaged scholarship work side-by-side with artists, schools and institutions in the city to cultivate new talent and develop new ideas.
MY ACHIEVEMENTS
From 2015 to 2017 I spearheaded efforts to conceptualize, develop and finalize a complete STYLE GUIDE, to include the creation of a distinct ICON, LOGOMARKS and a WAYFINDING (signage) SYSTEM. Working with RUTGERS UNIVERSITY distinguished Professor and GRAPHIC DESIGNER Ned Drew, I led a team of 5 designers to create the 74-page STYLE GUIDE, multi-colored LOGOMARKS (shown below), and a WAYFINDING SYSTEM, which are used throughout the Express Newark complex and for all BRANDING and MARKETING collateral, including the Express Newark WEBSITE.
Express Newark Logomark
Three versions of the LOGOMARK were created so that each floor within the Express Newark building in downtown Newark, New Jersey would have a unique look and feel, while maintaining BRAND consistency. I created a gray, black-and-white and wireframe LOGOMARK as part of the package.
Express Newark Style Guide
The Express Newark STYLE GUIDE is the primary visual DNA for the organization's BRANDING. I led this project with the intent of creating a product that is comprehensive and easy to follow, where references are made to grammar, tone, word usage and point-of-view that are to be used in organizational MARKETING collateral. The guide describes, defines and presents examples of what the Express Newark LOGOMARK looks like in all visual media, including print, Internet and broadcast forms.
The STYLE GUIDE gives thorough illustrations on how the LOGOMARKS can be used on print products such posters, books, tri-folds, postcards, flyers and signage systems.
For an example of how the STYLE GUIDE has been used, please visit the Express Newark website at www.expressnewark.org
Express Newark Style Guide
Express Newark Wayfinding System
The Express Newark signage, or "wayfinding," system is based upon the same process of the LOGOMARK having multiply entities for the different floors of the Hahne’s building in downtown Newark. Each signage system prominently showcases different information while maintaining BRAND consistency. Color and texture played a crucial role the development of the primary LOGOMARK and its variants. Color helps the viewer distinguish between the different components within the LOGOMARK itself while promoting clarity, enhancing visibility and highlighting the idea of a "third space." Utilizing this design concept allowed my design team to develop a signage system, shown at the right.
Color plays an aesthetic and conceptual role in the LOGOMARK and BRANDING system. To maintain a sense of order in the Hahne’s building and visually signal the organization's ethos, each floor was given a distinct color scheme. Deliberate design and consistent use of this strategy created unity and balance between the building's floors.
Each floor's design has two primary colors that, when combined, create a third. For example, the 2nd floor combines Yellow & Blue to create Green. The 3rd floor combines Blue and Magenta to create Purple. The 4th floor combines Magenta and Yellow to create Red.
For more information about Express Newark BRANDING details, please contact Andreà Cassar through the contact us page.