Philadelphia Brand
As part of a project exploring how to communicate broad topics, such as “time,” I found printing press letters, and used their texture to create a specific font for Philadelphia. The idea was that time is viewed primarily as the juxtaposition of the old and new. The ‘old’ and ‘new’ that I juxtaposed was the historical image of Philadelphia versus my own, more recent, experiences with the city.
Slideshow
The result of this exploration was a booklet, comprised of spreads with various combinations of the printing press letters, historical images, and personal images. I worked with a partner who did a parallel exploration, except with New York City, that was also incorporated into the booklet.
I used scans of printing press letters overlaid on a view of the Philadelphia skyline from the twentieth century. The tagline “is it hot enough for you” is used throughout, chosen from an ironic comment from Philadelphians in the height of summer weather. The end product for this specific design is a postcard, and in the booklet the printing press typeface introduced here is used throughout.
Philadelphia Post Card Design using historical aerial photo of the city skyline.
Two page spread using childhood photos of Logan Fountain, with the tagline "who needs a pool."
Second page using the aerial photo
Two page spread using self-taken photos from the Philadelphia Museum of Art with the tagline "climb the steps."
Two page spread of a self-taken photo of the city skyline view from the Mann Music Center with printing press letters including a "Penn Maid."
Salmon Philadelphia Logo page.
Two page spread from the physical book. Some of the pages were printed on translucent tracing paper to explore the way the work changed while flipping through the booklet.
Philadelphia Penn Maid poster page.
Philadelphia Logo poster page using a historical photo from the Eastern State Penitentiary in Fairmount.
Two page spread from the booklet, left side the Philadelphia logo over a historical map of the city, right side the gray and white aerial photo design on tracing paper.