Brand Logos

Gotham Writers Right On the Mark

By Delphine Hirasuna | June 19, 2014September 4, 2014

Founded in New York City in 1993 by two writers Jeff Fligelman and David Grae, Gotham Writers’ Workshop has since grown into one of the nation’s largest adult education writing schools offering both private and online classes in every genre, from fiction to screenplays to poetry to memoirs. After 20 years, however, Gotham felt it was time to move from a more generic-looking logotype to a customized brand identity.

Brooklyn-based design studio Hyperakt was asked to evolve the brand to give it greater presence. After conducting in-depth research, Hyperakt distilled the essence of the brand message to “craft igniting creativity.” To better represent the scope of Gotham’s offering of online classes and events, Hyperakt recommended that the name be shortened to “Gotham Writers,” dropping the word “Workshop” completely. “The shift better represents the school’s community of writers and promotes a sense of belonging,”

Humor

“Television,” for example

By Delphine Hirasuna | May 14, 2010September 4, 2014

Visual tone of voice – it’s a much-discussed concept in design. How do you let the product, company or service speak for itself through choice of typography, color, pacing, and style of imagery? How do you communicate mood, energy, personality, urgency? What we liked about this video by Beth Fulton of b.fulton multimedia production in Atlanta is that you can feel the frenetic quality of the poem by screenwriter/actor Todd Alcott, even without hearing Alcott’s frantic voice. First look at the video with the sound on and then watch it again with the sound off. Consider how different the poem would have felt if the typeface was more ornate or the pacing was less erratic and staccato. Although the Fulton/Alcott video is more compelling than, say, giving expression to a brand, it does show us that when the visual tone of voice is on target, the message is far more memorable.