Opinion BY Armin

W FTW (for the Whitney)

Established in 1930, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York is devoted to the art of the United States presenting a “full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists.” Its permanent collection contains approximately 19,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs, representing more than 2,900 artists and is considered one of the finest in the world. Currently located on Madison Avenue at 75th Street since 1966, the Whitney will move to a Renzo Piano-designed building dozens of blocks south in the Meatpacking District facing the popular High Line in 2015. In preparation for this move, the museum has introduced a new identity designed by Amsterdam-based Experimental Jetset.

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Opinion BY Armin

Destination: Corner of Stuff and Stuff

In 2005, the MoMA Design Store launched the first of its Destination: Design series that brings products from different cities and countries from around the world to the museum’s store. The project has a couple of benefits: a) more cool stuff to buy at MoMA and b) exposure for local artists who may not otherwise get a chance to sell their work at such large scale. So far, the series has brought products from Finland, Denmark, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Japan, Seoul, Brazil, Portugal, Istanbul, and Mexico. Its latest edition is Destination: NYC, a collection with approximately 200 lifestyle products including home accessories, furniture, paper goods and jewelry — all products are manufactured in the U.S.. Each edition in the series has had its own identity, sometimes designed in-house at MoMA, others in collaboration. This one was designed with the School of Visual Arts Masters in Branding Program under the guidance of Mark Kingsley, who also wrote advertising headlines and copy, designed window and store displays (currently in progress) and product photography.

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Friday Likes BY Armin

Friday Likes 29

The internationalitiness — yes, I know that is not an actual conjugation — of Friday Likes continues with work from Spain, Sweden, and New York.

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Opinion BY Armin

If the Mountain won’t Come to Muhammad then it Must go to the Mount Sinai Logo

Established in 1852, the Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the most well-known hospitals in the United States, ranking continually as one of the top in U.S. News & World Report and countless other lists. Also one of the largest teaching hospitals, Mount Sinai saw nearly 60,000 inpatients and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits last year. Together with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, established in 1968 and one of the leading medical schools in the country, they form the Mount Sinai Medical Center. Last week, the Center introduced a new identity with a logo designed by Siegel+Gale and its implementation by Infinia Group.

Update May 8, 2013: This post has been updated with application images provided by Infinia Group.

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Friday Likes BY Armin

Friday Likes 26

The trend this week in work coming in from Singapore, Porto, and New York is subtle, luscious patterns and soft color palettes. Better get on the trend, y’all, before it gets tired.

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Opinion BY Rietje Gieskes

A New Vision for New Visions for Public Schools

New York city public schools benefit greatly from private sector support through organizations like New Visions for Public Schools. Currently the largest of its kind, the nonprofit has prominent supporters like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. The organization provides funding to a variety of schools, including over 74 public and charter schools, and helps to develop teacher residency programs. With a new day, comes a new vision, as demonstrated by the organization’s new identity designed by New York, NY-based Chermayeff & Geismar.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Citi Habitats

About: Citi Habitats is a real estate agency in New York.

Design by: Ammirati

Ed.’s Notes: Sample applications below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Ammirati case study. News story.

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Opinion BY Armin

Guy Fieri Invades Times Square

Opened this month, Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar is a 16,000-square-foot restaurant in Times Square that sits 500 people and features three separate bars. As the name implies, the joint is owned by Food Network superstar (and national annoyance) Guy Fieri, co-owner of various other restaurants and one of the most popular hosts and personalities of the aforementioned food channel. There is no credit for the identity or interiors and this is for a stand-alone restaurant so it breaks a little bit with my publishing criteria but the project is worth a look.

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Opinion BY Armin

New York City Circles

Established in 1943, New York City Center (NYCC) is a performing arts venue, focusing on dance and musical theater, located in Midtown Manhattan, and “dedicated to making the arts accessible to the broadest possible audience.” NYCC is home to the renown Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and American Ballet Theatre as well as popular events like Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert series and the Fall for Dance festival. After a $75-million-restoration to its historic theatre and façade that re-opened in October 2011, NYCC needed a new identity that was introduced recently and designed by Futurebrand.

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Opinion BY Armin

One World Trade Center’s Tip

Set to open in 2013, One World Trade Center (also known as 1WTC and previously Freedom Tower) is the flagship building of the thoroughly chronicled, scrutinized, and troubled development of the new World Trade Center complex, that includes four other skyscrapers, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, 550,000 square feet of retail space, and a Performing Arts Center. One World Trade Center is the design of David M. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, rising a symbolic 1,776 — the year of the United States independence — feet and boasting 2.6 million square feet of space to be filled by the likes of Condé Nast, one of the first big name tenants to sign a major lease. One World Trade Center is developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and developer The Durst Organization. Yesterday, the logo for the building was introduced, designed by London-based Wordsearch, a design firm specializing in branding and communications for real estate and architecture across the world.

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Guest Opinion by Bill Dawson BY Brand New

Grand Central Time

New York’s Grand Central Terminal train station will celebrate its centennial in 2013. In honor of that milestone, Midtown TDR Ventures worked with Pentagram to create a new logo and identity system for the landmark location. Pentagram partner Michael Bierut oversaw the project with designer Joe Marienek. The logo includes an interpretation of the four-sided Tiffany timepiece that sits atop the information kiosk at the center of the Main Concourse. The clock is set at 7:13 PM (19:13) to represent the year that the station became officially known as Grand Central Terminal.

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A B-Side BY Armin

New York Road Runners

Established in 1958, the New York Road Runners (NYRR) is “dedicated to promoting the sport of distance running, enhancing health and fitness for all, and responding to community needs” and counts with over 40,000 members NYRR is the organizer of the ING New York City Marathon (which happened yesterday). The new logo was designed by New York-based Doublespace. Press release here.

Thanks to Hannah Ratzlaff for first tip.

Guest Opinion by Joshua Levi Posted BY Brand New

Forward-Looking Image

When I was a kid, my family and I would see shows at our town’s golden era movie house. It was a small, second-run theater. Its rich decor and the perpetual smell of popcorn oozed of the past in this kind of magical way. My favorite visit was to see Back to the Future. I can remember the juxtaposition of an art deco theater and a time-traveling Delorean like it was yesterday. I was taken back to that moment earlier this year, and again last week, walking around the Museum of Moving Image (MoMI) in New York with a new expansion designed by Leeser Architecture and new identity and signage designed by karlssonwilker. While this project is a few months old, there is not much information out there about it, so I decided to do some digging and gather some of the loose images on this project, most found on this Flickr set by Archidose and this Facebook album from karlssonwilker.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Newsday

Founded in 1940, Newsday is a local newspaper primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, and it is a staple of the New York visual landscape. In March Newsday introduced a new logo, here is how it looks on the paper.

Thanks to Geoffrey Sorensen for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

FAO Schwarz’s New Hire: Wit

Established in 1862 in Baltimore, Maryland by Frederick August Otto Schwarz, FAO Schwarz is today the mecca of toy stores with a flagship store in New York as famous as the Statue of Liberty, except with more foot traffic, more profitable, and the dream for kids and adults to play “Chopsticks” on the giant piano made famous by Tom Hanks in Big, released in 1988, two years after FAO moved to its famed location. In 2009, Toys “R” Us acquired FAO with the intent of keeping the same magical formula that has made it so attractive over the years. If you ever went to FAO as a kid you know that feeling. It is quite incomparable. As an adult it simply holds nostalgia, which dissipates as soon as you enter the overcrowded, visually and aurally saturated store. In any event, FAO has redesigned its identity and packaging of house products to welcome the 2010 holiday shopping season, and has introduced a new character, Wit.

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Opinion BY Joe Marianek

Papaya King: Regally Good

Since 1932, Papaya King has delivered sweet/savory subsistence in New York City. Somehow, after 68 years, the brand has resisted gentrification. While it feels like this institution has been franchised onto every block, in reality there are only several official locations which are in ferocious competition with other namesake brands who all aim to corner the hot dog culinary category including Gray’s Papaya and Nathan’s, (not to mention street vendors or the Shake Shack.) In this update, designer Joe Guzman at Skaggs Design has embraced the existing vernacular of “organized chaos” and built a system to deliver a consistent experience on packaging, signage, and online.

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Opinion BY Armin

Walk this Way

Established in 1973 Transportation Alternatives (TA) is a New York non-profit organization whose mission is to “reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile, and to advocate for bicycling, walking and public transit as the best transportation alternatives.” If you ride your bike in New York and feel a little safer with every passing day, it’s probably thanks to TA, who is also responsible for campaigns to free Central Park and Prospect Part in Brooklyn from cars, as well as championing the controversial congestion pricing initiative that would charge cars for the priviledge of driving around certain parts of the city. This week, TA introduced a new identity created by Doyle Partners — fitting since it’s not rare to spot Mr. Stephen Doyle bicycling around town in a suit.

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Opinion BY Armin

Crystal Ball Says What?

Around the world, the adage applies that all roads lead to Rome, but in the state of New York, all roads lead to a SUNY (State University of New York) campus. With over 460,000 enrolled students across 64 campuses, SUNY is the biggest conglomerate of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, if not the world. Keeping the organization unified and focused must be a massive effort and sometimes it requires bold and far-reaching initiatives to keep things moving, so this month SUNY presented “The Power of SUNY,” a strategic plan for 2010 and beyond that establishes the scope of what SUNY wants to achieve. Along with it, came a new logo.

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