Beautiful Simplicity: Rebranding NYC Parks

From Central Park and Coney Island Beach to neighborhood basketball courts and swimming pools, the New York City Parks system offers it’s metropolitan citizens a welcome 29,000 acres of peaceful nature and recreational areas where they can release the stresses of city life. While this magnificent collection of public space is one of the most treasured aspects of the Big Apple, what it has lacked is a truly modern and cohesive branding; one that its visitors can easily recognize at both physical locations and in literature. Paula Scher of world wide design consultancy Pentagram, recently worked with NYC Parks to redesign the existing maple leaf logo, turning it into an iconic and easily recognizable identity worthy of the wonderful system it represents. Here we bring you a taste of the design package.

The beautifully repeated logo designs below have a strikingly Louis Vuitton flare to them… and the accompanying bags are beginning to look the part. Could their be a high fashion, high priced line of merchandise in the near future for NYC Parks?

Below: Existing signage is a jumbled mess of different styles and information with little that could be considered cohesive.

Below: Redesigned signage for the parks; the most publicly visible aspect of the redesign. Unlike the existing signs, the new layout places all information on one board with a logical flow of details and an easily recognizable connection to the NYC Parks system.

Below: Existing posters for NYC Parks sports and fitness events.

Below: Redesined posters for NYC Parks sports and fitness events, with a fittingly energetic color scheme.

Below: Existing brochures for Arts & Culture programming.

Below: Redesigned brochures for Arts & Culture programming, with tasteful use of the leaf logo.

Below: Posters for Nature events combine the leaf logo and photography.