PROJECT NAME: Citywide Thread Co. Logo and Visual Brand Design
BACK STORY: Citywide Thread Co. is a Philadelphia-centered premium apparel company focused on providing an elevated product that is unique and sustainable. Their primary style is a little mix between vintage, timeless, and iconic with a certain amount of Philadelphian grit and passion.
OBJECTIVE: They needed a visual identity that was immediately recognizable as something Philadelphia based and versatile enough to work on digital and print mediums.
VISUAL AREA OF FOCUS: Branding and Logo Design
DATE: 2024
Tasked first with designing the logo, I spent a long time researching iconography unique to Philadelphia. What could be a good icon for a brand that wants to encapsulate an entire city without being too niche that it alienates a large majority of potential customers? Documents, flags, city seals, none of them seemed appropriate for the tone of the brand. After a good amount of testing and different designs, I found the perfect icon for Citywide, a shape unique to Philadelphia.
The brand colors were chosen for a few specific reasons. The brand highlight color, Market St Green, was obviously because the street signs are green but also plays on the main color for the Philadelphia Eagles football team which are a staple in Philly. The neutral bases, Freedom Ink and Timeless Independence, are a lifted black and faded off-white respectively that emphasize the brand’s vintage style and nod to the city’s place in American history.
As a side note, I’m preferential to making neutral brand colors that are slightly different than just black and white to give some uniqueness to a brand even in these often overlooked areas.
While designing the main logo, I added a curve to the lower half of the pole to act as a shadow under the sign which gives the flat image some dimensionality. In doing so though, I noticed on light backgrounds, the shadow doesn’t make sense as the sign is now darker than the background. I navigated this by creating a, maybe nontraditional, second main logo but without the curve. Both dark and light backgrounds have a unique logo that preserves the main icon while looking their best. On some variations of the logo, mainly ones used for web applications, I also included some paper texture to bring home that vintage vibe.
It was also important to set the visual tone of the brand and what kind of images they should be using for ads and social to match the vintage inspiration behind the brand.
For their first product launch, I created social media posts and mockups for the t-shirt. This helped to spread awareness and build trust with the brand right out of the gate.
