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moma exhibits fresh graphic identity
NEW YORK NY
The Museum of Modern Art has recast its graphic identity to underscore the museum's leadership role in the field of design. The new look — designed by Paula Scher, a partner at Pentagram in New York — employs prominent use of the MoMA logo as a graphic device, dramatic cropping and juxtapositions of artwork, and a brighter color palette to create a fresh contemporary image. The changes will be visible in every aspect of the museum's communications through the coming year, including advertisements, museum signage, brochures, emails and the new Web site which was slated to launch last month. In addition to Pentagram's Scher, MoMA's Creative Director for Graphics and Advertising Julia Hoffmann, who was appointed mid 2008, also worked on the new identity. Contact: www.MoMA.org

sahre poster is sheer poetry
NEW YORK NY
The Academy of American Poets has unveiled the official poster for National Poetry month 2009, designed by award-winning graphic designer and illustrator Paul Sahre. The 2009 poster features a fogged window on which hand-written lines from T.S. Eliot's poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” appear. Each year the Academy asks a renowned designer to donate his or her design services to the poster project to help kick-start National Poetry Month celebrations; past designers have included SpotCo, Christoph Niemann, design collective Number Seventeen, Chip Kidd and Milton Glaser. Sahre was approached based on his past work, including illustrations for The New York Times and numerous book covers. Contact: www.paulsahre.com or www.poets.org.poster

balancing act in new arab tv look
NEW YORK NY
C&G Partners in New York was tapped to redesign on-air television graphics and a web presence to give the Alhurra Arabic language satellite television network a new brand image. The network, which translates from Arabic to “The Free One,” is a commercial-free network devoted primarily to news and information through the Middle East. The new branding aims to signal a shift in programming to more news-oriented content and to appeal to a younger demographic for both the network and its major evening news show “The Today Show.” It also has the goal of luring viewers from competing news networks Al Jazeera, CNN and BBC, by appealing to Arab sensibilities without appearing overly Arabic, delicately balancing full transparency as a network financed by the U.S. but with a visual language appropriate to and respectful of a modern pan-Arabic audience. The resulting logo, three flowing colored ribbons that coalesce to form a bird in flight, speaks to the networks goal to broaden its viewers perspectives, enabling them to make more informed decisions. The ribbons evoke banners, flags and celebration, while the bird symbolizes superiority, light, freedom and aspiration, all attributes consistent with a network dedicated to accurate, balanced and comprehensive news. Creative director Steff Geissbuhler was joined on the project by designers Scott Ballum, Justine Gaxotte and Sumayya Alsenan. Animation was by The String Theory. Contact: www.cgpartnerslic.com

driving traffic to tripadvisor
NEW YORK NY
SJI Associates has completed a branding campaign for TripAdvisor, the world's largest online travel site. The goal was to raise awareness, educate and drive traffic to the site. As part of the overhaul, the NY design firm developed the concept of “Find” with a graphic rollover menu that's designed to work across all platforms and give options to help select top-rated hotels, best restaurants or the best trip ever, among others. A style guide was also developed to ensure consistency for all future TripAdvisor communications. Contact: www.sjiassociates.com

seeds of optimism in color of the year
CARLSTADT NJ
What better hue for a cold, heartless economic crisis than a warm, sun-evoking yellow, otherwise known as Mimosa and Pantone's Color of the Year for 2009. Pantone, an X-Rite company, and the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industry, gave its annual honors to Pantone 14-0848 Mimosa “a warm engaging yellow.” The color “exemplifies the warmth and nurturing quality of the sun, properties we as humans are naturally drawn to for reassurance,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. Best illustrated by the abundant flowers of the Mimosa tree and the sparkle of the brilliantly hued cocktail, the 2009 color of the year represents hopeful and radiant characteristics of yellow, she said. Consider it a heads up for fashion and furnishings in the year ahead, as this versatile shade is paired with others for both men and women and particularly for home interiors, where a splash of yellow can bring the outside in and make small rooms seem larger. Mimosa is just one of 3,000 colors available in Pantone's line of paints. Contact: www.pantone.com

shaping lincoln's memory
FAIRFIELD CT
Jargon Boy's Greg Chinn was tapped to design the graphic identity for dual exhibits commemorating the Lincoln bicentennial. The Amistad Center for Art & Culture and the Connecticut Historical Society are co-presenting exhibitions. Lincoln: Man, Myth, and Memory is presented by The Amistad Center at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and Remembering Lincoln, Considering Soldiers, Then and Now is on view at the Connecticut Historical Society. Chinn worked with The Amistad Center for Art & Culture's Executive Director Olivia S. White and Museum Curator Frank Mitchell to conceive an overall graphic identity for the combined exhibits printed material. The cover was created with three amorphous shapes that reflect the perception we have of Lincoln's man/myth/memory,while thread-like lines wrap around the Lincoln type signaling how intertwined the ideas we have about him are. Contact: www.jargonboy.com