İstanbul Kitapçısı
New worlds exist beyond İstanbul Kitapçısı’s doors. Step in and find one that inspires you.
New worlds exist beyond İstanbul Kitapçısı’s doors. Step in and find one that inspires you.
İstanbul Kitapçısı is The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s official bookstore chain, located in the city’s most iconic corners. Despite a steady increase in locations, the lack of cohesion across stores and brand presence hindered its potential as a true city trademark. For the municipality’s vision of Istanbul as a literate city, these bookstores were essential hubs that needed to spark interest and engagement.
We met with the Kültür AŞ team to craft a modern and relevant city brand that would unify all locations under a single branding system. We envisioned the new İstanbul Kitapçısı not only as shop, but as stations of inspiration curated specifically for Istanbul. What makes the people of Istanbul tick? What inspires the people living here? We developed a strategy to feature important culture figures from the city, to showcase the literature that inspires them and to include them in the conversation.
We shifted a fixed focus on books to a greater sense of inspiration and the many areas we encounter it. We authenticated our position as a city brand by becoming a cultural hub for the city’s residents - where literature, culture the city and its people intersect to reveal new possibilities. And we condensed this all into a key phrase that point to the unchartered worlds inside our store and the ones inside the Istanbul's residents: İçinde dünya var.
For İstanbul Kitapçısı, we designed a comprehensive brand identity from brand positioning and strategy, tagline, logo, visual identity and a set of brand illustrations. We developed a unique pin from a dove-like figure as our brand emblem, which allowed us to take over city maps. This emblem became our leading graphic as we developed our visual system. We developed a rich set of figure illustrations with @edacagill to depict the many people whose ways cross our stores. We also developed sets of merchandise (tote bags, t-shirts, cups etc) that feature excerpts from prominent works of literature to let literature roam around the city.
Client: Kültür AŞ
Creative Agency: Monroe
Creative Director: Onur Gökalp
Managing Director: Hatice Çağlar
Strategy / Copywriter: Oğul Girgin
Art Director: Seda Yüksel
Graphic Designer: Naci Mert
Illustrations: Eda Çağıl Çağlarırmak
