Milano: a visual identity
This project is the result of a day-long workshop, where we were given the task to design the visual identity of our hometown. I'm born in Milan, Italy, and I worked on this city.
Working on this city was extremely difficult, since Milan is a city where beautiful things happen, like the Fashion Week or the Design Week. But horrible things like corruption and speculation on worldwide events like EXPO 2015 also happen.
Milan is a complex city, but in the end is the place where I grew up and I love it no matter what.
The logo for Milan is based on a grid of circles, which is inspired by a common element that connects the city: the subway pavements. The subway is something that everyone uses, and its pavement is something that everyone subconsciously knows.
The logo I designed is dynamic, and can adapt to different situations. Each letter is inspired by different landmarks of the city, like the Duomo (the triangles of the M), or the new skyline in Piazza Gae Aulenti (the shapes of the N).
Milan is a gray and sad city at first sight, and that's why the outline of the logo is black. But Milan is also a city that changes every day, and it has a soul that transforms like no other. I decided to use the color on the inside of some letters to convey this idea of an ever-changing city.
Avenir is the font family of Milan's identity. It's geometric and humanist just like the city itself, which is cold and human at the same time. Capitalization is ignored for titles, headlines and short phrases.
Brand manual
This manual was the end result of the project. Every bit of information (from the identity's core rules to the various applications) is gathered in this 16-pages book designed from the ground up.
The cover of the brand manual, with the abbreviated version of the logo, "MI".
Illustrating the concept that drove the design of the identity.
How to use the colors and how to treat images in the identity.
