We were challenged to propose a new brand concept for a large organization and address its performance across different applications.
About TOPL
The Toronto Public Library is a historic hub for many Toronto communities. With more than 100 branches around the city it has become a place that promotes culture, academia, community, and literacy, and continuously expands city-round and online. The current identity does not e needed an identity that will express its range or activities and perform well across different mediums and applications.
A community brand
The TOPL monogram, which was given an O as tribute to Toronto's acronym TO, is designed to appear around the city as an icon associated with the core values of the library — knowledge, literacy, history & heritage, and multiculturalism. As a stencil the brand empowers the micro communities that exist at different branches within the macro TOPL organization, turning an environment into an integral but ephemeral part of the logo as it appears through the letterforms. The letters are designed to be naive and playful yet elegant to appeal to a wide range of age groups.
Establishing presence with strong graphics
While the new monogram acts as a recognizable emblem across all mediums, the individual letters and colours function as the base for a strong yet flexible visual language that defines the face of the library around the city. It ties together the different initiatives that the library is involved with under a cohesive brand that is bold and positive. The typefaces of the new TOPL identity are humanistic to connect knowledge and literacy with human character.
