The Official Transit Authority Figures Blog

Hampshire County, Destination Brand Concept

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:00:00 -0400

We’re currently in the process of developing a destination brand for our home, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Place brands are always tricky with so many invested stakeholders. Hampshire County is 350 years old but has never been marketed as a tourism destination under this title.

I’m pretty up on my geography, but I don’t know the names of the counties in Connecticut, just a half hour south of here. So I had this imagined conversation with someone not from around here…

I’ve lived in Northampton for ten years and noticed that a central part of the Western Mass ethos is about being fiercely local and protective of the good thing we’ve got here. There seems to be a clear line between this and that side of Worcester (particularly when it comes to state government.) People here know Western Massachusetts is very different from the other other side of Massachusetts.

Here’s a simplified and stylized map of Massachusetts. Anyone who is familiar with our subway map work might recognize that we’re a little partial to the 45s and 90s.

A line down the middle designates Western Mass…

…and smack dab in the middle of Western Mass is Hampshire County. The only Mass county, by the way, that doesn’t border the ocean or another state. We’re like the ‘most’ Massachusetts county.

And for over a hundred years, all of Western Mass was Hampshire County. Through the centuries, our neighbor counties to the north, south and west were all carved from Hampshire County…

While Hampshire County can be considered a geographic other side of Massachusetts, our other-ness also comes from natural beauty and particularly from this community of people who are so famously accepting of each other’s diverse lifestyles, spirituality, and ways of thinking.

The summary of the market research conducted for this project had a line that stood out to me:

Hampshire County is a place that affords me the relaxation and freedom I need to be my true self

We think this sentiment dovetails beautifully with the concept of coming here to explore one’s own personal individual other sides.

“The Other Side” acts a basecamp for this brand. From here, we can reach out to very targeted demographics, enticing them to come here to explore their own personal individual other sides in Hampshire County.

There are others but the photography is still all stock. These were taken by local photographers Lynne Graves (pre-historic, town, pool, drivers, sweet), Candace Hope (soft, bright, greener, up), and Anita Licis Ribak (broad). We will be going into full development this month with our official launch at the end of May.

This is the first print ad that will run on the back of the CISA guide this May (Photographer, Lynne Graves).

The mark is meant to be bold, minimal, and flexible. A lot of applications of this mark will be in social media and mobile web environments so it needs to read small.

Our type is Neue Haas Grotesk, a recent digital restoration of the 1957 Swiss type that would become Helvetica. We feel its a true classic and its minimalism complements the mark. And it just sets beautifully, unlike Helvetica.

Reproducible in one or two colors, and with or without type, the mark opens itself to a vast array of merchandise opportunities:

…and a bottle opener. Still needs to be tested.

ISO New England's 2013 Regional Electricity Outlook

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:42:13 -0500

What's new for the Hampshire Council of Governments

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:55:00 -0500

Here is a selection of some of the pieces we’ve recently completed for various initiatives coming out of the offices of the Hampshire Council of Governments:

Don't Squeeze Too Hard!

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:24:00 -0500

Here’s James’ charming poster for Damia’s mom’s annual Nutcracker performance in Manchester, Vermont. We’ve been doing these for about 10 years now. I’ll have to go back and find the rest to see how they’ve progressed over time.

Building Trust

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:10:33 -0500

Between 2007 and 2010, Damia was down in Bridgeport every few weeks to photograph the construction of a mammoth new cancer center at St. Vincent’s Medical Center. She really got in there with the workers and captured some of the intricate processes that go into making a modern medical facility.

Conceived as a donor gift for major contributors to the St. Vincent’s Foundation, we edited through thousands of photos to produce a 90-page coffee table book for the ages. We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Blurb does great work. Here are a few spreads:

2013 Wilco Calendar

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:29:00 -0500

We’re thrilled that we made the cut for this year’s Wilco calendar. That’s us up there in the top right corner. Yeah!

Good company!

To make the map more interesting, I went through Wilco’s tour history and mapped out every European city they ever performed in prior to the 2012 tour. Those gigs are represented on the blue lines.

Sometimes it's difficult...

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 11:49:01 -0500

…to get all of the doctors in the same place at the same time.

2012-2013 ’62 Center Season Program

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:45:00 -0500

Here is the new big beautiful annual book for the ’62 Center at Williams College. They’ve got some great events planned and if you live anywhere near Williamstown you surely already know how fantastic this venue is. We approached it a little differently this year. James and Rob created a bunch of illustrations that will double as posters when the event gets closer.

Brand New Conference

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:15:36 -0400

The TAF gang took a field trip to attend the Brand New Conference in New York. If you haven’t seen it before, the Brand New blog is where new logos and brand redesigns get reviewed and eviscerated. It’s totally snarky and lots of fun. And the comments section is not for the thin-skinned should your logo be critiqued The one-day conference is kind of an offshoot where the speakers are highly-accomplished creatives from some of the world’s top branding firms rapping to designers about how to create better brands. James and I got there early and found our seats.

Overall, we all found the conference enlightening and inspiring and left with a renewed vigor to keep getting better. Our creative style and branding knowhow are constantly evolving and events like this help to ensure everything continues in the right direction.

Here’s everything you could ever want to know about the Brand New Conference.

At some point I noticed James was sketching all of the speakers….

Simon Mannchip | Someone
He drove home the point that the effectiveness of a good brand lies not in its consistency but in its cohesiveness. I’ve been thinking about this ever since.

Yah-Leng Yu | Foreign Policy Design Group
Foreign Policy’s work is beautiful. Damia and cornered her at the after-party and dreamed of hanging out in Singapore. Fell in love with their work for this hotel.

Miles Newlyn
He was the contrarian of the day and defied a lot of the points the other speakers made.

Howard Belk | Siegel and Gale
He’s the chief creative guy for one of the biggest corporate branders in the world. Good to get that perspective.

Massimo Vignelli (!) | Vignelli Associates
Very exciting to be in the presence of a living legend. He’s kind of the father of corporate branding, for good or naught.

Yolanda Santosa | Ferroconcrete
She’s responsible for the Pinkberry brand and the video anthropromorphization of TBS’ little smile bug.

Mike Rigby | Interbrand Australia
Mike spoke very elegantly about the power of branding to evoke social change. His work on Alzheimers Australia is really great.

Aaron Draplin | Draplin Design Company
This was the third time I’ve seen Draplin this year and it doesn’t get old. So funny. So much swearing.

Photos at the top of the page by Eric Ryan Anderson

Start hoarding yogurt containers

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:36:00 -0400

Rob’s looking to get more tactile with TAF’s deliverables. So last weekend we sent him to Liz Shepherd’s screen printing workshop in Boston. We brought along the RefugePoint Africa-Arrow graphic as our test piece and it came out great. So much fun. Now we’ve got the bug and have designs on turning the basement at the TAF South Campus into a print shop. Our eyes are pealed for exposure units and washout sinks and endless possibilities for learning curve frustration. Is it too much to want to be immediately good at something?? Much appreciation to Liz, AIGA Boston and Ed and Justin at Creative Relay for putting the session together and taking pictures.

B to the Rimfield

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 21:49:07 -0400

Used to be we couldn’t imagine why anyone with a choice would spend a hot July morning wandering around ogling objects. We kind of get it now. Rob and Candace took the short drive to Brimfield friday and caught up with the treasure of the country’s greatest collectors. Thanks, guys, for letting us take pictures.

If you’re in Rochester, NH with a pickup truck be sure to stop and say ‘hi’ to these guys.

Photo

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:23:00 -0400

Pleasant Street Theater is closing…but not without some...

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:08:30 -0400

Pleasant Street Theater is closing…but not without some fanfare.

Transit of Venus

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:04:14 -0400

Ever since reading about it a few years ago, Damia has been looking forward to the Transit of Venus. When the day finally arrived, it was cloudy with the threat of rain. Then the sun cleared, and, with the help of astronomer/geologist friend Steve Sauter, she was able to take a few photos of the event.

A teaching moment:

The sun setting behind the trees:

Rob’s interpretation:

Jacques Pépin

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:53:00 -0400

Rob created this illustration of Jacques Pépin for WGBY’s French Connection event on July 9th.

Exploring the Scenic Byways of Western Massachusetts

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Last week Candace spent an afternoon exploring one of the many scenic byways here in Western Massachusetts and was given an opportunity to photograph the new lambs at Sangha Farm in Plainfield, MA.

Wreck of the Zephyr 7"

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

These are some illustrations that James did for a split 7” with Wreck of the Zephyr and Dumb Love.

The front:

Inside spread:

The back:

Inside details:

TinyRadars at the Bookmill

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

James drew this poster for Western Mass record label TinyRadar’s residency series at the Montague Bookmill.

Hot of the Komori...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Rob went out to Meridian Printing this morning for the Austin/Providence press check. They ran it on a beautiful new 8-color Komori press using Finch Fine antique bright white paper. We couldn’t be happier with the results and all of the pre-orders will ship next week.

It's Really Happening

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Nothing like seeing it on the marquee to make the name change feel official…