The making of the logo and visual identity for New Year celebrations in Moscow

Preparing and demonstrating several possible concepts of decorating the city for the New Year.

Abstract geometric:

Calligraphic:

And a narrative one which should include narrative illustrations.

We settle on the calligraphic option, as it has everything to create a true New Year spirit: frost flowers, echoes of fairy tales, traces of skates on ice.

During the client meeting the art director suddenly gets an idea for the logo, he sketches it and gets an approval right away.

Now we approach the calligrapher to draw the elements of the visual identity.

The sketch is ready.

Assembling the logo presentation and checking out how it is going to look in city environment and on media.

Client: I like it all very much.

Refining the logo and making the drafts for billboards.

Client: Everything’s very good, but I’m afraid it might be illegible.

Surveying people on the streets.

The results show that the majority easily reads the phrase “The Best Winter City,” but some people have problems reading letters Л and Г.

Making adjustments.

The logo is approved, now tackling the additional elements: the ornament, the border and the vignettes. The designer and the calligrapher immerse into work.

The decorative elements are ready, now it’s time to find a way to arrange them on different media.

We decide that the style will be black and white with bright accents of different colors. Choosing these colors.

Artistic director: Everything’s really cool, but instead of the New Year spirit it has some sort of an Arab style to it.

Adding the New Year spirit by sprinkling everything with snow.

Client: This is all very beautiful!

All that’s left is to assemble the brand book and pass the files over to production.

Client: We want it to be the style of all winter celebrations in Moscow. We don’t want other cities to use it.

Changing the logo to “Moscow is the Best Winter City.”

Nope, it’s better to leave it as it was, and take Moscow out of the ornament.

Happy New Year, Moscow!