Most of the aspects of our lives are branded, but how does one brand a city?
The System of Porto Identity (Studio Eduardo Aires).
By Rita Silvestre
Creative Intern at VBAT
“Antiga, Mui nobre, Sempre Leal, Invicta Cidade do Porto.”
“Ancient, Very Noble, Always Loyal, Undefeated City of Porto.”
Every day we face a world where nothing seems more important than nominating things. Nowadays branding has increased as a key for our lives, consuming products depending of the brand and being seduced to buy them. But how about branding a city? How can you put everything together, show traditions, heart, soul and values… showing a whole city in one identity?
The city Porto, where I was raised, and that won my heart every day, has always been a very passionate city. A place here I feel cosy and where I feel at home.
In 2014, Studio Eduardo Aires was invited to design the new identity for the city of Porto and its city hall. The challenge was creating a visual system, a visual identity that could organise and simplify communication with the citizens, and at the same time define a clear hierarchy that brings together the city and respective town hall. They wanted to present Porto as a global city, a city for everyone.
“That city could never be an empty entity, or a mere geographic location, restrained by physical boundaries. It is filled with life, with character, with icons and symbols, with habits and ways of living, with landmarks, landscapes and a very particular horizon. It could not be summed up in a few buildings. It is alive, and its identity shouldn’t be fixed or closed. It needed to breathe and grow every day.”
Porto.
Porto has always been a city with a strong personality and with a recognisable attitude. The word Porto as a word-logo was enough, confirming in a simple affirmation who we are and what we are. It’s Porto. Studio Eduardo Aires wanted to create a brand with a clear message and keeping the name adding a period was a way of showing the orality, attitude and personality of the city.
The whole Porto identity had a goal, representing this unique home that each one of us finds in the city — everyone should have their own Porto. The process took a while, trying to understand how people visualised the city and what comes out of that observation. For each citizen Porto can have different meanings. Studio Eduardo Aires was always concerned to honour them all, even though the answers were endless. It’s marvellous how they simplified something so complex and dense. They knew that the Porto identity couldn’t be solved with a simple icon or logo, it needed to be alive and dynamic.
Always taking into account about how people see the city, obviously some clichés came up, such as; Torres dos Clérigos, Casa da Música, Ribeira, Serralves, Douro River or the well known gastronomy and festivities. However, Studio Eduardo Aires found a lot of things that could be represented from the city currently to old traditions.
One important element of the city are our blue tiles, which represent our history and our landmarks. Studio Eduardo Aires used these typical blue tiles which are spread all across the city as an inspiration, and created a system as starting point for this identity.
They developed a grid and designed the geometric icons derived from the traditional tiles.
These icons became a visual code, making it possible for each icon to exist independently as an individual symbol or combined in a framework that show the endless complexity of our city. This framework is intended to be an open system that can be adapted for different uses.
“The openness and versatility of this system allows the identity to reveal its various stages of maturity, to grow and to develop in a dynamic, mutable environment. It’s a shared identity where people relate their selves. Porto. is the romantic feeling that shows loyalty until the end.”
Wonderful work from Studio Eduardo Aires, and extra proud-making for me to have interned at that studio before coming to Amsterdam.
If you enjoyed this story, please clap👏 and share to help others find it! Feel free to leave a comment below.
Follow VBAT: Instagram | Facebook |Linkedin |Twitter
written by Rita Silvestre, Creative Intern at VBAT
edited by Connie Fluhme, PR at VBAT
