Case Study: CN Centre Brand Identity System
Whether it’s the O2 Arena or the Staples Center, that’s the sort of question that is increasingly asked, as civic properties offer up naming rights to their facilities.
The players in this particular instance are CN (Canada’s National Railway), The City of Prince George, and a facility then called the Multiplex. CN had just been granted the naming rights to the facility, and wanted to find a way to apply its brand throughout the arena and its collateral in a definitive, yet graceful fashion.
While most of our projects start with strategic challenges, this one began with more applied concerns. For example, the facility’s architecture features green heavily, while CN’s core color is red. Together these combined to look quite awkwardly Christmas themed.
Other key concerns related to establishing a system that would be applied to anything from wayfinding signage and staff uniforms, to street banners and trash receptacles. (Oh right... and all of the creative needed to receive the “green light” from a number of vested stakeholders: 17 members of CN’s executive team, City and facility management, and outside consultants.)
Our process for the branding of CN Centre began with a number of sessions concentrated on bringing together those who use and run the facility. From them, we really started to understand the importance of the facility to those people whose lives it affects. (This insight ultimately led us to the selected tagline: “We’ll move you.”) Our findings from these sessions shaped the visual approach and material implementation in our design process.
Perhaps the most vexing part of the CN Centre identity system was found in the multifaceted nature of its implementation. This is notable in something as banal seeming as color selection. While we needed to maintain branded colors for CN and the facility, we had other very pragmatic concerns to address. We first introduced a secondary palette that softened the green and red associations somewhat. We then tuned these in accordance with the needs of wayfinding signage, section identifiers, uniform necessities, and so on.
Big-picture brand design processes like this one have aspects that vary from the compelling to the tedious. On some days, we had the unique task of theming the organization’s ice resurfacer to convey the look and feel of a locomotive—quite fun! On others, we’d find ourselves pouring through catalogues of work garments, in an effort to find ones that would fit within the system, and gain the approval of those who’d wear them on a day to day basis.
Allan Fleming’s logo for CN, created in 1960, is such an enduring mark that 99% of Canadians still recognize it. Examining the form led one of smashLAB’s designers to the notion of extending its iconic line through the entire identity for the CN Centre. This line comes alive to represent hockey players, dancers, conference attendees, and the many others who come to the space to be moved.
We feel particularly gratified with the end result of our work with the CN Centre. Through our collective efforts, we were able to craft a system that suitably acknowledges all of the parties in this relationship. Additionally, the solution is both aesthetically pleasing and highly practical when applied.
Part of this is due to good planning. By taking the time to carefully consider internal requirements and functional limitations, we were able to sidestep solutions that might have proven impractical to actually implement. We also felt it important to make the system highly turn-key, allowing for easy use with both current and future administration and staff. A large part of this is represented in an exhaustive (nearly 100 page) brand standards document and CD, featuring technical illustrations, detailed notes on usage and implementation, and associated artwork for use on demand.