Ottawa Tourism

Ottawa Tourism is a rebrand concept of the existing tourism brand of the same name. The brand’s goal is to promote the capital city of Canada.

Project Timeline
March 2020 - June 2020 • 4 months

Project Type
School Project • Individual Project

Project Responsibilities
Research, Brand Strategy, Art Direction, Design

Project Tools
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Lightroom

Inspiration

I decided to choose Ottawa Tourism as Ottawa is my hometown in which I’ve lived the majority of my life. Sometimes I believe that I’m bored of the city, though I realize that there are so many hidden gems that I want expose to both tourists and residents.

Ottawa is a tourist hub for being the Capital of Canada. Tourists gather for major attractions in the city such as Parliament Hill or the Rideau Canal. Undoubtedly, these  attractions are worthy interests, though there is much more the city has to offer that does not get promoted.


BRAND PURPOSE AND GOAL

Ottawa Tourism highlights the hidden beauty and culture of the city. The brand hopes to paint Ottawa the way it deserves. The brand’s goal is to highlight the best attractions of Ottawa for both tourists and locals to enjoy and explore.

Initial Brainstorming

Some initial sketches and ideas. I explored different visual assests as well different moods and ideas that could be associated with the brand such as “exciting” or “promoting adventure.”

Initial Rebrand Proposal

This was my first direction for the brand.







🗝 A key design element in this early development

Lines inspired by topographic maps, which refelects the different elevation in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. 

After initial design experiments with them in the print applications (below), I realize that it made the pages too busy and was not important in reflecting the brand and the city.

Initial Poster Experiments

Logo Development

The logo development can be found here →

               

Logo Inspiration

FORM

Inspired by the physical outline of the city, Ottawa Tourism’s logomark is the shape of a Valentine’s heart. The heart sits centre of the letter “O” which reflects the admirableness of the city.


COLOURS

The colours were inspired by the Canadian flag. As the capital city is a reflection of national pride, it was necessary for the logo to be comprised of red and white. The black logo is utilized as necessary neutral logo for events to use in their brands.

Primary Logos

Secondary Logos

                             

Colours

In print applications, both red and blue are equally prominent. In digital applications, red is prominent and blue is not utilized.

Like the logo, red was utilized to represent the capital of Canada. As for the blue, it was added to reflect the famous festivies in Ottawa during the winter.

Primary Photography

The full photography guidelines can be found here →

Print Applications

         

Digital Applications

Looking back, I would have developed the mobile app further and would have prototyped multiple pages. This was my initial plan, though I realised that my priority was to build a brand, not just the product.

Final Brand Book

The full brand book with all the guidelines can be found here →

Final Takeaways

It took me couple weeks to secure a clear direction of where I wanted this brand to go. I wish I had done more research in the beginning to support my decisions in the design process. 

What I Learned

I learned about the importance of research and the importance of designing for a brand without bias.