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
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
Research, Brand Strategy, Art Direction, Design
Project Tools
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Lightroom
Design Challenge
Redesign a tourism brand of your choosing.
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.
Brand Direction
It is important to set a foundation for the brand’s direction before designing designing a brand. This includes establishing a brand’s story, a brand’s purpose, and a brand’s goals.
BRAND STORY
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 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.
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 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.