The Central Avenue Business District does a lot of different jobs, but when it comes to designing a hip, new logo for our emerging arts and entertainment district at Quail and Central, we prefer to leave it to hip professionals.
That's why we hired Marty Hardin.
Last year, the Central Avenue BID hired award-making filmmaker, artist, and designer, Hardin to create a logo that would capture the energy and diversity of The Midtown Grid. The new logo would be used to help rebrand the six square blocks around Quail and Central as the area's new arts and entertainment district. The area is anchored by WAMC/Northeast Public Radio, The Linda, WAMC's Performing Arts Center, The Low Beat, and Pauly's Hotel, and home to nine international restaurants and diverse arts related not-for-profits, including Tsehaya and Company and the Women's Building.
"We saw a lot of positive activity coalescing around Central Avenue and Quail, and we wanted to do some placemaking around that," says Anthony Capce, Executive Director for the Central Avenue Business Improvement District. "We brought together a group of stakeholders, and hired Marty to help us solidify this area's identity."
The goal was "to create an identity that was unique, instantly recognizable, and that truly reflected the Midtown section of Central Avenue," says Hardin.
Hardin says the process was rewarding. "I worked through a series of explorations that looked at the location, the history, and the businesses. The form for the mark came from a map of the area," Hardin explains. The result? A bold new logo with brightly colored rectangles that mimic the city blocks, and fonts that take their cues from the character of the street. " There was a collaboration with the Central Avenue BID to help refine the look, feel and color palette. In the end, I feel it was a successful collaboration."
Hardin says the most interesting thing about the project was the Central BID's willingness to accept and embrace a non-traditional approach to branding and identity development. "There was a complete willingness to look beyond a "logo" to an identity system that got to the essence of the area," says Hardin.
Hardin finished the design in December, just in time to begin sticking it on everything from banners to guidebooks.
After all the hard work that went into designing the new Midtown Grid logo, Hardin says seeing the 7 foot-tall banners that bear the new logo installed on Central Avenue was very satifsying. "I felt a sense of satisfaction that the final design was both contemporary and reflective of the "heart" of the Midtown Grid," says Hardin. "This is a vibrant, diverse area that reminds me of much larger metropolitan cities."
So what's Hardin up to now? "I am working with Cogent Technologies and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services on 2 projects. I am also partner in a film production company. We are working on a feature film adaptation of the Grimm's fairytale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I have also been devoting more time to my art and photography." Hardin has had recent showings at The Arts Center of the Capital Region's Fence and Fence Select show and the Louvre, Paris - Exposure Photography awards, black and white collection.
For more information about Hardin's work or projects, please visit his website here.
