City of Melbourne Libraries

In early 2008 Icon was engaged to create a new brand identity for the City of Melbourne’s five libraries.

This major identity project was complicated due to the large number of stakeholders, prescriptive master brand requirements and challenging budget. The need to create a unifying brand identity was paramount; the brand had to “fit” with the geographically distinct library communities, which extended from East Melbourne to North Melbourne.

The designers’ first step was to conduct stakeholder and client meetings to refine the brief and establish a shared set of expectations and requirements. The team then began a series of design rounds, starting with shapes and colours and gradually narrowing down the designs to a final agreed scheme. The final creative treatment referenced Melbourne’s “grid” layout whilst using fresh, earthy colours to link and differentiate the different libraries.