New York City’s Washington Square Park is many things to many, many people. It offers everything from conventional park features such as playgrounds and walking paths to a pétanque court and lawn, Scrabble plaza, and weekly salsa socials. It also has an administrative side, with employees, volunteers, restrooms, a park office, and other infrastructure that keeps it running.
To help citizens understand the many opportunities and benefits of the park, Pentagram has created a new brand for Washington Square Park Conservancy that centers on the image of its iconic arch. From Pentagram’s website: “…the identity is animated by a lively series of illustrations that captures the many ways people inhabit the space…. Together, these elements create a flexible placemaking system that carries across wayfinding, signage, banners, and a new mobile welcome cart…. A goal of the identity is to better serve and connect the community by making the park’s features, amenities, and programs easier to discover. This extends to a new website, designed in collaboration with WeShouldDoItAll, that combines utility with storytelling. Alongside practical information about the park’s programs and initiatives, the site incorporates archival imagery and editorial content that foreground Washington Square Park’s cultural legacy as a gathering place for artists, activists and public life.”
