Can neighbourhood branding projects truly serve the community?

Last year, design studio Wunder Werkz created the visual identity for the Sun Valley neighbourhood in Colorado, commissioned by the Denver Housing Authority. For what has almost been a century, immigrants in the central Denver neighbourhood have seen great social and political difficulty in regards to their housing and way of life. In 1925, the city passed what would be its first zoning law that made the area an industrial zone, redlining Latin American families and rendering them further marginalised. The identity, created to further the governmental body’s regeneration plans, boasts a non-linguistic design (with the claim of resonating with its diverse migrant population speaking roughly 25 different languages) and shouts about its hopes of attracting the Latin American population back to the neighbourhood.

Fully aware of the cynicism surrounding rebrands with housing authorities and property developers at the helm, both the studio and the government body are sure of its earnest intentions and (hopeful) impact. The Wunder Werkz team and its founder/partner, Jon Hartman, have worked on an initiative set out by the Denver Housing Authorities before, with the first commission being for the design of Sun Valley’s community-driven grocery store Decatur Fresh – built to address and serve the neighbourhood’s food access issues. After having built a particular familiarity with the constraints faced by the Sun Valley population, Jon says they were drawn to this neighbourhood branding idea by its thoughtfulness. “It had the goal of creating a livable neighbourhood and not just affordable housing – interspersing things like parks, community gardens, playgrounds, food and beverage in addition to job training, senior and education focused elements.” He also found it “refreshing” that they wanted “a brand that was moving and considerate, not just an afterthought”.

While this project seems to be one of the good ones, it’s difficult to get the general public on board when it comes to place branding, in particular for communities, because of its inherent social complexities. Dr Giannina Warren is one of the world’s leading academics in place branding and the developer of the world’s first master’s in the subject at Middlesex University. She is adamant that these issues are the results of a non-regulated industry, one that she is working tirelessly to have professionalised. “The whole premise of where I began my research was looking into the professionals who do the work themselves because actually they are tasked with an extreme moral and ethical conundrum,” she shares. “There is an economic imperative for businesses to invest in a ‘vibrant’ community but there is a social imperative to take care of some of the population’s most marginalised people. The role comes with public sector discipline and public sector accountability.”

Independent non-profit organisation, The International Place Branding Association (IPBA), is a body comprised of academics and professionals working to develop a more concise language around the field. Having recently released its manifesto, it lays out the key principles of the practice and provides a long-awaited definition; any and all projects should be “transcending traditional marketing”, “building a respected identity that enhances local quality of life and global perception [for nation and city projects]” and firmly states it’s advocating for a “holistic approach, integrating cultural, ecological, political and technological considerations”. Dr Warren believes that this is a “huge step” that leads her to reflect on how marketers often have the task of guiding politicians in their decision-making around what policies would be advantageous for marginalised people in communities like Sun Valley. “I want people to understand that place branding is very specifically not just about logos and taglines, and visual identity,” she adds, “I always say: only focusing on a logo is like putting lipstick on a pig.”

Although Wunder Werkz aren’t a specialised or certified place branding agency – Dr Warren says there is only one worldwide, Bloom Consulting – its system and practice seems to fall in line particularly with the cultural and political guidelines set out by the IPBA, as well as enhancing the neighbourhood’s immediate perception. The team started with a clear objective to differentiate between the client and the community, first performing a deep dive into the community’s history, cultures and ethos. “We knew pretty quickly that an iconographic system would be the most effective communication tool for the area,” Jon shares. It boasts graphic inspirations from different cultures, such as textiles, flags, tapestries, basket and pottery patterns, that the team gave order by putting into distinct categories – culture, heritage, nature, community and structure.

Where place branding projects are often commissioned by a housing authority or the local authority, in England an example of a community reaching out to an agency has made possibly the most famed example of place branding throughout the UK. In 2016, The Newington Estate community in Kent won Big Local funding, a programme set up by The Local Trust and funded by the National Lottery that awards neighbourhoods £1 million over ten years and complete control over how it’s spent. The community reached out to strategy and design agency Lantern for a rebrand. Working from the heart of the estate, at its resident-led community centre, the development manager and Newington resident Cara Thorpe says they knew little about branding or design, but knew the community wanted to go in the direction of reviving its image from that of a deprived location. “We can’t remember the original brief, but we wanted branding that reflected who we are as a community. Something striking, something professional and easily recognisable,” she tells us.

“The thing that really struck us about Newington was that we were literally pitching to them in a community centre,” says Ryan Tym, founder and director of Lantern. “You had people coming in with their dogs to sit in on the meeting, and that process showed us the passion that persisted throughout the project.” This passion and unity is evident when you first look at the rebrand and its campaign launch; it comprises motivational messages (“driving change” and “change is in your hands”), advertising for the fund distribution (“have your say in where we pay”), and even an estate moniker – ‘Estate of Enablers’. “The core of the project was this huge ambition to reframe the idea of an estate, not just Newington. We developed this sort of mantra, because we wanted to embrace the truth of the place,” Ryan says. “You can’t really sugarcoat places too much because the minute somebody walks in, the illusion will be shattered. I know it’s an overused word, but the goal was for it to feel authentic.”

Although a huge part of the project, The Estate of Enablers campaign wasn’t purely for the motivation of the local community. When you enter the website – renewington – the identity can be seen across tabs, from events to a dedicated page for the community centre, creative activities and more. It also includes a space where people can offer suggestions and find resources such as affordable dinner recipes; functioning like a digital notice board.