With the growth and revitalization of the Downtown Crossing neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts there existed a lot of major construction projects. The city approached 160over90 to create signage that would wrap around the facade of the construction, and also express the neighborhoods key message, “Downtown Crossing is Boston’s meeting place.” Rather than signage alone we chose to create a public art installation, using everyone in the neighborhood as our subject matter. We wanted to remind people to slow down and meet someone new in Downtown Crossing.

We staged a week long photo shoot, where we photographed close to 1,000 portraits of people passing through the neighborhood. These photos were then assembled into large prints that covered all the major construction projects in Downtown Crossing. The colorful circles with the word “MEET” were placed between each portrait, suggesting to passersby to stop and meet someone new in the neighborhood.

While it’s tough to choose favorites out of nearly a thousand photos, I managed to choose a few and posted them below the images of the actual art installation.

Created at 160over90, the team included:

Executive Creative Director: Darryl Cilli; Creative Director: Jim Walls; Art Director: Adam Flanagan; Copywriter: Brendan Quinn; Account Manager: Dan Giroux; Photographer: Matt Kalinowski

After our work on the brand positioning for Downtown Crossing, the city of Boston, Massachusetts asked 160over90 to develop an extensive identity system for the neighborhood. We created a logo system, as well as a variety of graphic elements to be used in all the branding materials. The identity system was accompanied by a brand guidelines document explaining the entire Downtown Crossing brand.

Logo
For the logo we created a clean modern typographic mark that combined the text of DOWN and TOWN into one clean form. Using the + as a substitution for the T reinforced the geography of the neighborhood, where the two most used transit lines cross in the neighborhood. It also conveyed the key message of Downtown Crossing being Boston’s meeting place. The logotype was created in a variety of colors to show diversity of the neighborhood.

Graphics
In addition to the logotype we created a collection of graphic tools to assist in the design of brand collateral. Those included a group of colored circles with the word MEET in it. The MEET graphic was used with copy to reinforce the idea of two differing entities coming together in Downtown Crossing. A suite of graphic patterns were also created to be used as backdrops within designs. The patterns were inspired by things found in the neighborhood.

The identity system was carried out across all sorts of mediums around the neighborhood. These included t-shirts and buttons for staff and visitors. The logo and MEET phrases were also displayed across the neighborhood on store signage and construction facades.

Created at 160over90, the team included:

Executive Creative Director: Darryl Cilli; Creative Director: Jim Walls; Art Director: Adam Flanagan; Designers: Greg Ash & Adam Flanagan; Copywriter: Brendan Quinn; Account Manager: Dan Giroux

This book was designed for the Downtown Crossing neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, commissioned bythe Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Created at 160over90, we were approached by the Boston Redevelopment Authority to join a team consisting of multiple city planners, economic planners, and pedestrian traffic researchers and developers from all over the world. Our task was to work with the teams and help develop a vision and brand for the future of the Downtown Crossing neighborhood. After six months of research, crafting a vision and key message statement, a four year marketing plan, and an identity system we needed to summarize all of our findings and developments in a consumer friendly book that could be sent out to all of the key stakeholders in the neighborhood.  A Crossroads For A Crossing, is the summary of that initial research as well as the teams suggestions for the future of the neighborhood.

Created at 160over90, the team included:

Executive Creative Director: Darryl Cilli; Creative Director: Jim Walls; Art Director: Adam Flanagan; Copywriter: Brendan Quinn; Account Manager: Dan Giroux; Illustration: Ytje, and Jennifer Miller; Photography: Joshua Dalsimer.