May month sees the relaunch of the Greater Rosebank Tourism Association, which has been renamed the Johannesburg Suburbs Tourism Association, or 'Joburbs' for short. The new name, logo and positioning statement 'Connecting the Spots', were created by AAA students.
The Joburbs identity was unveiled last week at an exhibition held at Tinker Town, the heart of the new Joburbs Art Route. The creator of the new Joburbs logo, Dominique Drok, is a third-year AAA School of Advertising graphic design student. The school was approached several months ago to assist the association with the development of a fresh new face to match the spunky new name.
Says Matthew Fisher, marketing office bearer for Joburbs, "The AAA design students really excelled with many coming up with their own naming suggestions for the association. But one student's work stood out in particular and we recognised in Drok's work, her ability to visually meet the key attributes that we identified in our brief. These included the new logo needing to appear leisurely and relaxed, unpretentious, neighbourly and most of all, friendly."
Drok coloured the Joburbs lettering in acid green in order to draw attention to the fact that Gauteng is one of the greenest cities in the world. The lettering also appears rounded to give the impression that there is always more to experience, just around the corner.
The logo is completed with the illustration of a man chasing his run-away dog, painting the suburban picture of a typical Joburbs scenario.
However, Drok's design has not only supplied Joburbs with a refreshing new visual identity, but brand characters as well. A troop of friendly little cartoon people with winning personality traits, come with the package that consumers can now identify with Joburbs.
These characters are essentially storytellers, created by Drok to visually illustrate all the fun things one can do in Joburbs. Tourists and locals alike should soon be on the look out for these exhibitionists who will soon be parading as icon buttons on the Joburbs Web site, print advertisements, posters, leaflets, bumper stickers, as well as the soon-to-be introduced, member decal.
For her outstanding effort and overall winning Joburbs design, Drok was presented with a chic, white lacquered lounger, to make use of when she is not hard at work!
