Iron Graphic · 2023

Cidih Brand Identity

by Peng Wang

A' Design Award 2023 in Graphic
Estimated Number of Design Views: 8,888
Verification code D5F5A67585 · Verify this award

View at A' Design Award Press Release

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About Cidih Brand Identity

Cidih is a brand identity designed for an educational and scientific research base in Milan, Italy, jointly built by Tsinghua University and Politecnico di Milano. The letters C and D form positive and negative shapes of each other, symbolizing the unity of theory and practice and the inclusiveness of an international platform. The semicircle in the center suggests a rising sun. The letter H stands for hub, and its negative shape holds the silhouette of the name. The identity is applied to printed materials, digital signage, websites, screens, cut sheets and acrylic.

About the A' Design Award

Cidih Brand Identity is an Iron A' Design Award winner, a prestigious recognition granted to good designs that meet the professional and industrial requirements expected from well-designed creations. Iron winners demonstrate great skill, high specialization, expert understanding, and creative capacity of their creators. Cidih Brand Identity is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished creation that is practical and innovative. This Iron A' Design Award-winning design integrates industry best practices and has competent technical characteristics linked with know-how and talent. Cidih Brand Identity is respected for its thoroughness and is designed to provide quality of life improvements that help make the world a better place.

Press Kit

Unique Properties: CIDIH is an educational and scientific research base jointly built by Tsinghua University and Politecnico di Milano in Milan, Italy, on the afternoon of February 22, 2017, witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian President Sergio Mattarella. They needed a brand identity that was inclusive and international, so we designed the positive and negative shapes to reflect the founding purpose of CIDIH. They have used this brand identity throughout their space, website and products.
Dimensions & Packaging: This special positive and negative font design has been applied to all contents of the organization. It is also displayed in a variety of ways, from printed materials to digital signage, websites, screens, cut sheets and acrylic.
Tags: Brand Identity, Logo, VI
Production Technology: C and D are positive and negative to each other, symbolizing the harmonious unity of theory and practice, as well as the inclusiveness of cidih as an international platform. The semicircle in the middle symbolizes the rising sun and the ignition and transmission of the fire of design innovation. H symbolizes hub. The negative shape of H is the silhouette of cidih, which reflects the connection of international design innovation resources with cidih as the center.
Design Challenge: CIDIH is a comprehensive organization. The content of its brand concept is both broad and abstract. How to express these concepts in the design has become the biggest difficulty of this project. We solved this problem through the design of positive and negative letters.
Research: Through the research on the design of letter positive and negative shapes, I found a new design language, which turns the contingency of letter positive and negative shapes into necessity and rationalizes it. This method can help more brands to explain the brand concept, and even reduce the waste of ink in printers.
Inspiration: There are positive and negative shapes between different letters, and there is contingency. I have been wondering whether I can create a font that can express two letters through positive and negative shapes, and how to make this contingency more meaningful in the design. In general brand identity projects, complex design may affect the identifiability, but I want to know whether positive and negative shapes can be used to match the brand tone. These ideas became the inspiration of this design.
Project Duration: The project was started in November, 2020 and put into operation in May, 2021.
Operation Flow: A user who comes into contact with cidih for the first time cannot immediately understand the service purpose of the institution. He needs to have a good first impression. Through contact with the brand logo, the user can gradually penetrate the brand concept of the institution in his mind, so as to facilitate a more smooth understanding of the institution in the future.