Stepping up to the challenge.
Client
Creative Director
Matt Tragesser
Team
Brian Dunn, Willie Fineberg, Irina Koryagina
Photography
James Chororos
Typefaces
Styrene A (logotype), Graphik Wide and XX Condensed, Atlas Typewriter
The David Prize is awarded annually to five New Yorkers driven by an extraordinary passion and vision to create a better, brighter New York City. In 2019, the prize program brought the Commercial Type Design Studio on board to create its visual identity system, and to oversee the first three years of the award across its brand communications and ad campaigns.
Ascending steps form the core of the visual identity, expressing the idea of New Yorkers rising to the occasion. The logo sets the tone: The words THE, DAVID, and PRIZE climb to the top of the mark. The steps also appear as kinetic and static framing devices that reveal and highlight prize winners and the context of their city.
A color palette of bold primary colors, paired with high-contrast black-and-white photography, gives the brand intensity and energy—defining qualities of New York City. Photographs of the winners show them looking upward and onward, with a pensive demeanor that conveys their vision for the future.
Set in bold, Graphik Wide and Graphik Condensed give the short, impactful headlines strength and clarity, allowing viewers to instantaneously digest information and calls to action. The toolbox of visual elements we created lays the groundwork for a consistent and adaptive system intended to give each prize year its own unique sense of time and place.
