Just a few months ago the Empire State building was surpassed as the biggest skyscraper in New York by One World Trade Center, on 30th April this year.
The new logo One World Trade Center logo was officially unveiled last week, along with artist impressions showing how the tower will look once completed.
The "One" logo, by London-based designers Wordsearch.
“The logo uses a customized version of Hoefler & Frere-Jones’s Gotham font. The “One” logo, when used on postcards and stationery, will be set in Pantone 301 flat blue, which the marketers are calling ‘One World Trade Center Blue.’”
Capital New York.
Designed by a team of consultants who do branding and communications for real estate and architectural firms alone, “One” is meant to symbolise the idea of “being one amongst many, being first amongst many, of being the number one choice, of being New York’s number one icon.” The reaction has ranged from people who admire it as a strong and simple icon, to critics who see it as being dated and like something from the 1980’s.
Others liked the icon for it’s timeless qualities, commenting in the Commercial Observer that: In some ways it’s reminiscent of a 1970s building logo, which is a fitting touch, given the 1 World Trade Center’s historical importance on a hallowed site that has seen the destruction of two 1970s skyscrapers.
Colours came from the skyline, with the designers hiring a photographer to take a series of shots of the New York skyline throughout the year, at different times during the day and night. The design itself takes much of its style from the font, a “slightly customized” version of Hoefler & Frere-Jones’s Gotham that was felt to hark back to the “attractive and unassuming lettering of old New York City buildings.”
The two designers also chose to focus on the tower’s spires, which will be one of the most recognisable and distinctive features of One World Trade Center once installed. It is hoped this spire will make onlookers look up to the tower’s summit – drawing attention to the location’s unique place in history. Last month the main structure reached its expected 1,368 feet, with the 408 foot mast yet to be placed on top.