1. BACKGROUND:
Beirut is a city that has endured a lot, from historic natural disasters to civil strife to foreign invasions up to being nicknamed the “Paris of the Middle East”. It is a city filled with history, culture, arts and entertainment. It is home to the Arab world’s most respected musicians and writers. It is a city where food creates reason to be. It is a city that has learned to embrace adversity and encourage diversity.


2. CHALLENGE:
At times the media has been kind to Beirut, but it has mostly portrayed it as a worn-torn city struggling to rebound in the 21 st century. The flipside is a city that has begun to reawaken through a rebuilding effort undertaken by Solidere to restore the downtown area of Beirut. New roads, new signage, new office and residential buildings, shopping malls, entertainment hubs, restaurants, bars and clubs are all reshaping the identity of Beirut. Unfortunately, many of these accomplishments are hardly recognized by the global audience due to a lack of positioning and visual identity that can be leveraged to create a global campaign to attract foreign tourists and investors alike.


3. APPROACH:
Research and analysis was conducted to discover what it truly means to be in Beirut. By studying architecture, arts, food culture and way of life, we were able to understand how to visualize the Beirut brand.

Dignity Rating Scale

In 2011, the FUSE Conference introduced FUSE University, an initiative, in collaboration with the School of Visual Arts that gives a select group of students an opportunity to attend the conference free-of-charge. As members of FUSE University, students are expected to attend speaker events while simultaneously acting as ambassadors, engaging attendees over workshops and through one-on-one interviews.

This initiative called for the creation of a visual identity that would also translate into a refreshed identity for the FUSE Conference itself.

The FUSE Conference was examined carefully and dissected into four tracks: Culture, Packaging, Brand Identity and Design. The “fusion” of these topics was the inspiration for a concept based on the coming together of different disciplines under the umbrella of branding.

Team Dirty Thirty is a group of New York City women who get together on a frequent basis and engage in a run around Central Park. Due to the growth of the team and the willingness of its members to compete in races, a visual identity was established.

The identity is formed of 30 runners, giving meaning to the team name. It was first applied to t-shirts, hoodies and water bottles.

Branding for Sam's Cigars

GLIVEC/GLEEVEC® is revolutionary oncology drug that works as a targeted therapy, indicated for the treatment of Ph+ CML and GIST patients.

Testim

In 2008, ArabAd Magazine, a prominent advertising publication in the Middle East, initiated a contest to create a poster celebrating 50 years of the peace sign. The criteria included the mandatory use of the peace sign in the artwork. Below are two posters designed utilizing the traditional Lebanese coffee cup, integrated alongside the peace sign.

Brand Bible serves as a guide into the world of branding for designers and brand strategists alike. It looks at the influences of modern design going back through time, delivering a short anatomical overview and examines brand treatments and movements in design. You will learn the steps necessary to develop a successful brand system, from defining the brand attributes and assessing the competition, to working with materials and vendors, and all the steps in between.

Brand Bible serves as a guide into the world of branding for designers and brand strategists alike. It looks at the influences of modern design going back through time, delivering a short anatomical overview and examines brand treatments and movements in design. You will learn the steps necessary to develop a successful brand system, from defining the brand attributes and assessing the competition, to working with materials and vendors, and all the steps in between.