WYMIENNIKOWNIA
YOUTH CENTER FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION AND DESIGN
Category
Municipality
Services
Surface design | Production | Art direction | Environmental design | Interior branding | Signage | Branding
A COMMON ROOM BOASTING AN UNCOMMON VISUAL IDENTITY
When we first visited Wymiennikownia we were struck by the welcoming atmosphere and the wide range of activities offered by this municipality managed community hub. Situated in one of Gdynia’s less-renowned residential areas, Wymiennikownia provides invaluable support for the city’s youth. It serves as a common room, dancing studio, arts and crafts workshop space, clothes swapping center, and much more. For example, during the initial influx of refugees due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, it served as a temporary lodging and donation spot.
When designing a visual identity for such a place one has to consider this variety. First, we took a good look at the space to establish how we can improve it. Years of spontaneous mural painting combined with donated furniture resulted in visual clutter. However, Wymiennikownia aims to be a sustainable venture, so we agreed on keeping the furniture, but decided to remove unnecessary elements from the space to make room for some interior graphics that would bring it all together.
Graphic design wise it was important to capture the spirit of contemporary youth culture, so during the visual research stage we were browsing through k-pop album covers, teenage magazines and street fashion. No matter the decade, teenage aesthetic is vibrant and full of diverse visual forms of expression, layered one upon the other. To recreate this vibe we produced a set of interchangeable assets for digital use — textures, gradients, abstract shapes and emojis. Finally, our execution team did the work of repainting the space and putting up the new hanging sign, giving Wymiennikownia a completely changed look.
