About city of Leuven
Cities tend to accumulate a significant number of sub-brands, logos and sub-identities over the years – a side effect of being layered organizations with many branches, levels and stakeholders. Until one day the formal stretch and variation simply become too big. As their identity threatens to become diluted, the need for unity increases.
The City of Leuven came to us looking for exactly that: a way to bring together their visual style and content. Basically, they wanted to showcase Leuven's unique identity consistently across all platforms, unifying their communication and various projects. In so doing, they also wanted to capture Leuven's vision and ambition, making sure everyone involved would be on the same page.
Diversity had to play a significant role in the new identity of Leuven, as the city is home to 101,000 people, from students to pensioners, all of whom have different talents and perspectives – not to mention Leuven’s rich historical background and high-tech entrepreneurial spirit. The city also encompasses 170 nationalities aged 0 to 107. People from various walks of life, who all work, live and dream together, creating a vivid and dynamic community bursting with a multitude of ideas.
The new logo and visual assets are an expression of that versatility. The fresh design symbolises an immeasurable mosaic of possibilities. Like a colourful city plan, where every direction will ultimately take you to your destination, inviting you to try new things and inspire others to do the same. At the same time, the round shape provides focus, like a lens: this is a mosaic with a purpose. Just like Leuven is a city with vision and a brand identity to match. Open and always different. With guts and confidence. Mobile and flexible. An ode to creativity and diversity.
The new brand architecture conveys a strong overarching identity, creating unity in diversity, across all communications and applications. Because the city’s activities are so versatile, we purposely created a brand architecture that connects them rather than sets them apart.
