How is it so that one of the most breathtaking cities in the world happens to have a rather sad visual identity? We’ve heard that Rome crushes designers’ ambitions – it has so much bellezza around that it’s almost useless to try creating something new – a total modern depression. We dare to disagree and believe that respective identity could help to enjoy the old Rome with a unique point of view. Also, Rome is simply one of our most favorite places for a city break. We’ve experienced Rome with tourist’s admiration many times. Even if locals would shrug at our ideas, our work is aimed at people coming to the city: curious visitors, wanderers, and explorers.

Rome is an open-air museum. The air is thick with history an even the most shabby churches or desolated monuments would be proudly welcomed by other cities as the most beautiful objects on their land. Everywhere you turn – you can see something worth exclaiming “ahhh!”. Enter a grande church or rest your eyes looking at a bellissimo fountain. There are so many “ahhhs” there that we decided to name Rome as “Museum Of Ahhh!”. It’s a slogan and also a metaphor for a game you play when in Rome – behind every corner something is waiting to be re-discovered.

We’ve chosen a contemporary serif font Eksell Display Large for the wordmark. Its character is a blend of modernity with hints of traditional letterforms found in ancient times. This typeface is like Rome, rich in history and in the meantime, moving fast forward with what contemporary lifestyle has to offer.

A wordmark is often locked up with the arrow symbol. It holds the slogan of the city “Museum of Ahhh!”.  The arrow symbol highlights the directional purpose of this identity. We aim to make Rome more accessible to tourists, enabling them to discover hidden secrets in this legend of a city. The arrow symbol is used coherently across different touchpoints.

Check out ICON RETHINK www.iconeye.com/opinion/rethink