Visual identity and signage system for the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Consolation in Vilnius
In the heart of Vilnius Old Town, on the corner of Savičiaus and Bokšto streets, there is a church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Consolation. Since the 17th century the place has been an important part of the city; today the church is a significant heritage site. In recent years the building was partially restored and came back to life as a house of liturgy, communication and culture. A multifunctional space, it is now referred to as “Ramintoja”. This is a contraction of the full name of the church (Švenčiausios Mergelės Marijos Ramintojos bažnyčia) that literally defines one who gives consolation (fem.). The name is not restricted to religious connotations and invites representatives of various audiences to experience a range of Ramintoja’s activities.
Feel free to get acquainted with the project here OR jump to an interactive presentation featuring a very handy navigation (for the best experience, don't forget to hit the Full Screen button at the lower right).
Visual Identity
A new visual identity should highlight a contemporary innovation-oriented spirit of Ramintoja and, at the same time, look friendly and opened. Besides, the design solution should pay respect to the historical and cultural value of the site. Ramintoja’s graphic language is supposed to appeal to representatives of all target groups, introduce or reintroduce the building as a multifunctional socio-cultural space.
Logo
A new Ramintoja's logomark is an interpretation of the letter “R” - an initial of Ramintoja - influenced by late-baroque architecture of the building. Multiple lines drawing the ”R” run next to each other echoing cornices shadows.
The letter leg is directed upright: from one side, it is resembling a lending hand of Ramintoja that is always there to help; from the other, the accelerating lines allude to development and exploration of a new - Ramintoja's focus on innovations.
Typography
Several factors have determined the choice of typography. Ramintoja's typeface was supposed to: first, look natural, humane, as one of the Lady of Consolation; second, encapsulate a long history of the place; third, integrate properly into the contemporary visual world; and fourth, communicate quickly and clearly from navigation signs. Accordingly, humanist sans-serif type families became the focus of attention. Their letterforms of classic proportions, echoing a calligraphic pen gesture, have an organic appearance and are heirs to Renaissance tradition. Besides, sans-serif characters, purified to the very essence, look clear and contemporary.
The final choice was made in favor of Calluna Sans. It looks natural and friendly with its double-storey "a" and an upright looking "e". The distinctiveness of individual characters and their opened apertures meet the need for legibility. Furthermore, the typefamily includes a range of weights that extend possibilities for designing with hierarchy.
Colour Palette
In response to Ramintoja's consoling yet contemporary character, the image of the institution has been redefined. A new style is light and clean with neat vivid accents. A single gold colour has been chosen to become a distinctive Ramintoja’s feature. It relates to baroque, Christian religious tradition and at the same time echoes the outer paint of the church building.
Alongside, the palette is enriched with additional colours: red and teal - intended
for two purposes. First, in cases when gold is not enough to message a particular idea, red and teal, one of those or both, can serve as supplementary vivid anchors. Second, together with gold they are expected to be further used to codify different directions of Ramintoja. Gold for heritage, red for culture and innovations, teal for religion - they should be used on advertising media dedicated to events, exhibitions, news in order to help the audience quickly identify the relevance of announcements.
for two purposes. First, in cases when gold is not enough to message a particular idea, red and teal, one of those or both, can serve as supplementary vivid anchors. Second, together with gold they are expected to be further used to codify different directions of Ramintoja. Gold for heritage, red for culture and innovations, teal for religion - they should be used on advertising media dedicated to events, exhibitions, news in order to help the audience quickly identify the relevance of announcements.
Stationery and Souvenirs
Letterhead and Continuation Page
The letterhead design was inspired by incunabula, particularly by Gutenberg Bible. A milestone in cultural history, this book features a prominent example of spread layout defined by Jan Tschichold as a “golden canon of page construction”. There type area is shifted in relation to the page centre towards inner and top margins resulting in a visual balance of the whole spread. On Ramintoja’s letterhead type area (meant to be filled with custom letter text) is planned according to the same canon, as if it was a left page of a spread. As soon as the letterhead involves single pages rather than spreads, the body copy on the right is harmonised by the institution contacts on the left.
POSTCARDS
The postcards are branded on both sides. Back sides are featuring the words of Saint Augustine. Quotations do not preach a certain religion but rather touch on the questions of morality. Front side graphics in an abstract manner interpret the philosopher's ideas: a harmony of diversity on the first card and a rescuing power of friendship on the second.
Information and Signage System
ICONS
Geometric arrows and icons have a modern appearance and match harmoniously with sans-serif Calluna typefamily. The arrows feature two stroke thicknesses that echo bold and semibold fonts of destination names. Alongside, due to a more dense structure, icons have one stroke thickness corresponding to the semibold type.
Floor Maps
An isometric floor map has been designed in order to make clear unobvious movement paths between the floors. The map is expected to be placed within the info centre area where the visitor will be able to stop and take a while to get familiar with the premises.
Signage Program
Signs of all types consist of two parts: bearing structure and information panel. Each sign structure is composed of several units - aluminium frames painted in white - fastened together. Onto these constructions display panels made of Perspex® Satin - acrylic glass with matt finish - are attached. The whole sign family should be perceived as a construction kit where the elements can be assembled in different ways to produce various configurations - the dimensions and matching mechanisms are described below.
GRAPHIC SYSTEM
The graphics differ from sign to sign as long as the information content changes. Due to a lack of final reconstruction plan, instead of providing designs of all expected signs, this work suggests templates for each sign type. The templates include layout grids and specifications for typography and icons design. In respect of the above directions, any content can be composed to comply with the programme.
The final predominantly white signage with translucent compounds has a clean and calm appearance. Standing on thin "legs", signs do not look cumbersome and dissolve in the church interior. At the same time, contrasting black graphics stand out prominently and communicate effectively. The signs are freestanding: they do not require construction intervention and their placement can be relocated if required. Furthermore, reassembling feature along with relatively inexpensive materials make the signage program rather economical. Thus, all the requirements are met and the system is to fill Ramintoja's spaces with unified and effective wayfinding assistance.
This project is a thesis of my bachelor's degree at European Humanities University. It has been developed under a supervision of Doctor of Arts Konstantin Gaitanži - a person of impressive intelligence accompanied by a good sense of humor and priceless empathy!
