Being from Michigan, particularly outside of Detroit, I always have an interest in what is going on in that area. Detroit itself is a vanishing city; with the American car market tanking, the city has lost the majority of its population and jobs, and crime is up and tourism is down. A friend recently told me about an article in segdDESIGN (Society for Environmental Graphic Design’s publication) that focused on the new maps being used to describe Detroit and its immediate surrounding area. So I did little research and learned about the D Brand. The D Brand is the rebranding of Detroit as a tourist spot by Applied Storytelling and the basis of the brand are the D Maps. There is a lot of historical presence left in Detroit, as well as a music scene and a sports culture, but due to a nonexistent public transit system, lack of funding, and a poor public image the American public does not see Detroit as an enticing place to visit. Applied Storytelling addressed some of the main issues, one being the vast metropolis that makes up the city. Due to urban sprawl, many of the tourist locations are spread out. Applied Storytelling wanted to simplify the city in a way that did not overwhelm visitors and could be something that would remain an evolving tool for the city. Using colorful circles and clean graphics based off maps such as the London Underground and the New York City subway map they were able to highlight attractions in specific tourist destination districts in a series of maps. In the upper left hand corner of each map is an icon that shows where that specific district is located within the city as a whole.
And from the D Maps (the project’s key deliverable) grew the D Brand. The city itself still has a long way to go before it can become the iconic city and attraction it once was, but the D Maps and corresponding brand are the right steps in rebuilding the city. To learn more about the D Brand, check out the brand story and development here. To see more download the D Brand guidelines and additional maps.
One Comment
Claudia, it was a pleasure to see your commentary on the D Map system, and to see that it still has relevance in some circles even now, a good four years after it was developed. In and near the time of its launch, the system was fairly widely adopted and enjoyed a high profile. Here and there, it’s still being used as originally intended, and it’s still freely available to anyone who cares to use if further. There are also guidelines and tools for adapting it. While funding challenges hobbled much of the D Brand effort after a successful launch year, the thinking behind the effort has gone on to inspire other cities and regions to take a more thoughtful, committed approach to their brand development efforts.
Sincere regards,
Eric La Brecque