Bayfront Park

REBRANDING A MIAMI ICON

In the 1980’s the park underwent a redesign by famed sculptor Isamu Noguchi, but it was the evolution of downtown Miami, Biscayne Boulevard and the neighboring Bicentennial Park that triggered the need for the update. One of the prominent landmarks within the park is Slide Mantra, Noguchi’s massive 29-ton sculpture carved from Carrara marble. The artist created Slide Mantra to represent the United States at its art pavilion in the 1986 Venice Biennale—the same year that he designed Bayfront Park. The lyrical and playful sculpture serves as a slide with steps winding up the back, and has become a symbol for the park. It was appropriate to pay homage to this sculpture in the new branding that we developed for the park, and the new logo includes a stylized version of the spiral that honors both the park’s designer and promotes one of its most iconic features. Our final branding includes a formal full expression version with the new symbol and park name, and a stand alone symbol that can be used to brand the park in marketing and signage.

FINDING THE WAY

The park had little to no existing wayfinding or identity, and we performed a complete analysis of the existing site to better understand how visitors were currently navigating and interacting with the park. Based on our conclusions, we developed a wayfinding strategy and plan that could be implemented along with the other recommended site improvements. We proposed a hierarchy of sign types that would provide much needed identity along its perimeter and internal navigation to guide visitors to amenities. We designed monumental signs in the fashion of abstract japanese paper lanterns—another tribute to Noguchi. At night the towers will illuminate and mark the pedestrian entries into the park. We developed variations that incorporated solar panels that could power the lights at night. An internal directional sign program guides visitors to park amenities and nearby attractions, and a historical marker program that can be used to illustrate the many historic milestones and events associated with Miami’s most venerable park.