Metropolitan Identity Design

I know these are not entirely new, but I just came across the visual identities of two cities who have, within about the last two years, rebranded themselves with new logos.

Who knew cities could have logos, let alone entire visual identity systems, officially commissioned and sanctioned by municipal authorities?

It makes sense, when you think about it: cities have distinct and unique personalities/souls, which in a marketing context is essentially a city's brand. Cities therefore must manage how they are perceived by their own citizens, commuters, tourists and visitors, and of course, other cities. Witness the great rivalries between the cities of the world: New York and Boston over baseball; London and Paris, recently over the 2012 Olympics and, historically over being international financial centers, among other things.

We've all seen identities for cities when they are in the running for an Olympic bid, and of course there are more traditional visual identifiers like official city seals or coat of arms.

But there's no hard and fast rule to a city having a logo of its own, even without the specter of hosting the next summer Olympics around the corner, so, why not?

And whaddya know? Both Melbourne, Australia and Belfast, Northern Ireland have done exactly that, with Belfast even going so far as commissioning a custom typeface called "Moment".

It's certainly inspiring to see such a thing happening, and of course as a designer, I certainly wouldn't be against it if this became more of a trend around the world.

It almost makes me wanna whip out Illustrator and start bangin' out some identities for the City of Boston. Boston, I love your official city seal, but it ain't no logo proper.