ICFF Brand Directors are Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat
International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) will be held May 19-21, 2024 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. A new campaign has been unveiled, designed to highlight ICFF’s evolution under the direction of ICFF Brand Directors Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat. The strategy includes solidifying ICFF’s role as a business accelerator; transforming the brand into a 365-day-a-year platform; and clarifying its objective of being at the center of design culture, community, and commerce. Explain Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat: “We want to shift away from a more corporate identity to mark a new chapter for ICFF. By reimagining the brand’s core, we are unveiling a fresh look, positioning the show as the leading North American contemporary design fair. Our goal is to inspire, engage, and support design companies and enable success…”
To translate this strategy into visual form, creative agency forceMAJEURE developed the new ICFF brand identity. Intended to reflect the spirit and vitality of New York City, agrid system underpins the visual language — like building blocks — allowing new elements such as color and images to be added, moved, and transformed as desired. The logo, which remains in the previous palette of black and white, is now comprised of a solid, heavy wordmark juxtaposed with a lighter, supportive typeface.
Explains the forceMAJEURE team: “ICFF needed a visual identity that felt more distinctive and one that could provide the flexibility to amplify the various individual expressions that we support. From brand strategy to logotype, colors, typeface, and navigation, the goal was to make this repositioning function across all mediums, from social media to the website to the show itself.” The logo is a stark and restrictive black square and four letters; added color represents each distinct ICFF feature: yellow for the Wanted Lookbook, green for Oasis (which focuses on sustainability), and blue for the new Bespoke area (which centers around high-end craftsmanship), with plans to add more in the future.
“Our vision for ICFF is highly connected to New York City, its home,” continues the design team. “The city truly embodies everything the brand communicates. It is bold and universally recognized. It is international. It is a portal to the U.S. market, where dreams are accelerated, and inspiration is plentiful. Taking a birds-eye view of the city and its iconic grid, we see large blocks from the avenues of buildings and observe an infinite sense of modularity. The elevated new logo embodies the functional and emotional allure of ICFF, evoking confidence and innovation but also creative possibilities.”
