Creating An Independent Brand Asset
Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv has redesigned the logo for the TCS New York City Marathon. One of the top running events in the world, the Marathon brings over 50,000 athletes and nearly two million spectators to the streets of the city. Sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), IT service and consulting subsidiary of the Tata Group, a key goal of the redesign project to create a powerful and independent brand asset for the event while strengthening the association with its principal sponsor.
The core concept of the new visual identity is New York City’s great icon, Lady Liberty, raising a fiery beacon to welcome the world. Lady Liberty is represented by the crown and the torch, while five bold stripes converge to represent the five boroughs of the city through which the route winds. The vivid orange hue invokes passion and inspiration and, in combination with the navy blue, recalls the color of the New York City flag.
The design update features a dynamic and streamlined silhouette, with the icon distilled to its essence, optimized for reducibility, digital reproductions, and embroidery. The name is set in a modern all-caps font, incorporating the TCS trademark and arranged in three lines, allowing for a consistent typographic approach across both vertical and horizontal lockups.
Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv also created an extensive identity system including a variety of logo lockups, guidance on how to represent special programs and events, rules for representing various levels of sponsorship and partnership, patterns, graphic elements, merchandise items, and pictograms for everything from route signage to hydration stations for thousands of international runners.
