Navigation Park
Work Performed:
- Brand positioning
- Campaign concepts
- Copywriting
- Naming
- Research
- Visual identity
- Verbal identity
Navigation Park is a 600,000-square-foot campus development located near Washington, DC. Designed with flexibility in mind, the development features expansive 60,000-square-foot floors optimized for adaptable workplace planning, abundant natural light, and private outdoor green spaces. Situated within the idyllic Yards waterfront community, it offers access to parks, retail, and vibrant nightlife.
Cushman & Wakefield’s leasing agents engaged me to create a brand positioning strategy and identity for the campus in 2021.
Client
Objectives
01
Develop an office brand that targets high-value tech companies, which normally only consider the West Coast.
02
Foster a brand ecosystem that aligns with the Yards place brand while distinguishing Navigation Park as a unique workplace offering. This approach was essential, as all developments in the Yards neighborhood are part of the client's portfolio, requiring careful consideration of brand cohesion.
03
Create a campaign that generates excitement at the location and conveys a clear vision for the Navigation Park project during its planning and construction phases.
Setting a Course for New Ventures
To begin crafting an identity for the yet-unnamed development, I focused on its location in the Yards neighborhood. Formerly the site of the Washington Navy Yard, this area has a rich history of shipbuilding, which inspired me to develop a seafaring vocabulary to guide branding themes and options for a new name.
“Navigation” was chosen as the new name to evoke the idea of the buildings as vessels to navigate new ventures and challenging business environments—a place that fosters a vigorous exchange of ideas both in the office and in between. A design language based on navigation also began to emerge especially relating to the format and design of text through-out the brand.
The term “Park” was added to highlight the campus's abundance of greenspace, emphasizing that nature is always present.
The logo was derived from the footprint of the campus, transforming its shapes into the letters “NAV." The word Nav became foundational for the naming system for the three buildings as: West Nav, Mid Nav and East Nav.
During the discovery phase, it became clear that integrating Navigation Park into the Yards portfolio was essential.
The goal was to leverage the Yards’ brand equity as a successful redevelopment of a historic neighborhood while ensuring Navigation Park had its own identity as a dynamic contemporary development.
To achieve this, I designed a visual identity that mirrored the Yards brand while maintaining its own distinct personality, rather than becoming a sub-brand.
