Wordmark, signage and facade by UMA for property development APartMENT in the new creative hub of Osaka's Kitakagaya area. Opinion by Richard Baird,
When searching through the logos found on bpando.org , I came across a logo and architecture that spiked my designer interest. Growing up in an artistic family, and my mom being both an architect and interior designer, I easily fell in love with design, especially rustic and industrial. Meaning this APartMENT complex is of highest inspiration to me.
APartMENT is located in Osaka’s Kitakagaya, Japan. The 8 artists who designed the face of the building went for an industrial look with refurbished materials found common in the area, trying to revolutionize while keeping it’s industrial past. They found a way of creating a “mix of past and present, continuity and contrast, the bold and the more nuanced, utility and flourish, and makes the most of form, colour and material”.
The name and logo itself is also creatively done. The relationship between the uppercase letters and the italicized, smaller “art” put in the center of the bolded word gives an interesting ‘pause and reflect’ effect on the eye. They say the logo is not particularly sophisticated but that “there is a communicative clarity in its expression that is rooted in the building’s past and its present repurposing”. Bringing the future of design into the historic community has been accomplished beautifully in the logo and architecture of APartMENT.
