Kennedy Space Center
Project Type: Graphic Design, Branding, Web design
Design Problem: Nasa’s branding has always been distinct and futuristic. I particularly love the work done by Danne & Blackburn for NASA back in the 1970s. Here is their graphic manual for your guilty pleasure. No surprises here but I was extremely excited to hear when the worm logo came back this year! Even after almost 50 years, its amazing how clean and modern their work looks.
Kennedy Space Center (https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/) which is one of NASA’s major launch site is also home to their ‘visitor complex’ a.k.a a museum. The visitor complex entertains over a million visitors annually and even houses a space shuttle. So it is surprising to see their website and overall branding be so inconsistent with NASA’s. The challenge was to redesign KSC’s stationary and website to be inspired by Danne & Blackburn’s original work. Yet be distinct, there by creating its new identity.
Process: Creating a new brand identity stared with understanding the history of Kennedy Space Center and its place in American space exploration. The process involved doing research and selecting key attributes that would define the visual design. I selected Benton Sans for its clean, geometric yet edgy features. A combination of bold and subtle colors that would create a distinct color palette to address all age groups. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex serves as an educational attraction and attracts students from all over the world. It was important to cater to this group, which led to keeping the design minimal yet playful. The logo signifies a long exposure of a rocket ship taking off over the moon. It’s simplicity and ambiguity leaves it open to interpretation, yet gives it versitatility.
The stationary system was inspired by swiss graphic design & nasa’s 1970’s design language. My goal was to create something futuristic, yet retro - paying homage to its illustrious past, yet looking into the future. The website redesign focused on creating a cleaner and simple information architecture - focusing on new upcoming events and directing people to explore what the place has to offer.
Applications: Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign
Final Output: PDF
Brochure
Website
