Team

Strategy – Cestmir Benda, Jan Blazek, Tomas Nedved

Art Direction – Radek Dostal

Graphic Design – Radek Dostal

UI, UX – Petr Kostelnicek

Web Design – Petr Kostelnicek, Radek Dostal

Web Development – Dan Pohuba

Brief & Approach

The Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) was founded by the Zlín Region and the Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Czech Republic. It’s a multifaceted institution: a business incubator, a science and technology park, and a centre for technology transfer. And they invited us to pitch their new visual identity and website.

Action

Our winning concept was based on a witty play on words and a modern visual aesthetic with references to the history of the city of Zlín. The abbreviation “TIC” is commonly used by locals, yet its content is not known to all. So we took this weakness and turned it into the key ingredients of the concept – rhythmic reoccurrence and succession of monosyllabic words similar to “TIC”. This sonority and playfulness were also a subtle reference to the city’s most famous shoemaker, Tomas Bata, producing the shoes with maximum efficiency: zag, zag, zag.

The geometric construction of the original design and the architectural heritage of Zlín set the direction of the typography used for the logotype and the visual identity itself. The weight of the cut helps reinforce the emphasis on a bold approach and stable background. In turn, this allows the acronym to stand out, either on its own or as part of the text. The texts are most often written in verse, further intensifying the emphasis on individual words and headings. The primary colour remains red. It’s now complemented by the colours contained in the interior of the TIC building. The compositions are airy and borderless. The straightforwardness of the individual compositions and elements is disturbed only by the alternating shading or outline of the illustration.