On March 10, 2016 the Star Tribune hosted AIGA members for an overview of their recent brand refresh project. With the largest newsroom in the upper midwest and the top reader market in the country, the Star Tribune stands on an impactful 149 year legacy. The presentation included breakfast, a presentation by multiple key players on the project, and a tour of their new location.
The Star Tribune news hub was quiet when we toured the facility. The area won't get going till around 4:00PM in the afternoon.
The rebrand was taken on by Larsen and took a solid 18 months to implement. Larsen was the perfect powerhouse to take on this kind of powerhouse institution. The branding project grew organically and they were able to follow each step with a validation point to make sure they stayed on track with as little scope creep as possible.
Their timeline kept the project within scope and moving forward.
They did a great deal of consumer research to make sure the brand resonated with Minnesotans.
They found key words that described what the Star Tribune meant to the readers.
It was really fun to get a glimpse at some of the logo comps created. You can see they created many trendy designs.
Seeing all sorts of stars!
The final logo design included a tweaked wordmark and a new star.
The brand equity was maintained as the wordmark had only minor kerning adjustments. Once the logo was approved it was put everywhere, website, papers, building, trucks, and more!
Final signage on the new building.
The rebrand was given a final personality with the tagline: "More of what matters to Minnesota. All day. Every day." This final foundation piece of the rebrand enabled the internal design team to carry out the feeling and design consistently throughout all media.
The Star Tribune and Larsen made the Minnesota readers the true feature of the rebrand. A front page story worthy of Steven Tyler!