CENTENNIAL YARDS

For 20+ years, I have helped define brands. This was the first time I got to help define a city.

 

For decades, 50 acres in downtown Atlanta, commonly known as "The Gulch," sat abandoned and desolate as a wound in the city's heart. If you've ever been to Atlanta, you've seen it. Heck, you might have even tailgated there. The crazy thing is, this same location is where Atlanta started as Terminus, a railroad town. A place that literally connected both citizens and commerce, innovation and ideas. This very spot was the hub of the South, yet now it was a wasteland. Developer CIM and Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler had other plans: Centennial Yards, one of America's largest and most ambitious urban revitalization projects, with over $5 billion in investment.

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CIM had contracted a well-known development branding agency, but their efforts fell flat because they never really understood Atlanta, its people or its dreams. I was contacted to redefine the brand from the ground up. New brand identity, logo, brand story, voice, vision, guidelines, wayfinding, launch materials, signage, website, content videos, collateral, investor guides, experiential designs and social media—everything was needed and now.

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Diving deep into the Atlanta archives, we found our core inspiration not only in the history, but in the railroad terminal's construction itself. Because of the area's unique ports of entry, the traditional Y-shaped railway (Wye) track formation needed to be flipped to best serve its communities. This inverted Y thus became an A, signaling both unique ways of looking at things and the city we love.

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Centennial Yards is thriving. Welcoming top attractions as Atlanta's new epicenter of sports and entertainment, bridging State Farm Arena, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the all -new COSM, along with new retailers opening shop every day.

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