Children's Library Identity

Hvass & Hannibal designed a visual indentiy for the children's department at Copenhagen's central library, Hovedbiblioteket in October 2013.

It explains on Nan Na Hvass and Sofie Hannibal's website: "The identity is based on a modular system of shapes that can form different characters and patterns. The idea is that the kids can have fun with this system – creating stories and characters of their own – and that the identity can continue to grow in many directions."

Logo:

The different patterns and shaped can be mixed and matched, which encourages children to get involved with the design. The children can interact, making their own stories and designs. These objects are very simplistic; obvious shapes and block colouring. This is what makes them work so well with the child target audience.

Hvass and Hannibal did user testing with the pupils from the school Skolen på Islands Brygges. They left the children with the cut-out shapes, saying to them that they could experiment and stick the shapes on the windows of the library's building. They also asked ten to twelve year old students to rate a series of logo designs.

The results showed that, though the librarians preferred the more complex designs, the children enjoyed the more simplistic ones, which reflected in Hvass and Hannibal final designs. They also kept the logo very simple. After seeing the success of their designs, the designers plan to form a sticker sheet so that the children can put them on their notebooks or backpacks. They also want to create canvas bags and t-shirts with their designs.

In my opinion, the interactive element is very strong, as children like to be involved with things. It will certainly keep their attention for a longer period of time and let them have fun with the design.

References:
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/october/hvass-and-hannibal-6527965279hovedbiblioteket
http://hvasshannibal.dk/bib.html