Noë & Associates was commissioned to design the brand and signage for Domino Park, a new 5-acre park in Williamsburg, on the site of the former Domino Sugar refinery. The park, developed by Two Trees and designed by James Corner Field Operations, restores access to the waterfront, and features a new Danny Meyer taco stand ‘Tacocina’, a volleyball court, dog run, and playground. The backdrop of the park nods to the history of the refinery by incorporating its industrial remnants, including a syrup collection tank and 80-foot high gantry cranes.

The Domino name, retained from the site’s heritage, was used as inspiration for the park’s symbol and visual language. A tree icon, often used in municipal park branding, was made from the dot grid seen in domino tiles. A supporting typographic palette and wordmark were informed by stencil lettered signage found in the factory. The typeface, Ano Stencil, is a contemporary take on of this style of typography and was chosen to have synergy and balance with the Domino tree symbol as well as reinforce the symbol’s utilitarian, industrial quality. Both symbol and typography can be hand stenciled or punched out of materials.

Domino Park Will Redefine the Williamsburg, Brooklyn Waterfront

A city is defined by the ambitions of its people—what they aspire to, what their ideals are. Chicago has always reached for the highest; in the arts, industry, sport, commerce and architecture. That is how it became America’s first metropolis, and its foremost architectural city. 400 Lake Shore Drive is set to define Chicago for a new era. Situated where the city began, where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan, on arguably the last premier waterfront development site in North America, this exclusive residential building represents a major urban achievement.

The project was envisioned by Related, the most prominent developer in the US, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, led by architect David Childs, the firm that gave Chicago the Willis and Hancock Towers and the world the Burj Khalifa and One World Trade Center. Trusted to create the brand, positioning and all narrative for the project, Noë & Associates are proud to be the guardians of this seminal project’s communications.

400 Lake Shore Drive consists of two dynamic towers with cascading, changing facades—shifting and shearing to over 800 feet into the sky. They form a visual gateway between the dynamic verticality of the skyline and the sublime horizontality of Lake Michigan.