OPEN PATH: A Beacon of Hope
Reviewed by Tony Spaeth
http://www.identityworks.com/probono/index.htm

If you are anxious to be a parent but need some help, and fortunate enough to live in Northern California, there’s hope. But only because designer Henri Kusbiantoro found it for you.

Formerly the regional branch of a larger non-profit, Open Path was spinning out, to better provide “many options and opportunities for family building” to people who need help in conceiving, carrying or adopting children. So it needed a new identity. Landor Associates offered to help, and its naming team came up with the creative “Open Path” name solution.

On day one of design explorations, Kusbiantoro studied the letterforms in a range of type treatments, looking for meanings in the letters themselves as well as in their graphic forms. In “ope” he saw “hope,” but (he says, and I believe him) without yet seeing its connection with the last letter in “path.” That happened on day two when, thinking of the sun more than anything else, it occurred to him to try a circular wordmark (an idea that Landor’s New York office had used so effectively in The Paley Center design solution.) And voila — there was hope. One of those moments we live for.

Naturally, the client loved it and would accept no other solution. And that is how Open Path became “A beacon of hope to many families in Northern California.”

Credits:
Naming and design: Landor headquarter San Francisco
Identity Designer: Henricus Kusbiantoro
Art Director: Henricus Kusbiantoro

OPEN PATH

Open Path™ The Family-Building Resource of Northern California was established in 2007. It evolved from the Northern California Chapter of Resolve. We are a non-profit organization continuing to offer information, support and resources about all family-building options for men and women facing fertility challenges or considering adoption as a way to family.

ABOUT Tony Spaeth and identityworks.com
founder of identityworks.com
http://www.identityworks.com/

Identityworks.com site celebrates the use of corporate identity as a management tool, and credits corporate leaders and designers around the world for outstanding work.

Tony Spaeth is an independent identity consultant, focused on the uses of identity as a tool in managing and marketing. He is an internationally recognized expert in the use of identity as a tool in marketing and managing. 1995-2005 clients include Ambac, Caterpillar, Commonfund, Dow Jones, Eastman Chemical, Footstar, Flowserve, General Signal, J.P. Morgan, Malden Mills, Orbital Sciences, Outward Bound and Sony Corporation. Tony studied architecture at Princeton and received his Masters in Business Administration from Harvard.