The Edit: five projects including Mubien’s colourful identity system for San Diego’s The RaDD

Each and every day, we're lucky to discover dozens of interesting and inspiring projects from around the world. From global identities and campaigns to side projects and independently published books, The Edit is home to five of them; every two weeks. The Research and Development District (RaDD) is aiming to be the ‘largest urban commercial waterfront site along California’s Pacific coast;’ housing offices, labs and retail spaces. The San Diego site needed a brand identity to epitomise the scale and ambition of the project. As a result, Santander and California-based design studio Mubien created both a verbal and visual identity that takes inspiration from the alpha symbol, the military, the American flag and morse code. The graphic system pairs bold type with colourful photography, creating a versatile identity that balances the formal with the fun and urban. Combined with nods to ‘urban lifestyle’ and the ‘RaDD’ name, the result is an identity that affirms the spirit of American innovation, and pays homage to its naval heritage while speaking to the unique essence of San Diego’s unmatched lifestyle. Librarylab is a foundation from Toronto that not only redistributes resources but also serves as a space for ideas. The Canadian platform is driven by a desire to see more equitable, beautiful, and community-driven cities shaped by radical inclusion. Sharing Librarylab’s enthusiasm for positive change, multidisciplinary designer Joanie Brisebois created a nourishing and growth-friendly identity. “I wanted to create an energetic platform and a solid logo,” Brisebois tells us, “that infuses a feeling of connection and a special emphasis on the ‘learning’ aspect of the foundation.” The resulting identity features a friendly non-gendered character “to help navigate the information” as well as a range of connection devices “to show collectively the various ways people and place can come together.”