Acknowledgement of Country

Right Angle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land and pay our respects to the Elders past and present.

NOLA Place Brand

  • Client

    Rail Projects Victoria

  • Year

    2020

  • Location

    Melbourne

  • Scope

    Identity Design, Brand Architecture, Brand Strategy, Campaign Rollout Management

  • Images

    Provided courtesy of Rail Projects Victoria

The Melbourne CBD is changing at a rate never seen before in its history. It’s the seventh fastest growing municipality in the country and is increasingly defined as a place for living and leisure, rather than just for work. The northern CBD is the most densely populated place in Australia with 35,943 residents per square kilometre, making it more akin to global megacities than the Australian CBD of old. The Victorian State Government’s ambitions to grow upwards rather than outward is a leading contributor to this change, as are major infrastructure projects like the Melbourne Metro Tunnel. 

In 2020, as giant machines carved out a path for mass transit beneath the city streets, Right Angle were approached by Rail Projects Victoria to develop a brand and activation strategy for this densely populated pocket. We started by giving it a name – NOLA (North of La Trobe) – that felt youthful and dynamic, but sat comfortably alongside the other urban precincts that make up the CBD. 

Our brand strategy could be reduced down to three Ps – Purpose, Positioning and (Value) Proposition.

  1. The purpose of the NOLA brand and communications is to support the businesses in the precinct. It does this by taking the raw ingredients — product, people, place — and using dynamic design and illustration to drive sales and visitation.

  2. Located between RMIT, Melbourne Central and Elizabeth Street, NOLA (North of La Trobe) is rapidly changing. Home to a cultural hot pot of cafes, restaurants and shops and the future State Library metro station, its future is exciting.

  3. As a lesser known part of the city, NOLA is still a place that many are yet to discover. In comparison its neighbours (Melbourne Central, Emporium, China Town etc) NOLA feels a bit lo-fi and a little bit old-school and this should be celebrated.

We created a brand that was eclectic and fresh in order to speak to the large Gen Z cohort that lived and studied in the area, but still leant on familiar motifs and expressions to ensure it remained accessible and welcoming to those exploring the CBD. We introduced lively animations, pixel art and depictions of the rich cultural tapestry of the area to create an adaptable brand that could be built on by those for whom the brand was created to serve – the City and the local businesses within it.

In the years that followed NOLA has enjoyed creative collaborations with Melbourne Fashion Week, has been a focal point for the Metro Tunnel Creative Program, and been adorned by hoarding that played with our brand created by Melbourne studio Week Days.

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