Mercato Centrale Firenze

Il Mercato Centrale

Mercato Centrale Firenze

strategy – branding – visual identity – creative direction – setting up – graphic design – menu design – ADS & media plan – web design – digital content

Mercato Centrale Firenze opens its doors: it’s the 23rd April 2014.
A crowd of onlookers is waiting outside, in piazza del Mercato: journalists, young people and adults. We were there, too, excited for the ribbon cutting of a project that we loved and felt our own.

A teamwork made of vision and enthusiasm. We followed it over the laying of the cornerstone to the ADS campaign in the teaser, launch and support phases. Without forgetting the in-between, before and after: the strategy, concept, branding, and design of a dynamic identity, along with a verbal and visual language that overcames the barriers of things already seen and heard.

In the foreground, the first floor.

The space could intimidate; the first floor of the historical market of San Lorenzo, designed by Mengoni and neglected over time, but still full of charm. From the oblivion to theatre of taste, where artisans are protagonists, until becoming a lively and vibrant square, once again. A challenge we faced with enthusiasm and the strong desire of giving shape to something original. Completely new.

square meters area

seats

shops

It is one thing to say design a trademark.

Where to start, when you are up to design a trademark? From a concept. We were well aware of how San Lorenzo was the beating heart of Florence. A lively, touristic enough, but still genuine, authentic, heart-felt, loved place. First of all, by Florentines, by travellers and curious people, too.

The very heart of Florence.

A traced line becomes a target and a beating heart. Hand-made, because artisans are the very essence of Mercato and they are located in the city. A sign gathers it up and embraces it, because Mercato is content, but container, too. Thought out weights, measured balances. Of course, with a touch of craziness: our distinctive trait.

Wanna write?

This is how Mercato Centrale Firenze was born. It immediately mastered a language of its own. It is not matters of words, not only: lightweight, direct, spontaneous. The visual has a peculiar font, drawn by hand, as you can imagine. We have been always aware that Mercato Centrale Firenze would have been unique, the one in a million.

We give a face to artisans.

There is a lot of talk about artisans, artisanship and to what extent they are the authentic protagonists of the project Mercato Centrale Firenze. The natural choice is to show them off, make them known and give them a face. Our own way. In a world – the food universe – where photography dominates the scene, we choose to swim against the tide. We illustrate. Everything.

Identity is movement.

The trademark embraces and offers the stage to every single shop as protagonist of a recognizable system in its many variations. The container, outline and creative context, narrates the content.

Communication tastes good.

We said that artisans are protagonists. They dominate the launch and support campaign on the opening of Mercato Centrale Firenze. They greet and peep out from the maxi posters that win over Florence. A full palette of colours, where every shop has its own nuance, a simple graphic line recalling the product and artisans that process, choose and narrate its very story, day by day. With passion, as we do.

Mercato Centrale Firenze is alive.

Events follow one another: music, cooking, sports and cultural appointments. Each event comes up with a creative communication designed ad hoc to narrate what is going to happen through colours and the voice of Mercato Centrale Firenze.

A Mercato done to art.

Art and culture are in the DNA of Mercato Centrale Firenze. The many partnerships gave voice to unique projects and ended up in irresistible set-ups. Thanks to the cooperation with Palazzo Strozzi, Mercato and its artisans became respectively stage and actors of the genius of Picasso, Marina Abramovich, Bill Viola. Moreover, the site-specific installations, which livened up the first floor, aroused great amazement and wonder: from the magic carpet by Buren to the “Third Paradise” by Pistoletto, to the irreverent creativity of Ai Weiwei. To be find in the narrations and illustrations by almagreal, in perfect Mercato Centrale Firenze style.

Find the bus!

It cannot go unnoticed through the streets of Florence. The yellow small bus with the illustrations of Mercato Centrale Firenze conquered the eyes and lured the cameras of many tourists and residents. Funny, customized and protagonist of a social campaign. It makes you want to get in! However, we went even further. With the arrival of the tramway in Florence, we decided to personalise the carriages with a peculiar spelling book that narrates all the events in their many facets. What about departures from Pisa airport? A souvenir photo with the bus!

One uniform for all.

As usual, we did not stop at the setting and creativity linked to advertising and internal communication. We planned and designed the uniforms of all the protagonists of Mercato Centrale Firenze, from artisans, to staff, from the security to service personnel. Mercato Centrale Firenze hits your heart and arrives there to stay.

One language for all.

The common thread of the identity of Mercato Centrale Firenze guided the planning and realization of all internal supports. Freshness, originality, spontaneity. Signs, maps, brochure holders, paper and MATER-BI shopper bags, table mats and menus of the single shops, but also the infographics that are background and frame of every shop. A new and different way to tell a story: no boredom, no accumulation, no excess.

Bring it home.

Beauty is the most sought-after souvenir. It is lovely to know you can bring home a small piece of Mercato Centrale Firenze. This is how the merchandising was born! Mugs, shopper bags, T-shirts, sweaters and notebooks for those who feel the Mercato close to heart and do not want to separate from it.

Take note.

At almagreal we love words, maybe it is clear, already. In an increasingly digital world, we are growing fond of paper. We love to write on the notebooks of Mercato Centrale Firenze, but also to draw flowers and odd characters, take note of movies’ titles and songs, or the title of the book waiting to be read after all the others laying on our bedside table.

WOW, what a web!

It was not easy to sum up the multi-faceted soul of Mercato Centrale Firenze in one website only. However, our eyes light up with joy when we’re up to new challenges. We planned the structure, designed every single element and–of course–prepared all the texts of mercatocentrale.it. At the same time, we take care of the visual contents on the social networks, every day, trying to express in pixel the incredible universe in and around Mercato.
Ready to click?