Bloomberg Center for Cities

“We love cities, and we love people”

For the first time ever, more than half the world’s population resides in cities. At this key moment, the newly established Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University advances groundbreaking research, teaching, and programming on city leadership and governance—all focused on improving the lives of city residents. The Center came to Teal for an inaugural website and a refreshed site for its flagship program, the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

With only basic logos and design styles in place, the projects offered a chance to expand the brands of both projects and deliver compelling visual websites that can help cities innovate, share resources, and spread proven solutions worldwide.

Creating the Brand Infrastructure

Teal started our work with a clean and meaningful logo that combined the Harvard Shield with patterns found in the capitol, while evoking the steps of city hall in the stacked logo text. From this foundation, Teal expanded the visual brand system with a color palette, iconography, photography styles, and a typography set that help the Center tell a rich visual story about its work.

As the Center works to equip global leaders to improve the lives of city residents, we wanted its website to feel welcoming, exciting, and clear. The expanded brand builds on a bright palette, with sophisticated icons and a photography style that centers the people working to make cities stronger.

A webpage for the Bloomberg Center for Cities Harvard University with a photo of a larger group of city leaders walking up the front steps of a city hall building.

Focus on Impact

The Center is designed to have a widespread impact on the future of cities by informing and inspiring local government leaders, scholars, students, and others who work to improve the lives of residents around the world.

The website follows that lead, showcasing the stories and results of hundreds of city leaders catalyzing positive change in their communities.

Working in close partnership, our teams built a pair of resource-focused sites that spotlight the innovative work of Harvard, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and city leaders in an accessible and memorable way.