Within the early ‘90s, the Negro Neighborhood Centre (NCC) in Montreal’s historic Little Burgundy neighborhood shuttered its doorways. The as soon as vital cultural establishment and useful resource for Montreal’s Black group had light into inactivity after attracting luminaries like Nelson Mandela and Oscar Peterson. Simply over 20 years after closing store, the NCC’s historic constructing was demolished in 2014, and all hope gave the impression to be misplaced.
In 2020, the racial and cultural reckoning that rippled throughout the globe snapped the significance of NCC’s mission again into focus. With renewed vigor and urgency, the group reimagined itself as The Centre for Canadians of African Descent (CCAD). “We will not wait,” reads the CCAD web site. “Canada can not wait, Quebec can not wait, Montreal can not wait, Little Burgundy can not await Montreal to have a Black historic website.”
As a way to rise and meet the second, CCAD wanted a model identification that honored the legacy of NCC whereas elevating it to new heights. Discovering the appropriate folks for the duty was a no brainer— they tapped native Strategic Model Consultancy Six Cinquième, helmed by Montreal natives Ash Phillips and Miro Laflaga.
“Working with the CCAD is an honor,” Laflaga instructed me. “To see an establishment that you simply’ve been conscious of since childhood and to have the chance to collaborate with them as an grownup makes me really feel extraordinarily proud.” With inventive director Phillips main the way in which, Six Cinquième first helped outline and align the CCAD’s imaginative and prescient for the longer term, then designed a brand new model identification to deliver these aspirations to life.
“Our staff will get to develop into part of and affect Montreal’s cultural historical past, which holds immense significance for our group and the inventive ecosystem inside our metropolis,” Laflaga stated of the expertise engaged on a undertaking so close to and pricey to him and his staff. “Collaborating with an establishment that stands for one thing gives the look that our work carries a big affect. In actuality, we’re contributing to the event of society.”
With this appreciation for CCAD fueling their fireplace, Phillips, Laflaga, and their staff dug deep into the historical past of the group to make sure they tackled the undertaking with a better respect and understanding. “There was a lot wealthy historical past that we have been unaware of,” stated Laflaga. “It was essential for us to uncover it if we really aimed to deliver this undertaking to life. We wished to make sure that the legacy they’d constructed through the years could be mirrored within the model identification we have been growing.”
In doing so, Six Cinquième interacted intently with those that held robust connections with the establishment, such because the Vice President of the CCAD Andrea Este (the niece of NCC founder Rev. Charles H. Este). Additionally they held workshops with members of CCAD in order that the communities the group serves straight had a voice within the course of. “In these periods, we collaborated with them and challenged their views on the brand new imaginative and prescient of what the CCAD represents,” stated Laflaga. “The result of this course of allowed us to completely perceive what the CCAD was and the place it’s going.”
The cornerstone of the brand new model identification is a fastidiously crafted brand that highlights the distinctive and layered expertise of Black Canadians, achieved primarily by the outlined patterns of the “C” and “A.” The emblem additionally creates a sample that serves as a modern-day twist on African prints.
“I genuinely consider that we have now constructed one thing of which the group and the folks will be proud and can help with delight. To me, that’s extraordinarily necessary in a undertaking,” stated Laflaga on the completed product. “We consistently attempt to construct manufacturers which might be reflective of the folks behind it, and CCAD is not any totally different. Our staff was capable of strike a steadiness between a basic but trendy design, which will be very difficult.”
Due in no small half to the ability of Six Cinquième’s rebrand, CCAD has lately rallied round regaining the plot of land the place the unique NCC had as soon as stood. Regardless of personal builders’ plans to show the world into condos, progress has been made to revive it to its former glory and put it again within the palms of CCAD.
