Weak logos for the Tribute WTC Visitor Center and Project Rebirth
By James Robert Watson, PhD


The Tribute WTC story
Visitors have been flocking to the site of the World Trade Center since soon after 9/11. We have a need to connect to a historic site by seeing it firsthand - to learn, to remind us of what happened, and to leave something behind. The official 9/11 Memorial is still years away, so to fill the void, a private organization, September 11th Families Association, has opened the Tribute WTC Visitor Center across the street from where the South Tower stood (link to the Tribute WTC website). They have done a good job of presenting the timeline using quotes, pictures, and a few artifacts. There is video and wall text displaying all the victim's names. There are boxes of tissues scattered around and a room where the visitor can write comments and share stories. They even offer walking tours around the site conducted by survivors with stories to tell. The crowds suggest that the center is a success and filling a need until the official memorial and museum is completed.


The weak logo
However, the logo for the Tribute WTC Visitors Center is weak. While parts of the logo identity are good - white squares representing purity and a void or a loss; light blue conveying peace and serenity; and text type encircling the squares for security, protection, and an eternal cycle. The intent was for two white squares to represent the footprint patterns of the two WTC towers (as confirmed by a Tribute WTC official). But the orientation of the two towers is inaccurate. The axis connecting the tower footprints should be vertical, not horizontal. The only way to see the tower footprints as depicted in the logo would be to lie on the ground and look up (like a person in a grave looking up - that's the weak part). This is not a good image to portray for the tragedy and sorrow of 9/11.

The correct tower orientation

Map showing towers 1 and 2 (3 was the Marriott Hotel; 4, 5, 6 were the 9-story black buildings; and 7 was the tall
tower that fell in the afternoon). The first two images position north at the top while the third image is looking towards the southeast.

Comparisons of logo accuracy

Orientation of towers as they were on the site. Orientation of towers as depicted in the logo.
(Renderings thanks to Maria, a blog poster from Argentina)

Original WTC site plan showing accurate orientation of tower footprints. Logo superimposed over the site plan showing logo doesn't align with tower footprints. Reverse of logo superimposed over the site plan showing logo now aligns with tower footprints.

The Tribute buttons
As in most museums, the visitor gets a button so the guards can see that he/she has paid to enter. I didn't realize until talking to a museum rep that the button was die-cut - the two squares are cut out of the metal. This allowed me to turn it over and show him that the correct arrangement could be seen only by looking from the ground up.

The correct orientation on the brochure map
On the brochure from the Tribute WTC is a map showing the location of the center. The map is correct. But notice that the logo doesn't coincide with the orientation on their very own map:


Another incorrect logo
This one is from Project Rebirth, an organization dedicated to recording the redevelopment of the WTC site. As with the Tribute WTC, it is incorrect and inappropriate. On the right is a redesigned logo with the towers in their correct orientation. Unfortunately, they are using the one on the left.


Were errors made?
Look at all the comparisons above - it becomes clear mistakes were made. The orientation of the two tower footprints is not familiar nor accurate (unless you're in the ground looking up). The error was made either in the design of the mark or in the production - the image may have been flipped.

Do these errors matter, who cares?
The errors should be corrected for these reasons:
• An identity for the WTC site must be accurate. Proper respect, honor, and care must be conveyed through each element (graphic or otherwise) to enhance the healing and rebuilding process. The subtle message conveyed by the existing logo tower orientation - that one must be in the ground looking up - is just too inappropriate for this hallowed site.
• It reflects poorly on the design profession to overlook such a mistake. Designers strive for professional integrity through accuracy and attention to detail. They should be extra careful with this very public site that is so emotionally charged.
So, yes, the error does matter - though it may seem a minor detail, we can, and must, do better in how we treat the WTC site.


Someone who got it right
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center presented its new identity as "a creative interpretation of the pools of the Memorial that represent the strength and the ephemeral quality of our memories". Their logo was designed by New York-based Number Seventeen. This more official organization has created a logo that depicts the two towers in their accurate orientation. From their website: the design of the logo is understated, with its subtle depiction of the tower footprints, both as a reminder of what once stood there and as a representation of the water that now flows through them; elegant, in its soft colors and centered arrangement; and modern, in its typographic selection, reminding us that this happened in the 21st Century. As a reflection of what design can do to convey meaning and sentiment, this identity stands strong as a complementary voice to the powerful echo of the design of the memorial. To the left is their original logo with the towers in the correct orientation and on the right is the current logo reflecting the name change to 9/11 Memorial (link to their website).



The WTC Memorial
Reflecting Absence, the World Trade Center Memorial now under construction, was created by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker, and selected from a competition of more than 5,200 entrants. The Memorial will consist of two massive voids with waterfalls cascading down their sides, to serve as a powerful reminder of the Twin Towers and of the unprecedented loss of life from an attack on our soil. From the memorial website: The Memorial, Reflecting Absence, features a landscaped public plaza with two voids that cover the original one-acre footprints of the Twin Towers. Waterfalls cascading from the edges of each of the voids form two reflecting pools.

Looking to the east with West Street in the foreground and new Freedom Tower on the left. Looking to the north with the World Financial Center to the left. Compare these to the button images above.


At the Visitor's Center, a model of the site looking west towards the Hudson River.
The plan on the floor beneath the model shows the correct arrangement of the two towers.

Update
October 2006: I emailed the Tribute center with maps and photos of the site to show the orientation and pointed out that the logo was inaccurate and that it sent an inappropriately macabre message. Two months later, I had yet to hear from them.
December 2006: I visited the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. I spoke to a Tribute rep about the logo. He confirmed that the two squares represent the top view of the tower footprints but he contended that the arrangement is correct. We walked to the model on display and I showed him the footprint pattern and how it fit the logo only if it was upside down. He acknowledged that the logo and the model showed different building placement and orientations - his comment was that maybe the model was wrong.
January 2007: I emailed the link to this essay and received a reply from the President of the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. An excerpt from that response: "I have had the opportutinity to read both you note and essay and am sorry you are unable to understand our logo. You are wrong in your assumption that the logo is wrong. As the spokesperson for the World Trade Center for 13 years as a senior management official in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey I can assure you the positioning of the towers as depicted in the Tribute logo is correct. The North Tower is north of the South Tower. It is correct as depicted on the logo. Sorry you can't seem to see it."
Spring 2007: A design blog in Argentina, DSNO Tendencias en diseno, arte, fotografia, arquitectura y tecnologia, picked up this essay and posted it on their site. Posters on that site have encouraged me to pursue correcting the logo.
I emailed the design firm responsible for the logo identity and asked what the rationale was for the upside-down tower footprint orientation. I have yet to hear from them.
I contacted The New York Times but have yet to hear from them.

December 2007: This is a foto of the outside of the Visitors Center. The two vertical tower shapes are dominant on both the banner and the poster - maybe it's their attempt to convey a new identity?
January 2010: At the new 9/11 Memorial Preview Center and gift shop, I notice the brochure for Project Rebirth with its inappropriate logo.