Gotham Writers

Empowering everyone to write their story.

Service

Capabilities

Background

Gotham Writers Workshop has helped a generation of New Yorkers express themselves. The school offers rigorous academics and invites people from all walks of life into its community. In recent years, however, the creative writing school found that its outward identity did not reflect its true vibrancy — this was having an impact on class enrollment. Hyperakt was asked to evolve the Gotham Writers Workshop brand and turn around its web presence in order to broaden its reach.

The challenge

The new voice of Gotham Writers Workshop needed to inspire younger writers to join the community, while leveraging the school’s proud reputation and preserving its NYC heritage.

Image showing a spread of open design books. The first and second books focus on typography, with bold white text reading "Type". The third book's page displays "Eames Century Modern" typography. The fourth book focuses on color, with bold text reading "Color".

“Our new branding made a big impact on how our company was perceived all over the world, directly increasing our revenue and recruiting, and lifting the spirits of all who worked with us.”

Alex Steele

President, Gotham Writers

Four magazines are displayed against a gray background. Each cover features different imagery and the word "WRITE" prominently. From left to right, the covers showcase a city street, a person on a bicycle, an abstract design, and autumn leaves.

Finding the essence of the brand

After conducting in-depth research and workshops we arrived at the essence of Gotham Writers Workshop’s brand: “craft igniting creativity.” We repositioned the name of the brand from Gotham Writer’s Workshop to Gotham Writers, a shift that better represents the school’s community of writers and promotes a sense of belonging. We created a brand language that expresses itself as a harmonious balance between the vibrant muddle of the writing process and the sharp precision of a finely crafted piece. The tone of the imagery is introspective, thoughtful and intimate – evoking the perfect environment for creative writing.

A simple image of a hand-drawn, thin, double-lined circle centered on a white background. There are no other elements or details visible in the image.

A seal of authenticity

Gotham Writers' new mark says more with less. The interlocking "G" and "W" reveal the tip of a pencil, suggesting the craft and meditation at the heart of good writing. The emblem projects the confidence and maturity of an institution that has been honing its craft for 20 years. The geometric purity of the forms are an homage to the art deco heritage of the city we call Gotham – New York City.

An artistic design featuring handwritten words and phrases in blue and yellow: "stories everywhere," "Tell me about it!," "What's your story?," "be daring," "WRITE," "Be honest," "creativity," and "Incite EVERYONE.

Six icons on a green background, each within a yellow circle: a thought bubble, a speech bubble, a scroll, a microphone, a briefcase, and a staircase with an upward arrow.

Two open sketchbooks showing colored sketches of urban architectural scenes. On the left, a yellow building with plants and handwritten text in blue. On the right, city buildings with a large yellow circular symbol and text in blue and black.

Craft ignites creativity

Against the precision of the monogram we contrast the inherent vibrancy of the creative process with myriad handwriting styles that reflect the unique voice of each writer. The brand includes highlighter marks to illuminate key ideas, alluding to the process of editing and iterating involved in perfecting a well-crafted piece of writing.

A set of notebooks is laid out on a gray surface. Some have brown covers with the words "Stories everywhere" in blue script, while others have blue covers with various icons or circular logos. A yellow pen is positioned at the top left of the image.

A tablet displaying a "Community News" webpage with various articles and announcements. The layout features a mix of yellow and blue sections, images, and text boxes. Visible topics include songwriting, writing tips, a contest, and a Dear Gotham advice column.

The image shows two laptop screens displaying a webpage for Gotham Writers Workshop. The left screen shows a menu with class categories, including humor writing and fiction, while the right screen highlights "All NYC Classes" with details of offerings like humor writing and article writing.

Reinventing Gotham online

Hyperakt worked closely with Gotham Writers to radically rethink their information architecture and build a beautifully navigable, brand-relevant website. Gotham Writers' website needed to clearly guide readers through a lot of information: online classes, course catalogs, event calendars, faculty bios, writing tips, and book promotions from the Gotham Community.

Visit Gotham Writers

Two tablets display a website for creative writing classes. The left screen shows a person writing outdoors with text reading "CLASSES." The right screen highlights class options: "Take a class in NYC" and "Take a class online," along with icons and additional details.

What class is best for you?

The new site guides each student to find a class that’s right for them. To facilitate browsing, we created clear entry points to online and NYC classes and Gotham Writers' community-driven or specific offerings, like one-on-one classes or events. We also categorized Gotham Writers' 50+ classes into six types, each with a custom icon: fiction, non-fiction, scriptwriting, humor & poetry, professional writing and essentials.

A newspaper spread with two pages. The left page, under the heading "Courses," lists various courses with icons and descriptions. The right page, titled "Ways to Learn," outlines different learning methods. The background is white with blue text and graphics.

A blue pamphlet titled "Courses" lays flat on a surface. It features multiple sections, each with an icon and descriptive text under different course headings, providing detailed information about various educational offerings.

A collection of postcards is arranged on a light grey surface, featuring various images with the word "Write" and the phrase "Stories. Everywhere." Examples include a person writing in bed, bicycles and leaves, and a person carrying an umbrella in a city.

“Our new branding is, as hoped, sensational.”

Alex Steele

President, Gotham Writers

A magazine spread showing a woman sitting at a table in a café, reading or writing with a drink beside her. The text on the left page reads "Everyone has a Story" while the right page contains a column of text.

An open magazine spread featuring a page titled "Student Voices" on the left with a photo of a student reading a book outdoors and an article on the right titled "Gotham Faculty" with a prominent section showing a photo of a man in yellow.

Reaching new demographics

Gotham Writers is best known around New York for the bright yellow boxes that stand on street corners all over town and contain the school's quarterly course catalog. We revamped the monochrome catalogue into a colorful newsprint magazine appealing to pedestrians. Besides up-to-date class information, lush photography and expressive illustration, the new publication also features the original voices of students and teachers in the community – the Gotham Writers.