IT’S NOT EVERY DAY THAT A LOGO has so much symbolism and meaning attached to it. But for Braeburn, the name and the logo approach the level of icon. The project of 153 condominium suites is located in Seattle’s hip, urban Capital Hill neighborhood, home to the city’s youth culture, its alternative arts scene, and its gay community.
“To sell product there, you had to do something a little different,” says Dana Behar, principal of Seattle-based Capital Hill Developments, developer of the project. “That generation doesn’t like to be sold; it doesn’t like something too corporate or contrived. It needed to be fun.”
Washington state is famous for its apples, and the site had once been an apple market. In addition, the target demographic appreciates organic food, so Behar wanted something that connoted an apple. Hence the name, Braeburn, which is a variety of apple. He wanted a simple logo that would be recognized as the fruit but not be such a graphic representation that people would think he was building a supermarket.
The resulting “urban modern apple,” designed by Caroline Scull at Seattle’s Effective Design Studio, was complete with two seeds that represented the two buildings in the project, sowing seeds of community.
Behar says the project set a sales record in the state, selling 59 units in the first week, more than four times any previous development in the neighborhood.
“Caroline did a great job [on the logo],” Behar says. “I live in this neighborhood. I thought it would be impossible, actually, to capture the essence. She captured the energy and counterculture aspect of it.”
Builder: Capitol Hill Developments, Seattle
Ad agency: Effective Design Studio, Seattle
Learn more about markets featured in this article: Seattle, WA.
