DeafCity Hub: A gesture-based brand for Deaf culture

DeafCity Hub is a purpose-built cultural space dedicated to empowering and platforming the Deaf community. Launching with a year-long pilot campaign, DeafCity Hub will demonstrate the value of Deaf cultural spaces for both Deaf and hearing people.

Context 

Designed to be barrier-free, DeafCity Hub ensures representation and inclusion through co-design with the community, fostering opportunities to develop and retain Deaf talent. 

It is a fully accessible, deaf-owned space that is specifically designed to meet the unique needs of the Deaf community, fostering community, wellbeing, and connection while showcasing Deaf Space design, promoting deaf culture, and supporting collaboration and innovation within the Deaf community.

Approach 

We began with a process of co-creation, exploring how communication happens beyond the spoken word and how the physical gestures of British Sign Language could become the foundations of the brand. Through creative coding and motion-responsive software we created a visual language rooted in the Deaf experience.

The identity transforms with movement and the positioning of hands to create a playful and expressive visual identity. The bold palette of pink and orange was intentionally chosen to stand out from the other deaf-led identities in the space, bringing energy and visibility to the brand.

Co-created with the community. Built to make Deaf culture visible.