Kobe for Change Makers

Celebrating the 40th anniversary since the establishment of Kobe as a MICE city and the Kobe Convention Center in 1981, Kobe MICE has rebranded with “Kobe for Change Makers” as its new brand message.

The rebranding is also in keeping with Kobe city’s 2025 vision, which focuses on sustainability and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) goals which the Kobe Convention Bureau aims to contribute to by drawing the attention of domestic and international MICE participants to Kobe’s efforts.

Inspired by Kobe’s historical and geographical aspects, we designed the logo to consist of a capitalised name held up by a wave graphic.  The wave represents the Rokko Mountain Range and the Seto Inland Sea that surrounds Kobe on both sides.

While the logo is representative of Kobe’s natural assets, it is also a metaphor for the waves of innovation and change that are taking place in Kobe and rippling out into the world. The wave, constructed from a section of the letter B, features 4 tips that identifies the city’s four keys strengths of a port, welfare and disaster prevention initiatives, medical innovations, and its dynamism, which can be defined by the city’s ventures into newer and emerging industries such as IT, clean energy, aerospace, and aviation.

The blue colour was an obvious choice for its association with the sea. Palettes of tones were suggested to the client who eventually selected a rich blue that is somewhere between ultramarine and navy blue.

With the brand mark, we also created the identity guidelines, stationery, merchandise and a planner guide map for development by the Japanese team.