Baltimore Metropolitan Council 2018

BACKGROUND
For the last 26 years, Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) has connected the Baltimore region—how it travels, works and lives. BMC’s work builds upon the momentum of its long history as a regional convener, while embracing an ever-changing economy and the challenges that come with it. BMC works collaboratively with the chief elected officials in the region to create initiatives to improve the quality of life and economic vitality in greater Baltimore. As the Baltimore region’s council of governments, BMC hosts the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board (BRTB), the federal metropolitan planning organization (MPO), and supports local government by coordinating efforts in a range of policy areas including transportation planning, emergency preparedness, housing, cooperative purchasing, environmental planning and workforce development. BMC’s Board of Directors includes the executives of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties, the mayor of the City of Baltimore, a member of Carroll County’s and Queen Anne’s County’s boards of commissioners, a member of the Maryland State Senate, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, and a gubernatorial appointee from the private sector.

TREATMENT: 2018 Annual Report
In an effort to bring BMC’s brand and publications up to date with modern sensibilities, a major overhaul was undertaken in 2017. The rebrand was finished in early 2018 and the annual report would be the official brand launch. Discussions with the internal brand team revealed that they had misgivings about some of the design decisions, feeling they were already dated and limiting. However, since their Board had driven these decisions, the brand team wanted to see what the brand looked like in its entirety the first time out of the gate, with the idea that we could push it a bit in subsequent years. Therefore, for this part of a three-year contract to develop BMC’s reports, I was to follow the new brand guidelines to the letter. As a way to set this annual report apart from past years—and to make the rebrand forefront from the beginning—instead of using photography, a pattern comprised of the hexagonally shaped department icons runs across the front and back covers. Inside, the brand’s new rounded square shapes are paired with proprietary photographs, the new color palette, easy to decipher infographics, and appropriately weighted icons to make client, service and financial statistics penetrable to recipients.

Due to budget cuts in 2019 and COVID in 2020, it was decided that the annual reports for those years would follow the basic format set in 2018.