Creating Visual Identity for Creative Community
Client : Chennai Photo Biennale - Prism
CPB Lighthouse is a creative space by the Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation, designed to bring photography education, analog experimentation, reading, and retail under one roof. It houses four sub-spaces — Art Lab, Darkroom, Library, and Shop — each with its own offering, but all part of a shared vision: to make photography more open, accessible, and community-led.
At Studio Atom, I led the project from visual concept to rollout, building a modular brand system that reflects this diversity while staying cohesive. The identity was applied across digital, print, signage, and spatial formats — built to scale, adapt, and grow.
The visual identity was inspired by the metaphor of a lighthouse — a quiet guide that opens up vastness, clarity, and direction. Just as a lighthouse allows one to see what lies beyond, CPB Lighthouse was imagined as an entry point into the world of photography — filled with opportunities, tools, and inspiration.
The logo retained the square format associated with photography but added a dimension — literally — transforming into a cube. This shift from flat to form symbolized depth, discovery, and expansion, while maintaining a system-ready structure.
3D isometric logo
The final logo features an isometric cube, adding multiple dimensions to the iconic square logo of Chennai Photo Biennale. The design incorporates a door symbolizing entry into creativity, a camera shutter, and multiple facets for dynamic color applications.
Sub-brand structure
A cohesive system was designed for Art Lab, Darkroom, Library, and Shop — each with different characters that reflected their functions while being held together by shared colours, grid, structure, and style.
Bright, expressive color palette & style
Vibrant colors and styles were used to reflect CPB’s shift toward newer audiences and most importantly an evolving, inclusive creative culture.
Systematic layout logic
Grid-based layouts and flexible identity templates were created for digital, print, and signage — ensuring visual consistency and adaptability across platforms.
The outcome & Learnings
A modular brand system was created for CPB Lighthouse and its four sub-spaces, applied across digital, print, and spatial touchpoints. The identity helped reposition CPB as a community-driven, future-facing creative hub, welcoming a new generation of photography learners and practitioners.
This project was an opportunity to create a brand system that could hold space for multiple programs while staying rooted in one cohesive idea. It brought together storytelling, structure, and expression — helping shape how a cultural institution presents itself to both new and familiar audiences. Designing for such a dynamic, evolving space sharpened my ability to think in systems while keeping the experience welcoming and intuitive.
