The New York Philharmonic is the oldest orchestra in the United States. While being one of New York's oldest institutions, predating even the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the brand itself has lacked a connection to the city. Its home is located at the intersection of Broadway and the 65th Street part of Lincoln Center. This three block campus creates one of the world's leading Performing Arts Center. A rare square inside the rectangular grid that is New York.

Referred to by its core audience as "The Phil" or "NY Phil", we embraced its nickname as its official new name and transformed it into a core element of the identity.

The art direction was developed around the, often limited, assets NY Phil has to work with. Consisting of stage photography and portraits supplied by the performers, they found themselves using similar images for all their concerts. By licensing abstract photography and 3D renders, we allow NY Phil to keep the quality of the work consistently high and differentiated, for times where the artist supplied images were low resolution or nonexistent. Creating these moments without performers in them, opens the advertising up to a much broader audience — as most New Yorkers do not recognize one conductor or violinist from another. In order to bridge the gap between their current subscribers and new audiences, the identity consists of a 50/50 mix between people and abstract/3D.