Contact: Sarah Haun
Two Twelve Associates
902 Broadway
New York, NY 10010
212 254 6670
shaun@twotwelve.com

TWO TWELVE'S ANN HARAKAWA SPEAKS TO URBAN LAND INSTITUTE HAWAII DISTRICT COUNCIL

New York, NY, 6 AUGUST, 2004—Two Twelve Associates (http://www.twotwelve.com), the public information design firm, today announces that principal Ann Harakawa is presenting the firm’s work on New York City’s bid campaign for the Olympic Games in 2012 to the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Hawaii District Council in Honolulu. The presentation will take place during a breakfast event at the Pacific Club from 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM (details at http://www.hawaii.uli.org).

During her talk entitled, “Developing a Consistent Brand Message: Bringing the Olympic Games to New York City in 2012,” Ms. Harakawa is speaking about her involvement for the past five years in developing brand communications for the city’s Olympic bid campaign.  Since 1999, her graphic design team has been working on the brand identity development, information design, environmental graphics and official bid books for the NYC 2012 organizing committee. New York City is one of five finalist Candidate Cities bidding to host the Olympic Games in 2012, with Paris, London Madrid and Moscow also in the running. The International Olympic Committee decision will be announced in July 2005.

In her talk to the ULI audience of land use and real estate professionals, Ms. Harakawa uses NYC2012 as a model to explain the roles of design and branding in urban development. Drawing on Two Twelve’s work for other clients, such as the lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the United States Census Bureau, she explains how design can shape impressions and behavior, make information easier to understand, appeal to both logic and emotion, and make ideas and plans tangible.  The case study of NYC2012, she explains the Olympic Games bid process and shows how the brand identity and graphics have evolved at each phase to accomplish these communication objectives.

Ms. Harakawa has more than twenty years’ experience directing large-scale, complex graphic design projects for numbers of prominent institutions. She directs about half of Two Twelve’s projects, most of which require highly specialized information design skills. Ms. Harakawa has worked with Jones Lang LaSalle and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on the design of signage for the restoration of Grand Central Terminal. Her team also developed signage for Rockefeller Center’s retail concourse with Tishman Speyer Properties, and a new wayfinding program for Shea Stadium, home of the Mets baseball team, with Sterling Equities. In Hawaii she has led strategic design projects for Victoria Ward, the Japanese Cultural Center, and the Punahou School, her alma mater.

Ms. Harakawa received a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied glass work under the tutelage of Dale Chihuly, the renowned glass artist. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University in 1982. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to work for two years in Japan with internationally recognized designers Eiko Ishioka and Takenobu Igarashi.

About ULI
ULI, the Urban Land Institute (http://www.uli.org) is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit research and education organization supported by its members. Founded in 1936, the institute now has more than 22,000 members worldwide representing the entire spectrum of land use and real estate development disciplines, working in private enterprise and public service. As the preeminent, multidisciplinary real estate forum, ULI facilitates the open exchange of ideas, information and experience among local, national and international industry leaders and policy makers dedicated to creating better places. The mission of the Urban Land Institute is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land to enhance the total environment. Members say that ULI is a trusted idea place where leaders come to grow professionally and personally through sharing, mentoring, and problem solving. With pride, ULI members commit to the best in land use policy and practice.

About Two Twelve
Two Twelve Associates (http://www.twotwelve.com) is a multi-disciplinary graphic design company specializing in public information design, the planning and presentation of complex information to diverse audiences. David Gibson founded Two Twelve in 1980, and he and his partner Ann Harakawa presently run the firm's New York-based operation. Two Twelve offers a full range of services in print, interactive and environmental graphic design for corporate, institutional and municipal clients nationwide. Important commissions have included the design of signage and wayfinding systems for Massachusetts General Hospital, the Chicago Park District, the Yale University campus, and Sound Transit in Seattle. The firm also produces promotional materials and environmental graphics for clients including NYC2012, New York City’s bid to host the 2012 summer Olympic Games, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC).