Communication strategy: Creative Industries of Nizhny Novgorod
contents
1. Reflection on the course material. Narrative visual strategy 2. Presentation to a general audience 3. Presentation for a professional audience (designers) 4. How we arrived at the strategy
narrative visual strategy
Throughout the course, we moved from seeing communication as simple «information transfer» to understanding it as meaning-making. Any brand is not only a set of visuals, but a story-world people enter and interpret. The sender constructs this world through symbols, tone, and values; the receiver decodes it through their own cultural context.
In design, this means a logo, poster, interface, or social media post is never «just aesthetics». It is a rhetorical message that shapes how a region, a community, and creative work itself are perceived. That is why our strategy for the Creative Industries of Nizhny Novgorod is narrative: we build a clear storyline — from individual creativity to public recognition, from «my idea» to «our shared creative economy».
The semiotic tradition helps us treat design as a system of signs: the folder metaphor, the palette, modular layout logic, and the repeatable slogan structure all encode meanings of collaboration, order, visibility, and professionalism. The sociocultural tradition reminds us that identity must live in everyday practices — events, partnerships, showcases, and how creators actually share work. The critical tradition makes us reflect on representation and power: the brand should not privilege only «prestigious» sectors or reproduce center-periphery stereotypes, but support a fair and inclusive ecosystem.
In sum, we approach branding as a controlled process of constructing meaning — using semiotics, sociocultural insight, critical awareness, and rhetorical tools to persuade audiences that Nizhny Novgorod is not only a consumer of culture, but a producer of creative value.
presentation to a general audience
Who are we?
A project that helps develop creative industries and businesses in the Nizhny Novgorod Region.
It brings together the public sector, companies, and creative individuals to jointly create an ecosystem that will expand public engagement in the creative economy.
Who is the brand for?
The target audience is people aged 30 to 40 involved in creative industries: design, IT, gastronomy, fashion, contemporary art, and culture:
— Legal entities (commercial organizations) and individual entrepreneurs registered in the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region for at least three years
— Legal entities (commercial organizations) and individual entrepreneurs registered in the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region for at least one year
— Individuals registered at their place of residence in the Nizhny Novgorod region
— Legal entities (non-profit organizations) and individual entrepreneurs registered in the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region for at least one year
They are united by an interest in local identity, new formats of interaction, and the visual expressiveness of the environment. They are active participants in urban processes, valuing style, meaning, and the opportunity for collaboration.
Brand message
The brand has 18 slogans, all built on a single structure: «Your [result of activity/product] — [in an iconic place associated with success or publicity].»
Art: 1. «Your project is on the regional easel» 2. «Your performance is on the city’s poster» 3. «Your book is on the bestseller list» 4. «Your film is in the main distribution»
Culture: 1. «Your craft is in the region’s gold fund» 2. «Your city is in the history of the world» 3. «Your knowledge is in the main catalog» 4. «Your project is in the architectural registry»
Media: 1. «Your story is at the top of the news feed» 2. «Your brand is among the successful cases» 3. «Your code is in the innovation repository»
Applied Industries: 1. «Your project is among the creative solutions» 2. «Your idea is a regional treasure» 3. «Your style is in the region’s wardrobe» 4. «Your taste is on the menu of Nizhny Novgorod»
Related industries: 1. «Your event — anywhere in the city» 2. «Your idea — protected» 3. «Your project — on the to-do list»
«Your» means personalization. It addresses the creator, participant, or viewer directly. This immediately engages: people feel the slogan speaks to their result, not something abstract.
[Object (result of labor)] — the concrete form of a creative product or initiative. It’s important here that the object is not a process, but a finished product that can be «placed» somewhere.
«—» (dash) — a syntactic bridge, a rhythmic pause. It connects subjective ownership with objective recognition, creating the effect of a completed journey: from your action to public success.
[Place/context of recognition] — a symbol of status or visibility.
Through these slogans, we show the path from personal creativity to public recognition, create a sense of the author’s involvement in the cultural and regional scene, and also shape the image of the site as a space where private initiative becomes visible, meaningful, and collectively shared.
Brand values
1. Respect for history and tradition.
We maintain a connection with the past, recognizing the value of heritage and experience, which underpin the present. For us, tradition is not a limitation, but the foundation of the authenticity and depth of each project.
2. Constantly moving forward. We believe in the energy of change: we discover new formats, ideas, and technologies, while maintaining an inner focus on quality and meaning. Moving forward is our way to remain vibrant and contemporary.
3. Development. We view development as a never-ending process of learning and self-improvement—both personal and professional. Every step, every initiative brings us closer to greater maturity, responsibility, and a new level of mastery.
presentation for a professional audience
Brand platform and positioning
Category: Regional creative industries ecosystem and cultural development initiative.
Positioning: Creative Industries of Nizhny Novgorod is the unified platform that showcases the region’s bold, diverse creative talent—creating a space where designers, developers, musicians, chefs, makers, and artists collaborate and grow together. It’s the identity that says: this region doesn’t just consume culture, it produces it.
From Craig’s perspective, we see the brand through multiple lenses at once: Semiotic: The identity functions as a clear sign system. The «folder» metaphor communicates structure, shared space, and curated diversity: different creative sectors are like files inside one organized system. Color works as semantic coding (culture as the connector; other colors as distinct «voices» of sectors). The slogan formula «Your X — in Y» turns creative output into an object that can be «placed» into recognizable contexts of success and public visibility.
Sociocultural: The brand is designed to live inside the routines of the regional creative community: events, open calls, networking, workshops, festivals, showcases, and collaborations across sectors. It normalizes a shared identity where creative work is not a marginal hobby, but a legitimate cultural and economic practice supported by institutions, partners, and a wider public.
Critical: We treat the identity as a tool that can reproduce or challenge hierarchies. The system avoids privileging only «high culture» or only commercially loud industries, aiming instead to represent the full spectrum of creative labor. It also resists Moscow-centric validation as the only standard of success, emphasizing regional agency: visibility and recognition can begin here and scale outward.
Rhetorical and Digital Rhetoric: The brand persuades by framing creativity as a journey to recognition. The slogans act as micro-arguments: your work deserves a public stage. Visually, contrast, modular compositions, and bold accents help the system cut through digital noise. In digital channels, rhetoric becomes interactive: creator stories, case showcases, event calls, and participation prompts continuously reinforce the message and invite action.
Overall, the Creative Industries of Nizhny Novgorod identity works as a full communication system, not a decorative style. Semiotics gives it clarity and structure (a readable set of signs: folder metaphor, coded colors, modular logic). The sociocultural layer makes it usable inside real community practices — events, collaborations, showcases, and everyday professional routines. The critical lens protects the brand from reproducing hierarchies and ensures the platform represents the diversity of regional creative work fairly. Finally, rhetorical and digital rhetoric turn the system into persuasion in action: it consistently argues that local creativity deserves visibility, recognition, and support — across print, space, and digital channels.
This is why the brand can function simultaneously as an ecosystem identity, a creator-facing motivational language, and a scalable visual toolkit for different industries while keeping one unified voice.
Visual Strategy (Semiotics + Visual Rhetoric)
Color Palette:
#008582 — the main color that represents culture and connects all other industries together. #063249 — a deep, rich teal, this color evokes both the cultural heritage of Nizhny Novgorod and the forward-thinking energy of modern creative sectors. Rhetorically, it positions the region as serious and credible. #AA8E62 — a warm, earthy beige that adds accessibility and human warmth to the system. It references craft, handmade quality, and the human element that runs through all creative work. #4459A8 — a vibrant, saturated blue, this color stands out and demands attention—it’s the «voice» of the brand that cuts through noise on digital platforms and printed materials. #EC1F3B — a bold, energetic red-pink that communicates passion, urgency, and creative ambition.
The palette communicates that Nizhny Novgorod’s creative industries are professional yet approachable, energetic yet grounded, diverse yet unified.
Graphics and illustrations
[1] Architectural source → simplified pictograms The graphic language is built from recognizable details of Nizhny Novgorod architecture (spires, arches, columns, roof silhouettes). These elements are reduced to clean, geometric icons in the brand palette. Semiotically, this links the ecosystem to local identity, but keeps the symbols universal enough to work across different creative sectors.
[2] Photo + modular blocks In layouts, documentary city photography is often desaturated/neutralized so the colored modules and icons become the main rhetorical «voice.» The composition uses sharp, folder-like blocks and cut corners to guide attention to the key message, while the photo anchors the brand in real places and real context.
[3] Icon set as a flexible toolkit Icons are treated like «assets inside a folder»: a modular set that can be rearranged for posters, stickers, UI, event materials, and navigation. The consistent silhouette logic and bold contrast keep them readable at any scale, while the embossed/outlined presentation shows how the system can adapt to different mediums (digital, print, signage) without losing identity.
Logo A logo built on the metaphor of a folder — the archetypal symbol of organization, collaboration, and creative systems.
The folder as a system for managing diversity Nizhny Novgorod’s creative industries span multiple sectors: IT, fashion, gastronomy, advertising, crafts, visual and performing arts. Like files within a folder—each with its own format but unified within a single structure. The folder signifies order within creative diversity, a shared «catalog» where different practices coexist.
The folder as a metaphor for collaboration Folders represent shared workspaces—cloud storage, collective projects, open access. This reflects how creative work actually happens: a designer collaborates with a developer, a musician works with a marketing strategist. The folder communicates that the brand is fundamentally about connection and exchange.
Verbal strategy and Rhetoric
The verbal system is built around direct address and recognition. The repeated «Your» personalizes the message and positions the creator as the main protagonist: the platform speaks not about abstract institutions, but about your concrete result. The fixed structure «Your [result] — [place/context of recognition]» works rhetorically as a short narrative: it shows a movement from individual effort to public visibility.
Rhetorically it combines logos (clear support/opportunities), ethos (credible, consistent tone), and pathos (pride and the desire to be seen).
In digital communication the rhetoric becomes more action-oriented: concise headlines, calls to participate, and creator stories that repeatedly reinforce the main argument — Nizhny Novgorod is a place where ideas become visible and valued.
Sociocultural and Critical layer
The identity is designed to live inside the everyday practices of the regional creative community — networking, pitching, festivals, workshops, exhibitions, open calls, collaborations between sectors. The brand supports a new norm: creators from different industries can see themselves as part of one ecosystem, share a common language, and recognize each other’s work as equally meaningful.
Regional creative branding can easily reproduce hierarchies (center vs. region, «high culture» vs. «applied» work, established players vs. emerging creators). We use a critical lens to avoid this: the system aims to represent creative industries as diverse and equal, and to distribute visibility across sectors. The brand’s message is not «look how trendy we are, ” but „creative work here deserves recognition, support, and fair access to public attention.“
how we arrived at the strategy
Choice of approach For the Creative Industries of Nizhny Novgorod, we chose to work within an interpretive logic—our focus isn’t just on creating a logo, but on decoding and crafting messages that matter to creative practitioners, investors, and the public. We asked ourselves: What does «creative industries» actually mean in this region? How do people talk about it?
Every design decision had to answer one question: Does this communicate something true and valuable about who we are?
From communication to brand We see communication as a dynamic process of creating meaning through symbols and interactions that happen in a specific context—like the relationship between Nizhny Novgorod’s diverse creative sectors (IT, gastronomy, fashion, advertising, crafts, visual and performing arts) and their audiences. Each element participates in an ongoing conversation about what it means to create in this region.
When a designer wears the branded hoodie at a conference, when a flyer gets handed out at a creative hub, when the visual system appears on digital platforms—meaning is being made and remade through these encounters.
For every piece, we define For every piece of the Creative Industries brand, we asked ourselves four key questions:
[1] Who the sender is — the diverse, energetic, forward-thinking creative community of Nizhny Novgorod that produces meaningful work across multiple disciplines. [2] Who the receiver is — creative practitioners themselves (designers, developers, musicians, chefs, makers), potential investors and partners, younger generations considering creative careers, and the general public discovering what the region actually creates. [3] Which channel delivers the message — a social media feed telling stories of local creators, a large-scale outdoor installation at a cultural venue, or a business card from a design studio using the system. [4] Which symbols and meanings we want to build — the regional pride in authentic creativity, the energy of collaboration across different sectors, the connection between traditional craftsmanship and digital innovation, and the sense that Nizhny Novgorod is a place where ideas actually become real.
Choosing Craig’s traditions Out of the seven communication traditions, we deliberately base our strategy on four key ones that best fit the complexity of regional creative branding:
Semiotic Tradition We use this to shape the visual language of the Creative Industries identity—from the logo and color system to typography, graphic patterns, and iconography. All these elements work together as a system of signs that communicate regional creative energy, diversity, and professionalism.
Sociocultural Tradition This helps us understand and embed the Creative Industries brand into the everyday practices and rituals of the regional creative community. The brand becomes part of creative reproduction—how designers share their work, how events bring people together, how young people imagine their creative futures, how businesses present themselves to clients.
Critical Tradition We reflect on power, representation, and whose voices get heard. This tradition pushed us to ask: Does the brand privilege certain creative sectors over others? Does it reproduce Moscow-centric narratives or genuinely represent Nizhny Novgorod’s specificity? Does it empower emerging creators or just celebrate established ones? The critical lens ensured that the visual system could serve all creative industries—not just the commercially successful or culturally prestigious ones—and that it actively worked to elevate the region’s creative identity in national and international discourse.
Rhetorical Tradition Our visual and verbal language is crafted with persuasion in mind. Every touchpoint—from Instagram posts to exhibition stands—functions as a rhetorical argument for the value and vitality of regional creativity.
This blend of traditions allows the Creative Industries brand to deliver not just visual consistency, but a communication system—one that constructs meaning, reproduces community, questions power, and persuades audiences that Nizhny Novgorod is a creative force to be reckoned with.
Theory in the Design Process for Creative Industries of Nizhny Novgorod
Research Stage We dove into the existing cultural codes of Nizhny Novgorod’s creative ecosystem—what symbols, spaces, and narratives are already associated with local creativity. What colors, materials, and forms signal «creative» in this region? (a semiotic analysis). Which rituals and habits bind the creative community together? How do designers, developers, musicians, and makers actually interact and collaborate? (a sociocultural analysis) This research revealed fragmentation—each creative sector had its own visual language and community, but little sense of collective identity. There was no unified way to talk about Nizhny Novgorod as a creative force.
Concept Stage Our brand story was crafted around a central narrative: Nizhny Novgorod has diverse creative talent that deserves recognition and connection. The concept needed to work rhetorically—to persuade audiences (both internal and external) that creative industries matter here and deserve investment, visibility, and respect.
Visual Language Stage Every visual detail was tested through a semiotic lens: Does the logo communicate openness and diversity? Do the colors signify both energy and professionalism? We built a flexible visual system—not a rigid template, but a toolkit of signs that could adapt to different sectors while maintaining coherent identity. The pattern system, color palette, and typographic choices were all selected for their capacity to signify regional creativity across multiple contexts.
Critical Review Stage We critically examined our emerging design to ensure it didn’t reproduce stereotypes or hierarchies.
Digital Strategy Stage For the website, social media, and digital platforms, we created a rhetorical message system that brings the brand to life dynamically. Digital channels let us tell stories of actual creators, showcase real work, and build community in ways static print materials cannot.
Course «Communication Theory: Bridging Academia and Practice»: lectures 1.1–1.6, 4.4–4.5; module on critical theory, Marxism and the Frankfurt School (ideology, culture, culture industry, public sphere) [Electronic resource]. — Electronic text data. — 2025. (accessed 13.12.2025).
Dainton, M., Zelley, E. Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life / M. Dainton, E. Zelley. — Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2015. (accessed 13.12.2025).
Griffin, E. A First Look at Communication Theory / E. Griffin. — New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. (accessed 13.12.2025).
Ivanova S., Kuntyatina V. Educational project «Identity of creative industries of the Nizhny Novgorod region» [Electronic resource]. — Available at: https://hsedesign.ru/project/69613ecef6104532825d1b598a07a554 (accessed 13.12.2025).
