Arielle Shekel

Graduation project at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem, 2012. On April 1st 2015, the design became the official logo of the University.

Background

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), established 1925, is Israel’s first and most prestigious university, and its leading research institution. HUJI is ranked internationally among the 100 leading universities. Its audience is potential and present students and researchers, faculty, alumni and donors.

The Challenge

The Hebrew University regards itself as a symbol of Israeli culture, as an educator of Israel’s future generation and as Israel’s largest center of knowledge. However all this is often obscured due to HUJI's controversial location on the border of East and West Jerusalem, an “archaic” perception amongst young Israelis, multiple campuses and faculties and an obsolete and inconsistent appearance. This graduation project rebranded the iconic institution by examining its history and implementing this equity with HUJI's present and future values. The new branding creates a fresh, exciting and relevant visual identity, while bringing forward HUJI's long legacy.

The Solution

Due to the University's significant history, the initial approach was to research the “design heritage” of the institution. Upon discovering its rich and neglected graphic legacy, it became clear that the design concept should revive the beautiful typography and aesthetic of the past, while creating a new, innovative identity. This was accomplished by updating the historic logo, and refreshing a forgotten proprietary font. A trilingual graphic system and a visual language was created by geometrically deconstructing the old logo and adding new colors with a fresh meaning, thus achieving the goal of combining old and new, past, present and future.

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2013 "Brand New Awards" International branding competition, Student Category

Bezalel Academy's Sandberg Prize 2012 The prize is awarded for extraordinary achievements as presented in a personal exhibition by graduates of the department’s fourth-year students.

Bezalel Academy's Annual Prize for Israeli Design in Honor of Shmuel Schestowitz 2012 The prize is awarded for extraordinary achievements and innovation in Israeli design.

Ananas, a startup I conceived and founded while at Google's "30 Weeks" accelerator, is an educational platform that enables children from around the world to communicate, teach and experience each other’s language and culture. Ananas aims to encourage tolerance, empathy and cross cultural dialogue by facilitating basic communication skills for kids everywhere.

"Ananas" means "pineapple" in almost every language... except English!

The platform enables a chat like environment for kids in which they teach each other their respective languages. Prompted by flash cards and icons, each child teaches and learns a new language from a real peer on the other side.

If children around the globe could become friends from a young age, maybe they would grow up to be more tolerant and open minded? What if kids could teach each other about their cultures through simple and beautiful things in life… What do you eat for breakfast in Tokyo? What does first grade look like in Beirut? How do you sing happy birthday in French?

The infrastructure Ananas creates will enable the cultivation of real friendships between children around the world from a young age, exposing them to each other’s cultures and backgrounds in a way that has never been done before. Ananas will drive social impact and global citizenship by raising a more tolerant, open minded and culturally aware generation.

For more information: ananaskids.co

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This project was initiated during 30 Weeks, a founders program for designers sponsored by Google and in collaboration with Hyper Island, SVA, Pratt, Parsons and The Cooper Union, 2015.

wellb is a platform which enables people to lead healthier lives by significantly improving clients’ access to wellness providers and services. wellb also expands wellness providers’ access to clients, thereby boosting business.

The app focuses on one-on-one services, providing the user with a personalized experience based on their health goals. Wellness seekers can search, find and book a wide variety of new wellness modalities and services. All wellness providers are pre-screened for experience and qualifications.

After receiving feedback from their current users, wellb decided to redesign their app based on their learnings.

The Challenge

There were many challenges in rethinking the UX of wellb. wellb offers a wide variety of wellness services and sessions. The platform is built on four main categories - Move, Relax, Mind and Heal. Within each of these four categories there are hundreds of subcategories, which in themselves contain an even more granular breakdown of services (for instance - Mind contains the Yoga category, which contains specific types of Yoga such as Iyengar, Ashtanga, Kundalini, etc.). From a brand and UX standpoint the main challenge was to introduce wellb as a platform which offers essentially every type of wellness service that comes to mind, while simultaneously creating a clean, easy-to-navigate menu which helps the users find exactly what they are seeking. 

The Solution

The main carousel menu allows the user to view the four main categories easily, without leaving the screen or sifting through long lists. Each category is represented by a color, which appears on all inner screens. After choosing a category, The user enters the list of available sessions near them, and can narrow the search by selecting the specific type of session they want, using a carousel menu at the top of the screen. In addition, the user can choose where, what time and how much they wish to pay for the session, by accessing a preferences side menu, located on the top right of the screen. By doing so, the user can choose to specify their search through many variables, while still experiencing a clean, seamless interface.

Another challenge that was addressed in the design was consolidating each wellness providers' sessions by showing the different times they offer these treatments in one tab, thus preventing endless lists of sessions, with the same provider repeating multiple times.

CUBE is a new Master's program being developed at Columbia University Business School. The program will integrate Business, Engineering, Design and Storytelling, as the four disciplines required for bringing an idea to reality. 

I helped found and build the Infrastructure of the program and establish connections to the NYC design community, in addition to conceiving its name and branding.

The Challenge

On one hand the program needed to appear academic and serious, and fit within Columbia University's brand guidelines. On the other hand it had to represent innovation, imagination and playfulness in order to attract the right candidates. The main challenge was finding a name and creating a brand that is recognizable as part of Columbia University, while at the same time completely new and unexpected.

The Solution

The name CUBE contains Columbia University in it's first two letters, and represents the number four, referring to the four disciplines combined in the program. The meaning of the word "CUBE" has a different significance to each of the four disciplines enveloped within it - it is mathematical and artistic, grounded and spiritual, scientific and yet completely flexible.

The logo was designed to behave as a game. It forces the mind to think and complete the cube, that is on one hand very distinct, but on the other, extremely minimalistic and hinted.

The shade of blue was chosen from the Columbia University brand guidelines. The goal was to use the same blue that the university uses, but to create a new, fresh view of it. 

As part of the branding process I was interested in "practicing what we preach". I initiated a "brain trust" session, bringing together extraordinary young individuals from each of the four disciplines. The goal of this session was to help us think about the brand, but also to exercise the main goal of the program - to bring together four different ways of thinking and doing to ultimately build a better, stronger product. 

Double You is a curated community of business-minded women who wish to achieve professional success by nurturing their own personal fulfillment.

The “Double You” retreat is a 3 day retreat, designed to help women explore their personal motivations and boost their business. For the last retreat in November, I created the brand, and built and designed the website.

Visually The form of the butterfly resembles the letter W, and is a shape that is in essence a reflection of itself. It is a "doubled" form. Conceptually, the butterfly represents a process, and the time it takes to become somthing new. Although butterflies are known for being colorful and attractive, it is actually a trait that belongs only to male butterflies. The female butterflies are usually brown, simple and earthly.

For more information: doubleyou.life

Tuborg is one of the leading and most popular beer brands in the world. Traditionally the brand belongs to a specific Lager segment, associated with light, blonde, low-alcohol beers.

Over the years the brand Tuborg in Israel underwent many changes and was not able to maintain a unique and consistent identity. One of the reasons for this, is the fact that alongside the traditional Tuborg Green beer, The Central Bottling Company (CBC), in charge of marketing the beer, introduced Tuborg Red, an Amber, dark-lager beer, created to compete with the popular Israeli Goldstar beer. Over the years, CBC recognized that Tuborg Red was becoming very popular in Israel, and therefore proceeded to improve the blend, creating a rich and unique tasting beer characterized by a dark amber color.

Challenge

The first challenge was to create a new relevant positioning for Tuborg Red. The beer, known worldwide as a light beer, was now to be positioned locally, as a dark, rich tasting beer. Another challenge was the need to develop a unique brand identity and story, to make Tuborg appealing and clearly differentiated from the Israeli Goldstar, the most popular beer in Israel, now sharing the same beer category.

Solution

The new brand essence chosen, “Rich taste for the Experienced”, is a result of the actual changes created in the beer’s flavor, and the decision to target a 24+ age audience - young adults beginning to truly realise what they enjoy about life and alcohol. It is important to mention the drinking age in Israel is 18, a target audience dominated by Goldstar. In addition, we aimed to maintain the brand’s international appeal and values, placing it again “higher” than the local Goldstar beer.

By combining the brand’s traditional elements with new ones, and creating a unique infographic language, a strong brand story and identity were created.

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This work was done while working at OPEN Total Brand Experience,  branding and advertising agency, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, 2013.

Background

SAGA TLV, located adjacent to the Flea Market in Jaffa, is an initiative of my family and I. The SAGA began from our family's combined passions for art, design, street art, real estate, and the urge to share and present this in Tel Aviv. It is a unique concept, combining a working space, a gallery and a residence for selected artists. SAGA believes in providing opportunities for the development of art and reinvesting in the artistic community.

The Challenge

Co-founding the space with my family was an interesting challenge. Starting with my father acquiring the unique real-estate, I helped develop the concept for the space, met with various key figures in the Israeli and international art field, and created the brand identity. The opening of the space in June 2014, only 2 months after beginning the renovation, attracted over 1,000 visitors.

The Solution

SAGA is a dynamic platform for contemporary art and design with an outlook to the future. It presents an innovative approach to art in different media and provides the audience a glimpse into the working processes of local and international, well known and promising artists. 

Nick Kuszyk, aka RROBOTS, a world-renowned artist from Brooklyn New York, was the first solo exhibition presented at SAGA in June 2014. His monumental murals and street art, which are recognizable for their color and spatial themes, often incorporating robots and other ethereal bodies, can be seen on and in various buildings around the globe. 

This exhibition was the starting point of a multidisciplinary space, which will host a diverse range of artists and designers – each with his own story. 

airSwap is an application that aims to optimize seating arrangements and enables passengers to trade seats with others on the same flight.

airSwap’s trading engine creates a customizable exchange in which passengers can either request or offer seats to others, and then trade seats within a window of time, starting 2 hours before pushback and ending within 10 minutes of boarding. The airline will be in control of the process and will set the payment parameters, whether free, for a set fee/miles, or a pure marketplace where passengers themselves determine the amount/miles they are willing to pay or receive to exchange seats, with the airline receiving a percentage of completed exchanges. 

The Challenge

The concept and research of this app were developed by Columbia University Engineering and Business School students. After the idea was validated, the challenge was to create a seamless and quick flow and user experience. From a B2B perspective, airSwap was to behave as a "white-label" brand, able to adapt to any airline that would wish to implement this service.

The Solution

Besides displaying the user's name and seat based on a ticket scanned or uploaded, the main navigation screen offers only two main functions - the ability to offer your ticket, or request a new one. When choosing one, the user begins the process of swapping, visually guided by the color of the function chosen. The design is simple and flexible, allowing airlines to  easily implement their brand colors and graphic language to create a credible, "on-brand" experience.

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This project was designed and developed at Columbia University, in collaboration with Engineering and Business School students, 2016

Martella (Italian for 'hit it with a hammer')  is a high end leather bag company, founded in Florence by Idan Yosefov.

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Designed in collaboration with Nadav Barkan, 2014

Background

El Al is the leading and preferred brand in the Israeli aviation industry; however, in recent years it has dealt with aggressive competition against other traditional international airlines, Israeli companies and low-cost players who have started operating flights to Israel.

The main reason for the Israeli community’s preference of El Al is the strong feeling of safety that is also tied to high standards of security, national pride and a connection to the Israeli nature. In light of the increased competition in recent years, one of the main barriers for El Al has been the perception of expensive pricing.

‘Low cost’ is the most developing and growing concept in the global aviation. In Israel, however, this field is still in its infancy: operations are still limited in the number of operating companies and the number of destinations. The Israeli community, which is known on the one hand for flying frequently and on the other for being “price biased”, is not yet familiar with the concept and does not understand the differences between low cost companies and traditional airline companies.

The Challenge

The challenges we were facing were great and significant.

The first challenge: an opportunity to launch a new “concept” in the aviation industry in Israel and to take ownership over it, and who else is more suitable for such a task than El Al.

The second challenge: the need to launch a model of operations that is significantly different from the familiar model of El Al, all without damaging a brand that is well known and loved. A model that includes a minimal flight and service experience alongside a new pricing method: purchasing one-way tickets at a base price and paying separately for any additional flight service.

The third challenge: defining a real differentiation against the direct competition, mainly based on low prices offered by other low cost companies, who have international reputations and experience.

The Solution

The first decision we made was to build an independent brand (with a unique identity and a differentiated holistic experience) with a link to the El Al brand, that being associated with it constitutes an integral part of its differentiation in the category. The positioning defined for the brand is inexpensive flights from a good home.

Additionally, in order for us to “market” the actual concept of ‘low cost’ in Israel properly and take ownership over it without only addressing the cheap price, the branding essence that was chosen emphasizes a substantial and relevant value for the target community: “allowing you to choose”. This approach allows the brand to tell the real story behind the low cost concept, namely the modular pricing model that constitutes, inter alia, the real reason for the cheap pricing. Additionally, this approach allows the brand to create a unique story against the direct competition.

In order to maintain a certain link to El Al, but at the same time to transmit a separate energy, we chose the name “UP” for the brand, a name that correlates with the meaning of the name “El Al”.

The brand language that we developed brings typical characteristics of low cost brands, alongside certain anchors maintaining the link to the umbrella brand and characteristics emphasizing the essence of the brand – The Choice. That is how we chose UP main color to be light blue, the clouds to be the main brand tool, we built a series of unique icons for each chosen flight service and we created a unique design for the brand’s air crafts that maintains the country’s flag on the tail.

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This work was done while working at OPEN Total Brand Experience,  branding and advertising agency, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, 2013.

Leafy is a dating app for vegans and vegetarians. As veganism becomes more of a lifestyle than just a dietary preference, some seem to wish to meet and mate... Without meat.

The Challenge

While the UX and UI was to refer to the familiar "swipe-left, swipe-right" genre, the design had to be playful without looking or feeling sleazy.

The Solution

The tension between "sassy" and "clean-cut" appears throughout the various design elements: the brand is clean and simple, but at the same time doesn't take itself too seriously, as seen in the tagline; the logo represents a geometric combination of the letter L, a heart and a leaf, while its typography is organic and human; the experience refers to dating apps but in its simplicity aims to create a sense of trust and community.

"Tfarim," Hebrew for stitches, is a site-specific, one night theatre event designed for Tel Aviv's Shlush Bridge parking lot. The parking lot, one kilometer long, used to be the city's first train station, built in the 1930's. Nowadays, it serves as a parking lot, located exactly at the seam between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, Tel Aviv's Arab populated neighborhood.
 
The event, designed especially for the parking lot, is a one night monologue event, bringing together Jewish and Arab actors. The parking spaces have been numbered and split into sections, as each actor recieves an exact slot and time.

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Student work in collaboration with Tal Stadler, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, 2011

The Prince is a cultural bar-cafe located on a rooftop in the heart of Tel Aviv. The building, once the first hotel in Tel Aviv, constructed in 1913, inspires the hip-vintage look and feel.

Background

Graduway is a startup company whose goal is to help academic institutions engage more effectively with their alumni, who constitute a highly valuable asset.

In an age in which social networks are playing a significant role on a personal and professional level, most schools still use traditional dated platforms, and do not take advantage of the many benefits which social networks can provide. 

Graduway recognized the need and developed a professional and tailored platform that combines the trust and exclusivity of a school brand whilst being layered and integrated with existing social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.).

The Challenge

Graduway's success depends on the platform's ability to be an authentic, relevant and unique tool for the various schools (B2B), while simultaneously being attractive, reliable and offering true value to its end users – the alumni (B2C). 

In a world that offers a huge variety of well-established social and professional networks, this was not an easy challenge. The average students are already active on a number of networks simultaneously, including professional ones which allow them to be exposed to new jobs or receive referrals and recommendations from their colleagues and friends. 

The Solution

Existing professional and alumni networks place a broad emphasis on functionality, while ignoring the emotional needs of their users. Therefore, Graduway has combined up-to-date functionality with a "white label" platform that bears the brand identity of the academic institution. This serves to strengthen its users' sense of belonging, thus increasing the engagement of the alumni with the school and among themselves.

The name Graduway expresses the school's aim, which is to help its alumni in developing their professional identity also after they have completed their studies. 

The brand promise, "Empowering Alumni Networks", strengthens the platform's primary value for academic institutions, in comparison to the solutions offered by competitors. 

The visual language draws its inspiration from the academic world and the new professional networks, while the interface designed for the schools is based on familiar features that adopt the visual identity of the school being represented. 

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This work was done while working at OPEN Total Brand Experience, branding and advertising agency, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, 2012.

Series of 3 posters, as hommage to Michael Jackson. Each poster, sized 1x1.4m (40"x55"), presents a portrait of a different stage of Jackson's life, and is comprised of 5 pen drawings superimposed upon each other. 

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Student work, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, 2011

Foxtrot enables users to accurately shop for clothes online, based on previous successful purchases. In 4 simple steps, Foxtrot recommends a wide range of perfectly fitting products based on the information the user provided.

Presented to me as a concept, I decided to build Foxtrot as an experimental mobile app which emphasizes the simplicity of the four step solution. In each phase the entire screen is dedicated to the one question the user must answer, while the remaining three appear as tabs at the bottom of the screen. Once a question is answered, the tab moves to the top of the screen, allowing the user to easily navigate between the four steps.

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This project was designed and developed at Columbia University, in collaboration with Engineering and Business School students, 2016

Background

Inside Out is a proposal to redesign the exterior of Paris RATP construction sites. The project examines a specific construction site, located on rue Grenier Saint Lazar, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, and attempts to use design not only as a tool to aesthetically improve the public space, but also as a means to convey a message. The site is adjacent to Metro line 11 station, Rambuteau, and is part of a citywide project to improve of the ventilation system of lines 1, 4, 6 and 11 of the Paris Metro. 

This construction site is the only “evidence” of the work taking place on the location - before it there was nothing, and after the work will be completed, there will be nothing new apparent to pedestrians, except vents. In addition, on a daily basis, people do not take notice of the Metro’s ventilation system, unless it bothers them - once corrected, this change will most probably remain invisible. In addition, this local, considerably small “chantier” (construction site) is in fact part of a much bigger system of “chantiers”, part of a much bigger project. It is evidently part of a network, one reminiscent of “lungs” or veins running through the city.

The Challenge

The project’s objective was to create a small environment on the site, that will literally “bring to the surface” the difficult and important work that is being carried out underground, and the notion of something “big” taking place under your feet.

The original fence was carefully examined, and questions regarding it were raised: what are its functional objectives?; how does it fulfill them?; and how could its design be manipulated to fulfil the intention of creating a friendlier and more communicative environment, day and night. Eventually the materials chosen and the many experiments done in cement, were part of this examination.

The Solution

The result consists of a metal fence, reading the words “respirer profondement” (take a deep breath) spelled of modular cement tiles. There are two levels of information: the main expression, spelled out of the tiles, seen from afar; and the smaller lettering, written in cement across the tiles for further information about the construction site, seen when looking close up. By implementing the materials and methods used “on site” and combining it with an interesting message, a practical, cost-efficient, aesthetic and user-friendly fence was created for the Paris Metro construction site. Though the fence’s message refers to the specific site, this word game and method can change from site to site, according to the work taking place inside, thus creating a fresh system for the RATP’s many sites across the urban landscape.

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This project was created on an exchange program at L'École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2010 in collaboration with Yonatan Elami, industrial design student

Background

Doghouse is a concept for a special cafe in Tel Aviv, for man and man's best friend, conceived by myself during a branding class while attending Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.

The Challenge

The idea to create such a cafe came to play after spending a lot of time with Guinness, a huge, black German Shepard. I realized he and his friends were not welcome in many places in the city, and didn't have a proper place of their own to dine. Many dog-owners are faced with the difficult dilemma of either compromising their favorite places, or compromising time with their best friend. Tel Aviv, due to its fabulous weather is the perfect, outdoor oriented city to test this "start-up".

The Solution

Doghouse provides both dogs and dog owners delicious and nutritious food, while allowing both species to enjoy spending time together. No need to hire a dog-sitter! The design, the tone of voice and the different elements developed, emphasize friendship and the special bond between man and his best friend.

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Student work, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, 2011