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Graphic Design & 3D Visualization — 2017 · Competition Pitch

MTN HQ

MTN HQ ground-floor lobby: a man in a blue and green printed shirt walking past the cafeteria glazing with its yellow geometric film and white food icons, the yellow and teal directory panel on the wall, and a flock of yellow paper planes climbing the stair soffit.

An invited 2017 pitch for the environmental graphics and way-finding system of MTN House — the newly constructed five-storey headquarters of the largest telecom brand in Ghana — developed with James Cubitt Interiors.

The proposal was remitted to James Cubitt Interiors, the interior design section of architects James Cubitt coordinating the construction and interiors of the new headquarters in Accra's central business district. We didn't get the job, but we loved the exploration of the concept we developed: a platform for optimal collaboration between design and technology.

The system connects people to place, brand, and built environment — a way-finding approach that engages personal smart devices, an experiential interactive environment, and live brand engagement woven through the building. The graphic language is built on the SIM card and paper-plane motif, a play on connectivity and free-spirited forward thinking, carried through a bold colour palette, region-identification pictograms, elevator signs, an interactive way-finding kiosk, panel and lightbox systems, posters, and wall art — with the ambient interventions further explored in 3D.

MTN HQ lobby render: the yellow ground-floor directory and black floor-stack panel on a white wall beneath a climbing flock of yellow paper planes, a man in a striped polo walking past at the left.
MTN HQ access lobby: a row of stainless tripod turnstiles between a timber-slat wall and a white wall printed with giant pale paper-plane shapes, small yellow planes flying toward the glazed corridor beyond.
MTN HQ ground-floor lobby: a man in a blue and green printed shirt walking past the cafeteria glazing with its yellow geometric film and white food icons, the yellow and teal directory panel on the wall, and a flock of yellow paper planes climbing the stair soffit.
MTN HQ reception atrium: a curved white desk beside a full-height column and a ribbed timber wall, with the yellow Y'ello wordmark applied to the glazing in front of a dark marble stair hall and sunlight striping the pale floor.
MTN HQ visitor lounge: grey modular sofas and a glass table before a marble wall carrying six vertical photo blades of faces in yellow and the lit words making lives brighter, with a black world map reading 22 countries 250.1m subscribers at one end and full-height glazing to the canopy beyond.
MTN HQ typography sheet: Myriad Pro listed in Bold, Semi-Bold and Regular under orange headings, the alphabets, numerals and punctuation in grey, and a large yellow Y'ello wordmark at the bottom right.
MTN HQ palette sheet: Primary Colors bars in yellow, teal-blue and red above Secondary Colors in amber and near-black, each swatch labelled with its hex and RGB values in white italics.
MTN HQ pictogram set: seven black icons on white for a seated booth, a standing figure, a treadmill, a high table with a drink, a desk, a meeting table with a screen, and a wheelchair symbol.
MTN HQ cafeteria sign shown in perspective and flat: a diagonally cut panel with a teal field carrying a pale-blue figure drinking at a high table and a yellow field lettered cafeteria in teal lowercase above a rule, braille and a paper-plane mark.
MTN HQ open office sign studies: eight arrangements of the yellow panel and teal number triangle for floor 02, with accounts and customer service listed under rules and the plane mark moving corner to corner.
MTN HQ room sign grid: two dozen yellow and teal panels in the same cut format for open office, gym, meeting room, cafeteria and wash room, several carrying the floor number 01 and a tinted pictogram.
MTN HQ ground-floor directory in perspective and flat: the yellow panel's black building silhouette above reception, meeting rooms, telepresence room, cafeteria and rest room with plane arrows and braille, beside a black ground floor totem with stacked floor plates and a QR code.
MTN HQ floor 01 directory colourways: five versions of the same panel, yellow on yellow and yellow on black, listing reception, meeting rooms, open office and wash room above a QR code to a virtual map.
MTN HQ floor 01 directory colourways with a watermark: the same five panels carrying a faint globe silhouette behind the braille block at the foot.
MTN HQ lift and stair blade sign in four model views: a black panel with a lift icon, up-and-down triangles and a climbing figure, carried on an angled teal bracket that wraps the wall edge.
MTN HQ graphic wall and totem in four model views: a black world map lettered 22 countries and 250.1m subscribers in yellow and grey, with a freestanding screen showing a yellow MTN Nkomode advert.
MTN HQ making lives brighter wall piece in three model views: six staggered vertical photo blades of customers dressed in yellow, spaced with yellow battens, beside the raised and underlined lettering.
MTN HQ stairwell poster in two colourways: a near-empty battery icon above burn calories use stairs, set black on white and teal on yellow with a paper-plane mark at the foot.
MTN HQ wall band: a teal surface in alternating tone panels scattered with small yellow paper planes that thicken toward the right.
MTN HQ wall band in its tonal variant: the same paper-plane pattern worked in a barely lighter blue across the panelled teal surface.