Queen’s Alumni Review

With a refresh of its physical publication underway, Queen’s asked Takt to help bring its new design to life online in a way that reflects the university’s pioneering spirit.
A New Home for Italian Culture at NYU
Since our inception, Massive has elevated purpose-driven organizations into iconic brands that captivate and inspire. It’s driven us to collaborate with hundreds of visionary partners, like Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò (“Casa” for short), to rewrite legacies and forge identities that stand the test of time.
With Casa, we worked hand in hand to weave a vibrant tapestry of heritage, modernity, and inclusivity into a brand that resonates within the mosaic of New York City’s culture, all while amplifying Casa’s vision to help cultivate a deeper collective appreciation for—and understanding of—the world around us.
Our engagement with Casa began with pinpointing a foundational goal: to distill and articulate Casa’s essence within New York University‘s overarching branding framework, ensuring it resonated deeply with a diverse and ever-expanding audience. This required a meticulous exploration of Casa’s identity, values, and aspirations through collaborative working sessions that would form the groundwork for a brand strategy reflective of the institute’s rich cultural heritage and culturally connective vision.
Central to our strategy recognize Casa’s role as a champion of the humanities – a position deeply intertwined with ideas originally set forth during the Renaissance and humanism’s core values, like mutual respect, freedom of thought, and the human right to knowledge. This historical backdrop was so pertinent because it served as the springboard for all of Casa’s endeavours—from hosting open and free events to producing documentaries and everything in between—underpinning the brand’s narrative with a sense of intellectual and cultural exploration that transcends geographical and temporal boundaries.
One primary challenge was navigating the visual alignment with NYU’s branding while ensuring Casa’s unique identity shone brightly. The relationship with NYU set a foundational colour scheme governed by the university’s iconic purple. While representing NYU’s identity, this hue required a thoughtful counterbalance to reflect Casa’s dedication to Italian culture and heritage.
Our solution was a visual symphony that embraced Gotham, a font that mirrored the architectural elegance and sophistication found in Italy’s storied cities, providing a subtle nod to both NYU’s modernity and Italy’s classical beauty.
NYU Casa Italia saw a +70% increase in organic search traffic, enhancing visibility and engagement with a global audience.
NYU Casa Italia achieved a +71% increase in page views, boosting user interaction and content engagement across the site.
Streamlined UX and clear calls to action resulted in an 80% increase in event counts across the new website.
Optimized SEO and more intuitive user-flows kept users on-site longer and resulted in an 82% jump in total sessions.
The site’s SEO optimization and increased search engine visibility resulted in a 52% increase of new users following the website’s launch.