On Track St. Thomas is delighted to unveil its new branding and website for the Elevated Park project, designed and built by Ellipsis Digital of London.
The collaboration came out of a fortuitous meeting between On Track’s president, Serge Lavoie, and Ellipsis’ VP Strategy, Shawn Adamsson. Adamsson, one of the creative forces behind Ellipsis’ recent move into the London Roundhouse—the city’s sole remaining roundhouse, a structure built for repairing steam locomotives—had caught “train fever,” and met Lavoie at an event at the Elgin Country Railway Museum in St. Thomas. Like the Roundhouse, the Michigan Central Railroad Locomotive Shops, which houses the railway museum, is a monument from the days of railway dominance in the region.
Ellipsis President David Billson says that the parallels between the railways and the Internet are intriguing: “They’re both cutting-edge technologies of their time, technologies that connect people, diminishing distances and closing the gaps between them.”
The On Track Team is thrilled by the website and the new logo, which Lavoie describes as having a “strong industrial edge, with echoes of the deco style of the 1930s.” And he praises the generosity of Ellipsis, who built the site at no cost to On Track. “The St. Thomas Elevated Park project will require strong community support and Ellipsis Digital showed leadership at the outset with this generous donation of their creative services,” states Lavoie.
The new logo is strongly influenced by Art Deco, a design style popular in 1930, the same year the current Michigan Central Bridge was built. Two previous bridges on the site were traditional wood and steel trestles, iconic of the early days of steam locomotion; the current bridge was made of concrete and introduced a clean, strong, modern design, a look perfectly reflected in the Art Deco typeface of the new logo.
The website has a modern, uncluttered design, allowing for easy navigation between the key content elements. The colour palette is muted and monochromatic, in keeping with the many historical photos that are largely black and white, or the pale, faded colours of hand-tinted lithographs popular at that time.
For his part, Adamsson says he was pleased to have Ellipsis create the site. The company has a strong commitment to its communities; the shared railway heritage of the two organizations was a compelling connection.
The new website can be found at www.elevatedpark.ca, and includes information on the history of the elevated bridge, details about the proposed park, and news about the project. Visitors can also sign up for updates about STEP.
About On Track St. Thomas
The organization was formed in 1994 as a non-profit community economic development agency focused on the strong railway heritage of St. Thomas and area. It is has been instrumental in such projects as the rescue of the CASO Station, inauguration of the Iron Horse Festival and coordination of the many rail-themed murals adorning downtown St. Thomas.
For further information, contact:
Serge Lavoie, President
Phone: (519) 859-7763
admin@elevatedpark.ca
About Ellipsis.Digital
Ellipsis.Digital (a division of rTraction Canada, Inc.) is a London, Ontario-based digital agency that helps businesses and nonprofit organizations deepen the connection between online engagement and offline enjoyment. Visit Ellipsis at www.ellipsis.digital, follow us on Twitter @ellipsisdigital, and like us on Facebook
For further information, contact:
Rachel Berdan, CMO
Office: (519) 438-9064 x 5163
rachel.berdan@ellipsis.digital