Hasta La Ideas

Our friends at Duffy & Partners are taking their hometown for a ride—in a good way. Among the branding and design firm’s latest projects is developing the name and identity for Minneapolis’s new bicycle share program, one of the first in the United States (merci, Paris!). While descriptive, Minneapolis Bike Share Program doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, so Duffy & Partners decided to go with Nice Ride Minnesota. “The name, Nice Ride, pays homage to the cultural reference of ‘Minnesota Nice,’ while also capturing the ‘nice’ traits of the program,” said Joe Duffy, the firm’s chairman and principal, in a press release. “It’s a nice way to get around town, it’s a nice way to be green, and it’s already part of the biking culture vernacular, as in ‘hey, nice ride!'” The identity created by Duffy & Partners (pictured above) will be on the bikes, bike kiosks, banners, t-shirts, website, and all collateral for Nice Ride. Set to launch next May with 1,000 bikes in 80 self-service kiosks throughout Minneapolis, the program recently received a $1.75 million grant and will eventually expand to St. Paul and other high-density neighborhoods around the Twin Cities.