Pentagram has named and designed a new identity for April Housing, an affordable housing portfolio company formed by Blackstone. The new company was set up to oversee Blackstone’s recently acquired affordable housing portfolio, making it the largest ever private capital investment in affordable housing.
Blackstone’s Real Estate and Brand Transformation teams partnered with strategists Andrew Essex and Will Davie to define the company's purpose, positioning, and values. As a dominant player in this space, April aims to become a thought leader and innovator within affordable housing, leveraging its scale to help close the nation’s chronic affordability gap by both creating and preserving quality affordable housing.
Essex and Davies coined the company’s name: April. Emblematic of the renewed energy and optimism the company seeks to bring to the affordable housing conversation, the word itself comes from the Latin word aperire, meaning “to open”.
The logo, developed by Pentagram, follows this theme. Five petals form a flower around a home sitting in the center representing the coalition of stakeholders – from local communities to developers to residents – working in concert. Together, the name and mark feel like a breath of fresh air, reflecting the company’s fresh optimism that affordable housing solutions are achievable—at scale.
The logo uses blends of colors which animate in digital applications, signaling innovation, momentum and energy.
