The Brief
NEXT400 is an organization which connects Africans, African-Americans and all other people in the African diaspora for the purpose of business & economic development, social awareness and community education. The name came from acknowledging the past 400 years of inequality and committing the next 400 years towards creating a legacy of wealth and community.
To bring awareness of this organization, a brand identity and digital presence needed to be established.
The Solution
The goal was to create a custom logo design for the organization to establish their brand presence as they embark on a mission to start a movement. Various applications such as apparel & stationery were designed to further reflect the brand.
While the full website is still in development, a landing page was created with the purpose of providing concise information about the company & collecting a list of subscribers for those who want to connect with this movement.
The Logo
Overview
The goal of the logo was to convey the idea of community, wealth, and rising up. NEXT400 has requested the logo design have a fun and exciting feel to it with characteristics of:
- Movement
- Energy
- Wealth
- Community
- Prosperity
The Logo
Sketches
After identifying the goals and doing research, I worked on various concept sketches to flush out my ideas. This stage is important to let ideas fly.
The Logo
Concepts
From the sketches I chose three concepts to further develop to used to present to the client. At this stage I focused more on the form and presented each design in black.
Concept 1
The Crown
The concept of this logo was to convey the idea of community, wealth, and rising up. A crown element and a representation of 4 people banding together was incorporated.
Concept 2
Breaking The Cycle
The idea behind this concept was to depict a track field, which is 400 meters long, to represent the past 400 years. The break in the middle represents breaking the cycle, while the inner shapes represent expansion of people.
Concept 3
Afro-Minimal
This design focused more on the use of type and African patterns to convey a chic vibe.
The Logo
Final Version
The Client ultimately went with the 1st concept design. After some color exploration a green & dark gray combo was chosen as the main color scheme.
Two additional colors were also included as alternate color schemes:
- Dark Red – This color was chosen to represent the passion of the people.
- Gold – This color was chosen to represent the wealth & prosperity of one of the goals of NEXT400.
Applications
Apparel & Face masks
Various apparel items were designed to reflex the brand and the multiple color scheme combos.
Face masks were one of the more focused items. During this time of Covid-19 & the tense racial climate, engaging messages were created & displayed on face masks to inspire the movement towards creating the ideals of NEXT400.
The Website
Landing Page
The landing page was designed in a clean style to reflect a professional and engaging presence with images that compliment the overall message of NEXT400. The overall goal of the landing page is to inform visitors and invite them to sign up to learn more as the organization grows and get updates on the website.
