Grist
Upstatement asked me if I’d be interested in designing a new logotype for Grist. Grist is really cool because since 1999 they have… well, in their words:
Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Our goal is to use the power of storytelling to illuminate the way toward a better world, inspire millions of people to walk that path with us, and show that the time for action is now.
Yeah, I was totally interested. Upstatement had done an intensive amount of incredible research and thinking and gave me a wonderfully thorough brief. (Read their case study!) My role in the project was to create a logotype that:
- Was authoritative and open-minded.
- Was provocative and optimistic.
- Was reflective of the 21st century ideas of community.
- Was eye catching when seen on social media.
At this point in the process, Grist and Upstatement were determining what the tone of the branding should be, so I started my part of the process by showing them a whole bunch of drawings of the letter G. I figured that the G would be the most prominent part of the logotype and, in all likelihood, it would be the social media profile image for Grist. Also, the letter G is fun to draw. I gave them a very wide range of voices from stodgy serifs to chummy sans serifs and asked them to think with their gut about which one(s) felt right.
They narrowed it down to five, but there was a strange one that was the clear frontrunner. It was one that was a quick doodle I made in response to a “possibly use collage as part of the storytelling” note in the brief. My thought was, “Hey, what if I collage together part of a sans and part of a serif and make it clear that they are very different from each other?” The rest of the process was mostly figuring out what the s should look like and trying to make the logotype look as good as their signature “celery” green that I love so much.
Commissioned Work
