I love logo design, everything about it, but especially the thought that goes on behind the process – the ‘why’ of how a new logo comes to be. When our client Global Majority came to us to update their branding and message, this was a great opportunity to explore the connection between an organization and their goals, values, and promise.
Global Majority’s current logo was about a decade old. Our job was to take the same values that had supported this logo and create a modern, forward-facing logo that would be effective across international and cultural lines.
We first met with the Global Majority board for a 3-hour charette, in which they described the organization’s mission and activities to us, in great detail. They talked about their hopes for the future, and how they were working to ensure that Global Majority affected their community.
After the charette, we went to work on ideas, and actually Spencer had to leave on business for a few days, so we worked separately during that first week. Putting together the concepts of ‘global’ and ‘majority’ I started working with circles and greater than symbols and came up with this:
I liked the idea of the ‘greater than’ symbol surrounding a circle, or globe, in that one of the things it seemed to be saying was that Global Majority’s quest for peace would be greater than all the terrible conflicts taking place in the world. Or, that their quest was somehow protective of the world. When Spencer returned, first thing, he wanted to show me what he had come up with on the plane – it was almost the exact same concept.
I took our concept into Illustrator, and after many iterations, this is what we decided on:
Time to show the client, and we presented our idea to a table of three of the Global Majority principals, taking their comments back for revisions:
We felt this logo exactly expresses the essence of Global Majority. Or as Spencer put it: the round shape of the disc is inclusive, while the angled shape is assertive. Global Majority doesn’t just say “We should all live in peace,” it provides an active, practical solution that resolves real-world conflicts without violence. The slogan “how peace happens” expresses this as well. The angled shape evokes an arrow, indicating progress. With its extended, curved arms, the angle is protecting the disc. The angled shape suggests a conference table, as seen from above. The round shapes of the lettering echo the disc, while the inner bend of the “y” echoes the angled shape. The green and blue colors are the colors of the earth. The bright hues are both contemporary and optimistic. The iconic simplicity of the design can work across cultures, independent of the local translation of the name “Global Majority.”
Global Majority is very happy with the outcome, and we’ve spent the last couple of weeks helping them update their collateral with the new brand.