8 Billion Minds
Brand & Graphic Design
The free online interactive learning platform volunteer-run 8 Billion Minds wanted me to create a new logo and a branding guidelines booklet. The branding they were aiming at was fun, creative and all-inclusive. Their goal was to attract interest before the launch and have the branding needed to develop their website.
The solution was to have a palette of eight colours (including black) and a logo focused on a brain. For the branding, the images would be people-based as much as possible. Illustrations/ infographics would be in a flat vector style. The font needed to be easy to read, modern and intriguing.
The biggest challenge was figuring out the logo design. Once we narrowed down the concept to a brain, it was a case of figuring out a simple style for a logo that still looked like a brain. It took some trial, error, and research, looking into how to draw a brain in general and then simplify the drawing; I also tried drawing from different angles. The second challenge was the typography rules, to make the text enjoyable to read but have rules that could be universal; this involved experimenting with different weights. The end design for the logo was a vibrant brain with six sections and a eight in the middle. I then used the colours in the logo to create shades and tints for the colour palette.
We went for a sans-serif for the font to give a modern feel, plus sans-serifs tend to work better on screens, and 8 Billion Minds plans on using very little printed media. We agreed on the Google Font IBM Plex Sans so that the developers could use the font for the website easily (as Google Fonts makes it easy to use its fonts in web design). Ultimately, we went for a more modern style for the typography guidelines, with the headline being the lightest weight.
Over the last few years, the developers and the marketing team have found it easy to follow the guidelines and create beautiful web pages and social media posts! The website is still in beta, preparing for its full launch.
8 Billion Minds
UI/UX Design
I worked on a wide range of digital projects for 8 Billion Minds, including designing parts of the online interactive learning platform itself. Some other assets I've worked on included the newsletter email template, social media, posts and banners for several social media platforms. These needed to stick with the branding while cooperating with the marketing and development team. Ensure the marketing and developing teams have all the assets to complete the rebrand and start the company's growth while sticking to the new branding.
For each project, I researched what similar companies were doing before sketching concepts shown to the team for feedback before creating the design/mock-ups. We did the final design process for the website mock-ups on Figma, which meant the developing team could easily collaborate with the design. With the marketing team, feedback and re-drafting would be a back-and-forth until we were happy with the arrangement.
The social media banners were challenging, primarily due to the ratios between each site's banners. Trying to develop a design that worked for all of them, we agreed to create a banner for each site separately after talking with the marketing team. This decision meant that I could work with one ratio and aim each design at the site, as the audience for Facebook is different from Linkedin, for example.
The end product was a universal and robust brand that demonstrated the company's values and drew more people. The assets for the marketing have helped them grow the company's audience before the site's official launch. The site mock-ups have helped make the bases for the site. Over the last few years, as the site's concept has developed, these designs have helped create a base for designing new pages/elements.
