While working at Reason One, I was introduced to one of the not-for-profit groups run through St. Stephen’s Community House (now a part of the Neighbourhood Group) called Higher State of Mind. They’re and outreach and education program for at risk youth in the Etibicoke and Rexdale area in Ontario. Their programs educate and provide youth with a safe place to gain information about their issues. They provide mentorship and resources for issues like drug misuse, abuse, mental health and trauma, and other youth-related issues. They came to Reason One to help create a logo for their program and a series of outreach posters initially outlined for print design.
These are a small sample of the logos I used as inspiration initially. They're designs that would play off of the idea of getting high and higher thinking. I also used fun and quirky typefaces as shown above as potential design routes.
Above are some of the iterations on logo design. Playing with visuals of arrows, cannabis leafs, an intricate brain, and bold typefaces.
These are the two logo designs the client wanted to see melded together. The left is the design i originally designed, the right is a design created by my design partner at the time.
The iterations I created before landing on the final logo design. I explored different usages of the speech bubble and different acronyms and using lowercase type as well. The final design allows for great usage in large scale designs and print.
Once the logos were created, the next project was the poster series. The first two in the series were designed as outreach posters to be placed in community centres, schools and gathering areas for youth. The posters were meant to depict people and language that the youth would resonate with. The design is eye catching, artistic and has flare. I did not take these photos or edit them but the lighting and original composition of these photos is exquisite. It provides a moodiness and angst that can be felt. The addition of the yellow splatters and jagged outlines help to create this additional layer of grunge and roughness that these youth will be drawn to and relate with.
