Redesigning ES

There are a handful of different AFES groups in SA but together these are now being renamed and rebranded to ES (Evangelical Students). I made some logo designs along with the illustrious Tommy Boy and a guy named James.

As always for me, the practicalities flow seamlessly out of the theory -- even if I write most of the theory afterwards! That's system-building.

The brief:

- A logo predominantly featuring the letters ES, preferably including a cross
- The six campus names to be integrated in/with the logo

Required formats:

- Colour print publications
- Black and White print publications (including photocopies)
- Spot colour stationery
- Posters
- Hand-painted banners
- Digital publication
- T-Shirts and other screen printed merchandise

I designed the logo with two functions in mind:

- Communicating ES's identity
- Distinctive visibility (brand recognition) in the campus context

Assuming the logo would be most meaningful for Christians, it therefore needed to be:

- Congruent with the group's outward purposes
- Something that ES students can proudly own as their own branding
- Intriguing to non-Christians

Central to these things, I aimed for design integrity in the uni student context, based on:

- "Slickness": A coherence of design avoiding the "dynamic" Church 2.0 logo on one hand and the "funky" or "grungy" youth group logo on the other.
- "Edginess": A design that is distinctively Christian whilst transforming the traditional style of Christian motifs.

In the design process I aimed to achieve these things through:

- Maximum simplicity and adaptability without being straight-laced
- A dominant cross motif in the style of a plus-sign rather than a traditional cross
- Strong typeface and motif

The looming distortion of the cross indicates:

- Dynamism: Whatever this groups stands for is vibrant and living.
- Identity: The letters ES are implied spaces so, in the logo, the cross quite literally defines ES. The letters are also somehow under the cross just as the crucified Christ dominates ES's identity.

The distortion also keeps the cross from looking like Red Cross.

Below are some other design concepts (from both before and after) hovering around the same ideas.