Graphic Design Studio: Black Women’s Resilience Project

At the end of February, our studio met with clients Khea Pollard (Jewish Family Service) and Jessica Barlow (the Sage Project) to discuss the upcoming program, Black Women’s Resilience Project (BWRP). BWRP is a new initiative that supports low-income Black women in San Diego, primarily through guaranteed income and other community-based resources. In the hopes of fostering economic mobility and generational wealth, BWRP aims to redefine the existing models currently used to aid underserved and marginalized communities, starting with one of the most vulnerable populations. We were tasked with developing BWRP’s branding from scratch, including logos, colors, typefaces, patterns, and additional collateral. We were also asked to provide potential name options for the project, as the original name “Black Women’s Resilience Project” was perceived to be too long and better fitting for a tagline. There are three main groups that BWRP is targeting: those who are eligible to receive funding, potential funders for the initiative, and elected officials and staff, with a focus on policymakers. With the launch of this project, BWRP aims to remove the stigma surrounding those who receive support from similar programs. Additionally, BWRP hopes to heighten the understanding of their line of work among San Diegans. Keeping the goals and target audience of BWRP in mind, there were several approaches within our design team. Some explored different name options, while others worked with the existing name and acronym. Some worked solely with the letterforms within their logotype, while others created symbols that could work with the name or by itself.