Logo design for public health advocacy nonprofit BiACK

The Brain Injury Alliance of Central Kentucky (BiACK) is a new, Lexington-based advocacy group for survivors of traumatic brain injury. The folks starting it up found yesIsaid via internet search and reached out for help creating a logo and brand guidelines for their new organization, which was an offshoot of the statewide group Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky.

The brief

The logo and identity design needed to acknowledge the statewide organization by either referencing or completely avoiding similarities to the larger alliance’s brand colorway and typography. The client expressed preference for bold typography, abstract design, and perhaps a circular lockup. The acronym for the organization presented a unique challenge: in most sans-serif fonts, ‘BIACK’ in all caps comes dangerously close to reading as ‘BLACK’; the logo needed to contend with that by taking measures to make the second letter very clearly legible as an ‘i.’ The organization had already decided to use a lowercase i for clarity, so that is the direction I went with for the first round of logo designs.

Logo examples

The client provided a number of reference logos to inform the design process, and provided commentary about what they liked/did not like about each:

Is one that we have used in the past? I like that its simple and the BIACK stands out but we still have the full name in there too. I don’t like the stars.

I like the feel of this. It’s clean, simple, and to me feels a bit elegant with the navy blue.

I like how the icon ties into the text and feels like one. I like that the brain isn’t a “real” brain too. I’m so over the face in all the brain logos though.

I like the icon. To me there are some scale issues with the icon and text.

I like how the different colors are used and how subtle the gradient is. The icon and the text however doesn’t feel unified.

Same as thoughts as #5 i do like the semi-abstract brain.

Logo designs: 1st round

Informed by the research above, I created the following logo concepts and variants for the client’s review. It is crucial that a logo function in a one-color format, so I presented this first round of designs mostly in black or one color as proof-of-concept.

Logo designs: 2nd round

The client chose 3-4 concepts to move to the next round, in which I incorporated their feedback into a new round of design iterations on the selected concepts, and presented them in a number of different colorways. These were the chosen concepts, their feedback on each, and my responses to that feedback.

Concept 4: State of Mind

Feedback:

4 was a unanimous vote!

-Liked the way “BiACK” is with the lowercase “i” and the “CK” is inverted.
-Like the state shows emphasis on central Kentucky
Like the combo of the state and brain
-Can we reduce some of the “lines/breaks” to make the icon less busy

My response:

I simplified the forms of the mark, reducing the number of shapes from the first version. There are variants that feature smaller shapes on the front of the brain shape that round it out, and some that omit those, letting Kentucky comprise the entire frontal lobe.

Concept 1: Hemispheres

Feedback:

-Liked how simple it is
-Really thought that the white on black version was really sharp!
-Discussion that not everyone’s first thought that the icon was a brain
-Didn’t like the lowercase “bia” and uppercase “CK”
-Like the related variant with the hexagon

My response:

I made a number of variations on the brain shape that respond to the concern that the initial shape didn’t immediately evoke ‘brain,’ and some that push the abstraction even further. Many of these use the typeface from Concept 6 (Helotypo) that the Client mentioned was favored by the group.

Concepts 2 and 6 (tied)

Feedback:

2
-Liked that is shows the state and emphasis on central KY
-Discussion on how some like that the “dot” of the “i” is incorporated into the logo and some felt that because it was “hidden” in the icon that “biack” read as the word “black”

6
-Like it was clean and simple
-Most people saw the icon as fingers
-Really like this font alot and how the round “B” compliments the circle icon

My response:

I focused mainly on iterating on Concept 2 based on feedback, while using the typeface from Concept 6 throughout this round. I did include one variation on Concept 6.

Final details

The clients opted to use the following as the basis for their visual identity:

After we worked out the typography for the logo lockup that includes the full name of the organization, I created the following brand guidelines.

Does your organization need a new logo, or a brand refresh? Contact yesIsaid today to schedule a free consultation.