Visual Design | Illustration | Rebranding

Short Run

Transformed the visual identity of an alternative comics non-profit to spotlight the arts and creativity.

Overview

This project was completed for a spring course in visual communication at the University of Washington (UW) for which I completed a mock rebranding for Short Run, a non-profit arts organization that highlights the comic medium as a combination of art and literature, to better reflect the organization's mission and its emphasis on the arts.

My Duties

Visual design, mockups, illustration

Duration

8 weeks

Team

Just me!

Tools

Figma, Procreate

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Background Context

Who is Short Run?

Through organizing events for Seattleites including its annual Short Run Comix Festival, Short Run strives to uphold artists from the Pacific Northwest and around the world who make alternative comics or books, ensuring Seattle is considered a destination for small press artists, and a source of comic genius.

Short Run Comix Festival 2023 attendees.

The Problem

Short Run’s current visual language does not convey its emphasis on independent artists and comic books due to the absence of a clear visual identity.

Short Run's current website as depicted on mobile.

The Solution

A reimagined visual system incorporating color, playfulness, artist imagery, and illustrations, making the brand feel more quirky, artistic, friendly, and promotional.

Logo

Emphasizes artists, comics, quirkiness, friendliness, and warmth

The circle shape represents a camera observing a comic artist at work, while the "monster" hand conveys a quirky and playful sensation. Yellow portrays warmth and creativity, while blue highlights the friendliness of the brand. Alternative logos with skin tone variations were also created, representing inclusion, an aspect of Short Run's mission.

Colors

Convey warmth, creativity, and ink from a comic book

As yellow is often associated with warmth and creativity, it was chosen as the accent. An off-white color as opposed to a pure-white was utilized for the background to evoke an unconventional essence. Darker hues were used for the headers, ensuring sufficient accessibility and conveying comic book ink.

Typography

Emulates a hand-drawn and imperfect style with a playful vibe

Mochiy Pop One was used for headers, furthering the comic book aesthetic due to its hand-drawn appearance, while Nunito was used for body text, emphasizing playfulness.

Imagery

Highlights comic books, the arts, and past Short Run Festival attendees

The thick, blocky appearance of the buttons and icons symbolize comic books and playfulness. Since Short Run strives to promote independent artists, photos from past Festival vendors were incorporated into the design, while custom illustrations of quirky characters were created to make the design more inviting.

Mobile Design

Depicts an education flow, a critical part of Short Run's mission

Given that Short Run engages in community education, a task flow representing a user "wanting to learn more about Short Run's education in the community" was developed utilizing all the redesigned visual components. Key navigation links were moved to a burger menu to streamline the page flow.

High-Fidelity Prototype

Interactive Prototype

Utilizing Figma, I created a prototype to illustrate the community education flow.

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© Motolani (Mo) Shenbanjo 2024