Brand and Visual Design

South Asian Women Association

  • Name: South Asian Women Association

  • Field: Brand and Visual Design

prompt

Let's create a modern brand for a female-led organization seeking to reach out to women to connect them to resources in the community

Crafting a contemporary and empowering brand identity for a female-led organization dedicated to connecting women with valuable resources in the community. This redesign aims to reflect the organization's mission of support, inclusivity, and empowerment through a modern and cohesive visual identity.

Timeline

  1. Conduct Organizational Research

    Gather insights into SAWA’s mission, values, and goals through in-depth interviews with key members to understand their vision and community impact.

  2. Identify Core Elements of SAWA’s Mission

    Analyze findings to pinpoint the essential components of SAWA’s approach to empowering women and connecting them to resources, forming the foundation for the brand’s visual direction.

  3. Design a Culturally Resonant Visual Identity

    Develop a color palette, logo, and supporting visuals that reflect the organization’s cultural roots and mission, creating a cohesive and impactful brand identity.
Journey

Insight

In my design for a brand identity for SAWA, the South Asian Women’s Association, I researched the organization, their efforts and derived the key causes of culture, communication, and collaboration. After this, I went to design colors representative of the themes of welcoming, growth, and teamwork; and then, compassion, empathy, and cause. These efforts resulted in a pink to represent compassion and love; but, unlike red, not passion, lust, and hunger. In addition, it was complimented by a lighter shade of green to represent growth, welcoming, the flow of communication, and the progress of collaboration, culture, and community—embracing tradition and welcoming the future.

Feedback

After I presented some early drafts of word- and brand-mark combinations, SAWA responded seeking something similar to stacking calligraphy, but in English, and they chose to go with the pink tone alone and wanted me to explore different shades of that and to maintain their brand of a woman in a headscarf, typical to the culture, but clean and modern in design.

Response

Worked towards designing a final brandmark emphasizing the letter "S" along with a headscarf and more relaxed/earthy romantic tones

An early draft of the SAWA brand identity wordmark SAWA and brandmarks of a woman's face and a map of South Asia
Early draft for SAWA brand with new colors and initial brandmarks.
A wordmark of stacking English letters forming the abbreviation S A W A
Stacking calligraphy.
A map of South Asia made out of points with a simple illustration of a group of 3 women towards the top
Concept inspired by pointillism of illustration of South Asia and women.
Moral

Solution

3 illustrations of a side profile of a woman in a headscarf
Brandmarks featuring the concept of profile of a face and/or headscarf

Growth

The best design is always iterative, evolving through research and refined by feedback. This project deepened my understanding of this process, particularly from a visual perspective, as I navigated one of my first independent consultations.

Impact

This project allowed me to demonstrate to the community how my understanding of psychology, refined aesthetic sense, and creative talent could be channeled into delivering meaningful and impactful services for both myself and others.