During the Spring 2021 semester, I was a graphic design intern for the non-profit, University of Cincinnati operated organization Uhambo 8286, founded by College of Business professor Karen Manning. The goal of this organization is to bring designers and marketing/business together to work with entrepreneurs in the former apartheid community of Khayelitsha in South Africa so they can run their businesses to support themselves and their community.
Harmony With Nature Recycling
We started with moodboards. I made them based on the ground, the sea, and the planet itself (the harmony of soil and water).
I brainstormed using different ratios of green to blue. I went for colorful and a bit whimsical.
Working with Brighton Chandiwana
Harmony With Nature Recycling is a recycling service created and run by Brighton Chandiwana (he approved of shortening the name to "Harmony Recycling" for design purposes). The name comes from something his father would often tell him: that it's important to live with nature and not against it.
At first, It was slightly difficult to communicate with him because of the time difference (7 hours) and his limited internet connection. We overcame this by messaging and meeting when it was early for us, and he was getting off work for the day. He was very helpful in providing me the basis to build off of in regards to how he wanted his brand to look like.
He wanted it to be clear that he cares about the health of the planet and keeping it clean, so I thought to include more than just the usual green we see when thinking of recycling. As far as iconography, I decided leaves would communicate "health" and "growth" well, too. The one thing I wanted to avoid was the recycling triangle, as that shape didn't make sense to me. In the final logo, to echo the "earth" aspect, I decided to instead use only two semicircular arrows in a blue color. I thought keeping a cyclical element was important, which is why I went with arrows instead of a closed circle, to make it clearer.
For the final logo Brighton selected, I thought using the "keeping sustainability at the center" part of the brand promise my marketing team came up with would be a good idea. Having leaves in the middle communicates that idea well, especially if the logo and wording are seen next to each other.
