The goal for this project was to develop a creative visual identity for Black History Month. Starbucks used the designs created, both internally and externally during the month's celebrations.
The work began with a creative exploration of various forms of inspiration, with the help of the team's consult.
For the type lockup, the foremost goal was legibility, but we wanted to add a little character to the text layout. After working through some options, we chose a variable width typeface and went to work on experimenting with which letters would be wide and which would be regular width, and how they would all sit together to strike the best balance of style and readability.
As far as color goes, we definitely wanted to retain the core black and yellow colors that have been such a strong presence in previous BPN campaigns. We also thought that it would be a really great change of pace to add some additional bright and lively colors to the palette. In our research for this project, we kept being struck by the amount of life and vibrancy that has been consistently represented in the fashion, art, and history of the Black community. Naturally, we wanted to bring that vibrancy into this project as well. Lastly, we made sure to incorporate some Starbucks colors to signal the commitment that we have as a company to partner with the people of the Black community.
For the graphic work, the main challenge was to strike a balance of honoring the culture and the history around the month we are celebrating, while also creating something fresh and new without approaching kitschy territory. We really wanted to get this right, so we dug into some research.
One of the main items we found to be of great influence throughout the project was traditional kente (ken-tay) cloths. We found several unique, genuine examples of this kind of historically beloved hand-touched art, and used those images as an inspiration for a lot of the work.
Admittedly, I was a little nervous to create this artwork. I’m obviously not a member of the community that I was creating for, but I do care immensely how this project was perceived, and what it communicates and stands for. So, I pressed on to create these backgrounds as a cornerstone for the remainder of the creative assets.
I started by simply creating vector images in Illustrator but quickly pivoted to creating those same images by hand, in Procreate. We really wanted this whole project to feel “hand touched”, so that little bit of imperfection went a long way toward accomplishing that.
So, here’s where we landed! The team, including the BPN was thrilled with the results of our collaboration. What you’re seeing in the shirt and in these digital assets is those hand-drawn interpretations of the really beautiful, hand-woven traditional cloths found during our research.
You’ll notice that on the digital pieces, there is a pattern that looks like scales and a sun rising. The scales symbolize Starbucks Siren, and the rising sun symbolizes looking toward tomorrow. This is just a simple reminder to us to keep in mind our responsibility, as a team and as an organization, to honor and support the Black community whenever we have the opportunity.
The shirt design was especially important for us to get right. We wanted the design on the back to be clearly visible from a distance. We also wanted to make sure that the phrase on the front of the shirt was center stage because the messaging was important to the Black Partner Network. Partners all over the country donned this tee during Black History Month and beyond.
There was a line in the project creative brief that stood out to us – it stated, “Our culture is present and alive”. The hope was that we captured that sentiment in our design work. We were inspired to create something that mixed traditional and modern, to blend that feeling of community and connection with the feeling of heritage and hand touch. We wanted to make sure that the final design represented all of these things well.
Hopefully, each individual who sees this art will view it as something that harkens back to a very proud history, and at the same time, keeps us looking towards the future.
