RETHINKING HISTORY
IDENTITY + PRINT
A logo design and visual identity for Rethinking History, a tours company in Washington, D.C., shedding light on the history of the capitol’s monuments through the lens of the marginalized.
LOGO
The overlap between the monogram’s R and H forms an icon representing a human being as seen in profile, visually communicating the brand’s mission: to spark dialogue and invite reflection. This graphic is also leveraged throughout the rest of the broader visual identity.
DESIGN
RETHINKING HISTORY
MONOGRAM
DESIGN
RETHINKING HISTORY
BRAND BOOK
A concise brand book outlining the Rethinking History visual identity ensured the logo, color, type, and other brand elements would all be used consistently across collateral.
BRAND AWARENESS
As a new brand, Rethinking History needed a big, bold visual identity to attract new customers.
DESIGN
RETHINKING HISTORY
MAXIMUM VISIBILITY
The filled counter inside the monogram’s capital R allowed the logo to be used as a large layout element, with a content area located directly within it. This ensured the logo would be visible at a distance, in flyers or in thumbnails, creating maximum brand awareness in early campaigns. Potential customers could then get the details simply by getting closer or clicking in.
BRAND COLORS
The Rethinking History palette features a selection of colors significant to various historical movements and communities.
VARIABLE
COLOR
A variable color system was devised for the Rethinking History brand, allowing the logo to be recolored for each of the company’s primary tour offerings.
RETHINKING HISTORY
MNEMONIC
VALUES
RGB & CMYK values were adjusted to be memorized by the client quickly.
CORE
COLOR
The brand’s core green represents what came before the monuments of Washington, D.C.: the land itself.
DESIGN
BLACK
HISTORY
Gold is one of the three colors of the Black History Month flag, representing the riches of Africa.
DESIGN
RETHINKING HISTORY
INDIGENOUS
HISTORIES
Turquoise is part of the flags and seals of the Piscataway Conoy and Pamunkey tribes, and is a mix of the blue and green from the Nanticoke Nation’s flag—tribes native to the lands in and around Washington, D.C.
LGBT+
HISTORY
Pink has been used prominently for LGBT+ movements throughout history, most iconically in the Silence = Death Project in the late 1980s, whose poster featured a reclaimed, inverted pink triangle.
DESIGN
RETHINKING HISTORY
WOMEN’S
HISTORY
Purple has been a color used across many women’s rights movements throughout history, as far back as the women’s suffrage movements of the early 1900s.
DESIGN
NEUTRALS
RETHINKING HISTORY
BRAND EXTENSION
The Rethinking History brand book included usage guidelines and examples for the various ways the visual elements from the logo could be applied across collateral.
DESIGN
RETHINKING HISTORY
LOGO
AS PATTERN
The Rethinking History logo can be reflected and repeated to create a tiling pattern, revealing the the human iconography in full.
RETHINKING HISTORY
DESIGN
PATTERN
RETHINKING HISTORY
THE
HUMAN
The human element from the logo can be placed on its own as a graphic in layout, and used as a frame for relevant photography to feature monuments, local landmarks, and other tour destinations.
DESIGN
DESIGN
THE
HUMAN
RETHINKING HISTORY
RETHINKING HISTORY
THE
TIMELINE
The two-way arrow from the logo can also be used on its own in layout to show tour itineraries or historical timelines.
DESIGN
