In early 2023, the Stonington Historical Society had just completed a full naming and branding exploratory with a big fancy firm and they were not happy. They had a name but didn’t like the logo, typography, or color palette.
Deflated but determined not to scrap all the effort put into the project, they approached four local designers with a brief — create an identity that is welcoming and approachable, conversational and friendly, real and relatable, expansive and open-minded — and of course, be a reflection of Stonington.
I presented 5 unique, fully-developed concepts and was awarded the project. There was a clear favorite, but there were a lot of people in the decision process. Over the next six months, we tweaked, reviewed, edited, and tweaked some more. In the end, we are launching with something pretty close to my initial concept. But hey, it’s a process and I love it.
Historic Stonington’s mission is to preserve, interpret, and celebrate the history of all of Stonington. That encompasses it’s rich maritime history, two architecturally-significant museums, and a library and research center.
The typography evokes the steps of a building or a walk through time. The icon can be interpreted as a wave and a fish tail, a nod to coastal Stonington’s fishing history.
I developed a series of icons utilized on the staff’s business cards. Each icon represents a unique role within the organization.
Included in the scope of work was a refresh of the Stonington Historical Society’s website. Incorporating the new identity, color palette, and typography into the existing site was our primary objective; we also reworked the navigation, added several pages, and did a complete redesign of the home page to reflect the new look and feel and provide a better end-user experience.
Working with a vast library of images, some belonging to Historic Stonington and some of my own, updates were made to the site’s photography and promotional graphics.
The Cannon Ball is the Stonington Historical Society’s annual fundraiser. It’s a grand event that requires a grand invitation. The graphics were repurposed for banner ads, social media promos, and t-shirts.