Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) is widely recognized as a national leader in breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty through comprehensive cradle-to-career programs. Still, its presentation of that story and associated programs were often diffuse and complex, missing the opportunity to tell a bigger, more integrated impact story.

I began to refine the existing logo, so it was optimized in a small space, adjusting the logo symbol and color legibility and accessibility. Additionally, I reworked the logotype to echo the mosaics and murals found in Harlem and reconsidered its weight and formation, so Harlem sits square under the logo symbol. Inspired by the graphic in the logo, I created a dynamic visual system that could scale up and down from playful to professional. Lastly, I expanded their visual system by developing a consistent style of iconography, illustration and data visualization to ensure they have a robust graphical toolkit to develop a broad family of internal or external communication templates.

Project: Visual Identity

Role: Art Director