Democratic Knowledge Project, Harvard University-Brand Identity
THE BRIEF
The Democratic Knowledge Project (DKP) is a K-16 civic education provider based at Harvard University. They offer curriculum development resources, professional development workshops for educators, and assessment tools and services—all in support of education for democracy.
DKP co-designed an open source year-long Grade 8 Civics Course with the Cambridge Public School District which is open source and available to all Massachusetts educators.
They needed to build their brand identity which would position themselves as a leading provider who disseminates the knowledge and skills for a healthy democratic life.
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THE DESIGN SOLUTION
The final logo concept was a typography-based solution, inspired by the vernacular or protest posters and signage. The combination of the letter mark with the wordmark centers around the name thus conveying a sense of confidence, history, and stability. The DKP letter mark was created using a customized weight and letters of Whitney Font - a humanist, friendly, and highly readable sans serif font. The letter p is purposely lengthened to express verticality, a sense of action, and boldness.
Purple was chosen as the main color for the brand as a metaphor for its symbolic reflection of bi-partisan unity.
