Bill Dugan — Branding

I've done a lot of branding work over the last 30+ years—everything from a quick and dirty logo for a friend to global campaigns spanning multiple years. Starting a brand from the ground up is some of the most fun creative work out there: locking the key people in a room and burning through a stack of Post-It notes, sitting down with paper and pencil at a coffee shop and noodling visual ideas, or standing in a room and talking through each concept with the client to come to the final decision—and everything in between. These are a few of my recent favorites.

10x20x30

2019

Launched in 2019, The 10x20x30 Initiative brings together 10 of the the world's largest food retailers and providers, each engaging at least 20 of their suppliers to halve food loss and waste by 2030.

Working within the limitations of the title, I used icons inside each of the zeroes to represent retail, production, and timespan. We developed several variants of the mark, using a sequence of brand colors and the parent Champions 12.3 color (itself based on the branding of the Sustainable Development Goals).

Color variants can be employed depending on the context.

NUMO

2019

The New Urban Mobility Alliance was formed in 2019 to leverage revolutions in urban transport to change the way cities work—prioritizing the movement of people, not cars. Starting from scratch, I led the key stakeholders on a naming exercise to bring the group together on a decision. From there, I convened a visioning workshop in New York City to align the group on direction, goals, and key elements around the brand.

With that research in hand, I developed a number of different visual approaches, and through careful conversations with the group, they immediately picked one and I refined it to the final mark. The concept was that of a city block looking down from above, with a crosswalk at the center of the square, using a typeface with square elements to stand in as buildings. A square, bold mark stands out in a sea of other logos, and I developed a horizontal version for smaller applications. Finally, I developed the color palette and built out a brand book to hand off to the digital team, sourcing photography and visual elements to build out a brand language.

In New York City working with the stakeholder team during the visioning exercise.

The first set of logo options (EMMA was a holdover from the initial naming group).

Safiri Electric

March 2017

Safiri Electric is a new program based in Kenya, working to electrify traditional ICE-based scooters and tuk-tuks in order to improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions, but most importantly create green jobs by training mechanics to convert existing vehicles.

Designed to be a visual quickly and easily identified on the back of a uniform jacket or the side of a gas tank, I first started by enclosing a hand-drawn wordmark inside the silhouette of a tuk-tuk. After consulting with the team, we shifted to a motorcycle deliveryman and chose colors that were different than the key delivery companies based in Nairobi to set the brand apart.

AgriAdapt

March 2017

AgriAdapt is an online tool that helps agricultural processors and distributors to identify and understand the climate change risks they face. To build something that would fit within a limited amount of screen space (as well as working within a field of other logos), I designed a simple square mark based on two leaves, pairing it with a friendly sans-serif font.

The initial flight of logo options, using WRI brand colors.

PJM Cities and Communities Coalition

2018

Electricity grids in the United States are a patchwork of local, regional, and state-based systems that grew organically through expansion and consolidation. The PJMCCC is an organization of governments inside the main Mid-Atlantic grid to advocate for clean energy and decarbonization goals.

Initially exploring geographical approaches, I then went to an aspirational representation of houses, trees, and businesses under a transmission line, contained by a bright half-circle. The colors were picked to stand out in a sea of other logos, and I paired it with a simple sans-serif font for the acronym—successfully convincing the team that spelling out the whole name would be a mistake.

Global Restoration Initiative

2015

The Global Restoration Initiative is a sweeping effort to protect and restore over 210 million hectares of forest by over 70 countries worldwide. By growing trees, revitalizing grasslands and building healthy farms, they are fighting the twin challenges of rural poverty and climate change.

The logo is centered around a distinctive typeface with organic edges and pairs it with a single leaf over the i—making the key word in the name the hero.

AFR100

2015

A program within the Global Restoration Initiative, the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) was formed to restore 100 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscape across the continent by 2030.

The concept behind this logo was born out of the shape of the letterforms in the acronym and its visual similarity to the word AFRICA; using a geometric font and lower-case letters, I spelled out the acronym and used a screen of the main color in the negative space to ghost in the details of the last two letterforms.

Since its inception, 34 African countries have committed to restore 129.5 million hectares, surpassing the original goal. I was honored to have the amazing Jane Goodall introduce the initiative and the logo during COP21 event in 2015, and it's still in use today.

Academbot

March 2012

Academbot was a website designed to help future college students find the best fit for them. After responding to a comprehensive set of questions, the agent presented them with the colleges and universities ranked in order of their best fit.

Basing the logo off the chosen name, I explored a series of robot mascots for the main visual element and developed a series of alternates for use inside the website. Pairing it with a bold, forward-facing typeface, I mixed upper and lower case letters to make it informal/formal.

College Park, Maryland

2012

This was a new branding campaign for the City of College Park, Maryland, wwho wanted to move away from the traditional governmental-seal approach. I sketched out various illustrative concepts, highlighting the city's key features: the University of Maryland, its proximity to Washington, DC, and other features.

The team responded to the three-pane concept and our tagline of A Smart Place to Live, and I used some of the color in the Maryland flag to emphasize the detail in each of the panes. We provided them with a full stationery and branding suite as well as digital elements for their web properties.

Greenhouse Gas Protocol

Peterson Wilmarth and Robertson, LLP

2011

For a law firm focusing on biomedical research and based in Washington, DC, I developed a clean-sheet logo and branding package. The creative brief specified a modern, non-traditional approach to set them apart from standard practices.

Using the unique pairing of the three main letters, I connected them visually into one element, working with the shapes to balance readability with their relationship. When the mark had been approved, I was asked to design signage for their offices. I built a full-size model from gatorboard and brought it to their office to test out size and scale, using that to approve the final sign construction. We also supplied them with a full branding package and guideline document.

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