Goalz: Logo Design

The initial intentions for the Goalz logotype was for it to be bold, contemporary and friendly. The notions of the campaign are that of togetherness, prosperity, sustainability and essentially world peace. 

The UN note their goals as representing the following:

On September 25th 2015, countries adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years.

For the goals to be reached, everyone needs to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and people like you.

Do you want to get involved? You can start by telling everyone about them. We’ve also put together a list of actions that you can take in your everyday life to contribute to a sustainable future.

Thus, Goalz is set up as a forum to educate an audience ages 16-25 in formal education to build momentum and create a community to place pressure on governments and organisations to implement and act on their commitments. 

The key notions that were noted for the design were:

• circle 
• links - representing togetherness / wholeness / sharing (joint responsibility - we are in this together)
• inviting - making it approachable and less corporate that official institutions for the young adult generation
• clear, bold and simple enough to be placed on a multitude of medias - websites, app logos and publications (essentially print and screen)
• Keeping the logotype black will allow it to be adopted easily without clashes or loss of visibility & is versatile - can adopt different colours if necessary 

The chosen typeface was 'Circular', in keeping with the concept of the circle representations. Circular comes in a variety of weights and with italic variations (book, medium, bold, black), meaning that hierarchy for text used in publications and websites can be established easily, whilst keeping a consistent identity. The typeface is clear, bold and neutral, befitting of the target audience and campaigns intentions.

The initial experiments looked into upper vs lowercase variations, as well as kerning options, in order to establish which visually communicated the brand best.

Next, the design looked into appropriate imagery and colour variations, as well as ways that the letters could be used to depict 'togetherness'. It was also noted how the G in the typeface Circular resembled an upward pointing arrow. This was explored due to its connotations of recycling & sustainability, as well as the idea of upward spirals and so on, which reflect the SDGs well. Colour proved unsuccessful due to it visually categorising the brand with irrelevant sectors, and black gave it the versatility the logo design sought. 

The imagery of the globe (representing the global relevance of the goals, as well as the United Nations (UN)), was too complex for the overall design so was disregarded. Curving the end of the letters was trailed to add the friendly element to the design, however did not work as well with the 'g' so was again, disregarded. 

The design then explored starkly different approaches, to ensure the end result was legitimised and appropriate. A more youthful and informal approach of letter distortion was attempted to see if it could be relevant, and although visually aesthetical, this approach may come impact on the credibility of the campaign in actually impacting on legislation. 

The design found the idea of linking letters successful as a simplistic way of connoting the concept that together we can do more. The 'o' and 'a' seemed to resemble eyes and so a curved link placed below could depict a smiling face, which is inviting, subtle and friendly. 

The different weights were trialled however the end result chose 'black' due to its hefty, bold and clear qualities. The G and a are linked in a way that encompasses the entire logotype to flow well whilst concurrently depicting the smiling face. The link represents the joining of effects needed for change, whilst the smile notes the positivity needed throughout the campaign (it is not a fight against the government, but with). The upward arrow emitted from the G was decided to be visible without adjustments to the letter itself, a subtle visual quality that is possibly subconsciously relayed to the viewer. Finally the tighter kerning of the letters places a comfort in the end logotype. Their close proximity oncemore highlights the identity of Goalz of a close community.