Logo – Voices United

Logo – Voices United

I had the privilege of working on the logo for Voices United, a new community organisation in Adelaide, South Australia that helps victims of rape. I know that word sounds stark and confronting for many, but one thing this organisation aims to do is remove the shame that victims feel and educate others on the reality of this very brutal act. “The act of RAPE is ugly… the victim is NOT”. Many victims feel they cannot voice what happened to them, that their voice has been silenced, but Voices United, is about many voices coming together, to find healing and restoration. The organisation will be providing educational programs throughout state secondary schools, and work in association with community houses across Adelaide, providing the adequate specified counselling that is required for victims and their families. The organisation will also be holding fundraising events in the near future to raise money for this very important and needed cause.

When I was approached to work on this project, I was honoured and humbled to be a part of something so meaningful and powerful. Everything this organisation stands for I support, and I believe highly in the work they are doing. I believe women should be safe! I believe there should be specialised services for rape victims, and good educational programs that could help with prevention. I also support tougher penalties for perpetrators and more understanding in the justice system. I believe Voices United will be a life-changing, and world-changing organisation. One voice is powerful, but many voices united are even more powerful. Voices united for good. Voices united for change. Voices united for healing. Voices united for a better future.

The original sketch and the winning concept to develop into a logo for Voices United

The logo is based on a hand-drawing as part of my process for developing a logo. My client wanted a butterfly as a symbol, that represents something ugly transforming into something beautiful. I came up with this concept of 2 butterflies merged together to form one, like many voices coming together to unite. This is represented by having the butterfly purple on one side and pink on the other side, with the colours mixing in the middle using a gradient. The ‘V’ from Voices United has also been repeated as the butterfly’s antennae. The lettering was developed from scratch, to also be very similar to my original sketch.

Colour Swatches for Voices United Logo

I used CMYK colours for the logo because I found Pantone colours did not blend well for the gradient. I also had to make a noise filter in Photoshop which I placed in my Illustrator document as an opacity blend set to 100% overlay, with a clipping path. This was to prevent banding of the gradient on export (where blocks of colour become visible as bands).

This magnified section of the butterfly’s wing shows the banding of the gradient on the left, and on the right, the banding has been corrected by using a textured overlay.