Queer Cafe Logo // University Libraries

Programming within the library has a bit more flexibility to work outside of the strict brand guide that the university likes us to follow. We still should be guided by the dictated brand but we can use more secondary colors and explore style a bit more freely. When I was approached to do the logo for the Queer Cafe, a program where library faculty and staff provide refreshments for the campus queer community, I jumped at the opportunity.

Having just completed the PRIDE resource page shortly before being offered this project I assumed they had wanted something in a similar, more illustrative style. Have you ever sone something that even you were unsure about it but you brought it to the person anyway and they just looked at it wide eyed and nodded, trying to find something to compliment you on? Thats what happened when I showed them the rough poster idea. People assume since I mostly only post finished work that it must just come out of my head that way. Oh no no no... It does not, and this is a perfect example of that.

Thankfully, after a thorough rework and goal shifting meeting I was able to come up with more design concepts that more closely resembled what the programming directors were looking for. Using Procreate on the iPad I was able to draft up quick sketches in real time with the collaborators. Afterward I cleaned up the sketches and made variants of the proposed design to send off to them. Now normally I would not send this many options to a client. Too much choice often leads to less decisions and they tend to ask for more. But in this case we were newly working from home and our project bandwidth had dwindled. Once I had compiled a contact sheet of options I sent them over for approval.

The final design works perfectly for multiple mediums including those where this logo will be sitting beside the official university libraries logo. This project is proof that sometimes your worst starts become great finishes. Our hope is to be able to implement this design process in other regular programming events going forward, post pandemic.