Annie Vardanyan (she/her) is an artist and graphic designer based in Gainesville, Florida. Currently, she is a fourth-year student working towards her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at the University of Florida. Although Annie specializes in graphic design, she has a wide range of artistic experience and proficiency in the fine arts and studio arts including painting, drawing, and ceramics. She greatly enjoyed being a member of the Mint Design Studio, which gave her the opportunity to collaborate with the Diverse BookFinder on their rebranding project. She is also honored to have had the privilege of continuing her work with the DBF team on their website redesign project.
Harrison Turner (he/him) is a graphic designer pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at the University of Florida. He was a member of Mint Design Studio in Gainesville, Florida, where he worked with a team to create new design projects. Currently, he is working as a drone videographer at various construction sites in Orlando, Florida where he creates marketing videos and high-resolution photographs for stakeholders. He is also a graphic design intern at Bookstr, a New York-based book media outlet, where he creates digital graphics for a bookish audience.
Ella Terran (she/her) is a graphic designer and entrepreneur pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at the University of Florida. As a member of the Mint Design Studio, Ella explored her passion for inclusive design while collaborating with Diverse BookFinder and her teammates. She is also the Lead Art Director for The Agency at UF and aspires to specialize in art direction and branding for social good post-graduation. Currently, Ella is a graphic design intern at WANT Branding, a branding agency in Miami that specializes in creating high-performance brands.
Our Overview
In January of 2023, the four members of our team (Anna Sansbury, Ella Terran, Harrison Turner, and Annie Vardanyan) met the Diverse BookFinder (DBF) team through the UF Mint Design Studio, a student-led, faculty-supervised studio at the University of Florida that connects design teams with clients local to Gainesville and abroad. As a group, we were instantly drawn to the DBF because we were passionate about their mission to collect children’s picture books featuring Black, Indigenous People, and People of Color. The resources the DBF provides are so important because they allow children to see themselves in the books they read. The DBF also encourages their parents, guardians, and educators to provide this experience for their children. Our decision to work with this dedicated group ended up being one of the most rewarding design experiences for our team as young design professionals.
The DBF is currently undergoing an initiative to expand its inventory beyond picture books to include adolescent and young adult literature. Our objective was to redesign the current DBF logo and branding into something that could grow with their broadening audience.
We wanted to provide DBF with a full branding package including a new logo, new color palette, iconography, and typography, as well as fleshed-out branding guidelines that could be used in the future by their web design and social media team. We were excited and proud to produce a multi-faceted design that balances many different audiences: educators, parents, researchers, children, and young adults.
Our Process
We began by meeting with five members of the DBF team every week to explore design inspiration, competitors, and understand what they liked and disliked about their current logo and iconography. They responded enthusiastically to a multitude of moodboards, colors, and concepts, so it was easy to gather a variety of potential directions.
Over 14 weeks, our teams met weekly to discuss new directions with great detail. The DBF team provided great feedback and critique on how to improve the logo, specifically to cater to their new audience. The most challenging aspect of this branding project was designing a logo that was friendly, colorful, and approachable, while not seeming overly childish.
DBF expressed that accessibility was a top priority for them in terms of creating a visual identity that could be enjoyed equitably among all their users. Creating accessible design became a large part of our process. We tested our drafts for color contrast sufficiency, and typeface legibility, and we worked closely with DBF’s accessibility specialists to ensure that we were taking all the proper steps towards making our designs equitable.
An important aspect of our design process was ensuring that the branding passed contrast standards regardless of the way that it was applied. Thus, our team selected branding colors that would have significant contrast whether black text or white text was placed onto them. Additionally, we provided off-black and off-white colors to reduce eye strain on digital mediums.
Our Reflections
This was one of the most successful team projects I had the honor of being a part of. It was a pleasure to not only work with my fellow designers but with the DBF team as well. We wanted to prioritize connecting with the voices of the Diverse BookFinder to understand their mission and their goals as an organization. We knew it was important that their logo and their visual brand reflected their values.
– Annie Vardanyan
I’m thrilled that the DBF team allowed us to create this project with such a high level of support, creativity, and enthusiasm. I’m excited about the way that this project balanced the imagination of the designers, the ideals of the DBF team, and the accessibility standards that we planned to achieve in the beginning of this project. We are proud to have worked on such a meaningful project that will enable children to see reflections of themselves in their books.
– Harrison Turner
My experience with the DBF rebranding project is one I will cherish forever. Collaboration was key to our success, and working toward a shared vision with my fellow designers and the DBF team was incredibly rewarding. We are proud to have contributed to an organization that furthers the diverse books movement. I am thankful for DBF’s trust in our team, and I look forward to seeing DBF continue to grow.
– Ella Terran
Our Outcomes
After multiple rounds of iteration and critique, the group settled on a final design. The final design deliverables are composed of seven curated colors, three logo applications, an icon set and accompanying design elements all organized into a seventy-page, three-part branding guideline diving into the minute details of DBF’s procedures and branding applications. The branding guidelines will be used as a resource for the future media that the DBF produces. We’re immensely proud and excited to see the direction that Diverse BookFinder will take in the near future.
Be on the lookout for the website relaunch to see these designs in action in late Fall 2023!
