Branding & Motion Designer
HUGs from Cara – Help Understanding Grief – is a local Syracuse organization which helps people of all ages handle grief. The Newhouse design program hosts a three-day workshop – Pixels & Print – every spring semester where design students divide into teams to work on projects for a nonprofit client. The three teams are print, motion, and UIUX. I was a senior designer on the motion team, however, ended up working in tandem with the print team as my original logo was chosen to rebrand HUGs from Cara.
After hours of revisions, my logo officially became the new face of the brand. This logo is now used on all platforms for HUGs from Cara including their website, stationery, care packages, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more. We paired the logo with a word mark and put it into motion for their informational videos and future use as seen in the bumper below.
When we first spoke with the client, it was clear that the ocean had been important to Cara and the idea that “grief comes in waves” was symbolic to them as well. Below is the logo they had been using prior to our rebranding journey.
I submitted a logo illustration, as all students were encouraged to do, for HUGs from Cara. I attempted to represent waves coming together, or “hugging” in the logo. My design was chosen as one of two finalists to be revised and finalized while taking into consideration various suggestions from the group.
There was a high demand for incorporating a heart into the final logo and I came back to the group with the illustration on the left after some editing. I was asked to move forward with this concept without the use of transparencies while maintaining the waves and hug - transparency in the logo created recognition difficult on printed documents for those printers the not-for-profit had access to. That is when I completed the final logo seen on the right that they now use.
HUGs from Cara Brand Style Guide
Business Cards
Postcards
Stationery
HUGs from Cara Motion Graphic