DESIGN FOR GOOD
“C.O.R.A.L.”
(Coordination of Ocean Restoration Awareness Laboratories)
One of my favorite conceptual projects from college was this one because it gave me a great chance to see firsthand the practical effects that design, when motivated by good intentions, can have on solving real-world problems. Since my partner is pursuing her marine biology degree, I decided to learn from her research experience to link this "design for good" project to preserving the ocean.
The primary focus of C.O.R.A.L. is centered around the regrowth of coral, which I learned is an essential element of a thriving marine environment. I wanted to involve and further educate the public through powerful designs and visuals, inspiring them to take concrete steps — like adopting coral or making donations — to help ensure that our oceans remain cleaner in the future. My goal was to create a seamless visual narrative that highlights the significance of this project and inspires others to join in the effort to bring about positive change.
Color SamplesI started this project by getting inspired by the colors of different reefs. I selected pixels from these images to build an idea of what colors I could base this brand on.
Fonts, Colors, and Textures The coast is my happy place and a large reason why is because of the sun-faded colors that exist there. They make time feel like a physical, tangible thing and I wanted this idea of time being stretched to reflect this brand. Once I found a color palette that stood out, I wanted a bold header font so these assets could work together to convey the timelessness of the ocean while allowing modern ideas to fix our future.
Logo Design
This logo was created using Schultzschultz‘s Gridpaint tool. They had just released the beta version of this tool and I used my iPad to draw out letters/words and loved the different results it produced. I started drawing corals with the tool and these were some initial results.
Logo v1 When I decided I was drawing too complex of corals I started drawing much simpler ones and then stretched it to align with the header font, “Rigatoni.”
Logo v2
Logo with Colors
Adopt-A-Coral Certificate
This would be a print-at-home certificate that people would get who have donated and adopted a micro fragmented piece of coral that would be planted in their names.
Website
I’d like to give a special shoutout to the real oceanography organizations doing tangible goodness for the planet. Pictured right is a biologist working to regrow corals in The Bahamas @coralvitareefs
