Art direction and design for a HBCU’s institutional rebrand.

My Roles: Art Direction, Design

Channels: Social, OOH, Print, Web

Challenge

Alabama A&M is a HBCU that’s making a global impact from a in a small town in Alabama. We had the incredible opportunity and challenge to create a platform for AAMU’s successes to be seen and felt.

Solution

Build reputation and raise local and regional awareness of AAMU and its offerings by telling the AAMU story through the lens of its students and community.

AAMU was originally located in central Huntsville, Alabama (now, a somewhat bustling hub with transient international business people and scientists visiting NASA, Boeing and other government agencies) and about 50 years into operation was asked to move to larger, albeit awkward, piece of land atop a hillside, approximately 5 miles away. This request was a symbol of the school's success, but also a response to the growing white population in Huntsville proper.

Today, the Hill is a critical symbol of the spirit of AAMU. It is the heart and soul of campus, the home of the Divine Nine, and where the echos of steps originate.

It is from this Hill that you see, and be seen.

Storytelling with typography

The first from Vocal Type and is designed by founder Tré Seals. The Neue Black is a typeface that was created in collaboration with artists and designers through The Art of Blackness exhibition.

“[The Neue Black] was based on the signage of Martin Luther King Jr's and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Chicago Freedom Movement, a campaign that marked the expansion of their civil rights activities from the South to northern cities.”
- Tré Seals

The second display font is Migra from the Pangram Pangram foundry, and is designed by Valerio Monopoli. Immediately, we were drawn to the ampersand.

The ampersand represented critical elements of the brand: the multiplicities of being Black excellence. The perpetual energy that comes with an education from AAMU. The endless opportunities and impact that any one individual can have on this world.

And the Migra ampersand did it for us.