Finding a way

I’m the supervisor guy. My name is Alex Gilks.

The many stock library photographs of people with disabilities often tend toward themes of either isolation or shining empowerment. Stock art graphic images and emblems (and organisational logos) often present familiar motifs: jigsaw puzzle pieces, rainbows, holding hands and the like. Designers are uncomfortable with out-of-the-box clichés, so the challenge might be put like this: try to uncover signs and images that are suggestive of newer, better understandings of what it’s like to be Not Normal, and present them in a way that creates empathy instead of avoidance of difference.

This visual identity for a local autism trust is an economical solution.

An efficient, simple yet warm logo, supplemented by a set of usable images which create a feeling more of curiousness/wonder than bleak pity. The maze figure is adapted from a cheap piece of stock vector art. It’s a nice generic figure, but is given a little more specific context. Our group investigation has reminded us that it’s much easier and better to communicate specific ideas with our design. Try to talk meaningfully about one vast theme like ‘disability’ with a single image, without being glib. It’s much harder.