THE BRIEF

During the early days of the pandemic, and inspired by the local street book and free item libraries, dog lover and daytime people therapist, Jacqueline (a.k.a. The Dog Librarian) decided to establish a free library for dogs. The library was founded on the concepts of: offering delight to passers-by, lifting spirits, creating an outlet for people’s generosity, helping people feel safer in their neighbourhood via fostering community connections, and embodying the concept of ‘everyday magic.’ The Dog Librarian soon realized that people weren’t sure what the library was on first approach, and commissioned a logo to clarify its purpose. The project quickly grew with the development of a few other pieces of signage, some illustrations, and some merch to raise funds for library expenses, repairs and pupgrades, as well as emergency surgeries for pups in need.

THE SOLUTION

Formerly the Dog Library, we renamed it to the Hastings-Sunrise Good Dog Library to emphasize the founder’s belief that all dogs are good dogs. The library’s shaggy logo includes a dog worked into the typographic elements to make it immediately clear that this street library isn’t entirely for hoomans. The tagline, “For everybuddy.” emphasizes the library’s inclusive mission.

The colours are vibrant and fun, reflecting both the cheerful spirit of the library and the colourful neighbourhood of Hastings-Sunrise. Anthropomorphized dog illustrations reflect personalities from the eclectic, sometimes eccentric, and diverse neighbourhood of Hastings-Sunrise. We created a few additional pieces to encourage little ‘easter egg’ moments of discovery, such as a Pooch Parking sign, and a poop bag metric that measures your love for your dog based on how willing you are to pick up your dog’s poops (even when they’re quite large).

The branding was enthusiastically received by the community with many folks excitedly sharing it on social channels when it launched, and lots of fans of the library anxiously awaiting the release of merch.

Learn more about the project here: https://www.twine.net/signin

THE BRIEF

One of the unexpected side effects of the global pandemic was a catastrophic drop in local media investment. With concerns of newspapers closing, job losses, potential media deserts, and less accountability for those in political power, the Canadian Media Directors’ Council created a manifesto. It needed an identity and campaign that would rally industry leaders to take the pledge to support Canadian media.

THE SOLUTION

We took inspiration from the aspect ratios typically used in media, including: tv, newsprint, digital ads, radio and social posts. We used these aspect ratios to construct a blocky logomark. Then, we paired this with an impactful wordmark that incorporates right angled corners in the counters. Bold typography is combined with an attention grabbing safety yellow, black, and white colour palette, and photojournalistic style photography, all of which references historical social movements. Shapes representing the aspect ratios of traditional media block out portions of imagery, and copy appears to be redacted, representing the loss of information that will occur if we don’t commit to investing in local media.

We created awareness for the campaign through shareable social posts that directed viewers to a landing page explaining the urgency of the cause. The page also featured a video explaining how the loss of investment in Canadian media is directly affecting the industry and the dissemination of accurate, unbiased, and local information. Visitors to the page were encouraged to pledge to support Canadian media by buying local.

The campaign was a huge success with scores of media buyers and people from the media industry rallying behind the cause and pledging to support local media.

Learn more about the project here: https://aimeegrimes.com/work/cmm.