Callum stringer
Black History Month
Power and Pride
It was an honour to work on the initial concepts for the A&O Shearman
Black History Month campaign. A celebration and acknowledgement of
all things relating to black history month
First route
This theme is meant to be expressive, focussing on strong portraits and imagery of those in the black community.
Championing our strong title “Power and pride” the copy relates directly to our imagery. It’s meant to be powerful and exciting. The reveal cut offs
are only meant to elevate the image, not take
away from it.
The points are bold and not afraid to get too
close to the person.
The impression we wanted this to have was the reveal aspects acting like the past which have been pushed through and the individual came
out on top.
Second route
We wanted to build on the first option with a different style of imagery. Keeping the emphatic reveal shapes the same, we wanted to highlight success in the black community.
Black History Month should be a celebration of black excellence. It is a month where we should recognise and celebrate the contribution from the black community.
We wanted to focus on notable individuals, some you could even call heroes or role models. People who have stood on the world stage and showed immense power and pride.
The power
of association
The power
of association
Obviously we understand the licensing for using individuals may be hard, so the creative approach that we have utilised to get around this, is through the medium of “association”.
Using notable items or spaces that allow people to make the connection internally. This is also a helpful tool as it provides recognition.
Person of reference: Michael Jordan
Non-copyrighted image of association:
Third route
This theme is heavily focussed around the use of our colour Achievement Magenta.
The use of this colour takes inspiration from the 1982 best selling book 'The Color Purple'. It is a powerful and emotionally rich novel by Alice Walker.
It tells the story of Celie, an African- American woman in the early 20th- century American South, and her journey toward self-empowerment and independence. We see this concept as a form of celebration about highlighting what individuals like Alice have accomplished as well as what the wider community has overcome, this is reinforced by the use of the brands Achievement Purple colour.
The route travelled
A big part of this concepts origins came from the thought of the journey individuals in the black community have to travel to get to where they are.
Making success within the black community that extra mile harder and that extra sense more impressive.
The purple lines are meant to represent not only how far the black community have came, but also it is meant to visually show how high
some of the hills are to overcome.
Person of reference: Michael Jordan
