Manifesto
BlackSpace / Iconography
I collaborated with the BlackSpace Board to design a visual iconographic system for their Manifesto. These wonderful partners gave me creative freedom to interpret this living and breathing document of principles from my own perspective as a Black designer.
The Manifesto will be featured in the Oakland Museum of California’s Mothership: Voyage Into Afrofuturism this year.
It’s also downloadable from BlackSpace’s website here.
The Manifesto will be featured in the Oakland Museum of California’s Mothership: Voyage Into Afrofuturism this year.
It’s also downloadable from BlackSpace’s website here.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/979ae2b705b19d1f5c5b0f1ad29014b3174d65325a2a8ebdf1fe55489cd33559/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.06-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7f56b9f9a6063c4b3b15889c7e451a5441f944a02f850dde820ca27758434d4d/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.09-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d8a359cf344c8b74c038d8bfdc69bb728725f9e8dc05481c5bc66a7c11f39174/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.11-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c9951df1473862abd20b3b0d2f81302d9457a513e6373c6c3f57ee6d16a4e2ad/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.13-PM.png)
After receiving the BlackSpace brand assets, I worked with the board to narrow down options for typographic, color palette, and patterned mood boards options.
My initial draft emphasized the Manifesto’s numbers because I believed it was important to read each principle sequentially.
My initial draft emphasized the Manifesto’s numbers because I believed it was important to read each principle sequentially.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/582566bcea79631bb905bbe295e4fbd8736730f79fd3bcb47bc6cdca381ad276/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.15-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d25c90569f731c390e73aa7810dcc72b02002a9056360a1b4f57f78840498469/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.16-PM.png)
The board provided me with feedback that pointed me in a very different direction, one that emphasized a more symbolic icon set. I returned to the African patterns and symbology the team had resonated with during the mood boarding phase of the project, and began cutting out gestural icons.
This off-computer exercise helped provide a set of 14 icons that BlackSpace continues to use in their Brooklyn-based community workshops and their website, where they provide copies of the Manifesto for the public.
This off-computer exercise helped provide a set of 14 icons that BlackSpace continues to use in their Brooklyn-based community workshops and their website, where they provide copies of the Manifesto for the public.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/58df244206a4def595369c93027e8592cdaefb3c6fddf8d1ff530781af35fb69/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.20-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cd966e64c3292b195f025c58e81cde71dc84b773a3394030b1bc4f30df391bd0/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.22-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/98d1e9b0d97ab5a86388e86bb768612280d1c3651bb761855180003d5b9e145b/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.25-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/810fbb5dae6a29ccc142dd584081a0b74e325429fe67af45c3dcda2a18f2543d/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.30-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0f89e86fb06dc887c599be9cfafd30440c1d6d63abd65aa8b36252b733f30cfc/Manifesto-Posters.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dd573d8ba9e20b1afb58428256c0ed8858afe5da4a94dfa0beffc4f404c61636/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.32-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dcc0b7512710ec12f5a2c8ea053126a38256b0ff13329c9f1c7d2197f2bd93f9/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.34-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bac8bfa382f5bf48a261c57d7d583e9945b426c754253b2ae9479b3af049ec1f/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.36-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a0880eef252318be3172ac350ef054fdc33f60984ff9106fde7f5be8ae718984/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-6.34.38-PM.png)