The Women of YouTube: Article Series
art direction, branding, advertising
The Internet has been one of the great democratizing forces in human history. In its best forms, it gives users a voice and a platform to share their interests and connect with like-minded people. It gives them an immediacy that cannot be found anywhere else. Groups begin forming around every concievable foothold, from activism, outreach, and education to lifestyle, hobbies, and wellness. At the core of these groups are bold personalities and courageous individuals who put themselves out there and build strong communities around their own passions.
While women have often dominated the fashion and beauty industries in online videos, they are now making their voices heard on a wide range of topics and to an even wider group of fans. The Women of YouTube series was created by The Daily Dot to celebrates those female vloggers and content creators that are pushing boundaries and inspiring the next generation of women on the Internet with each and every upload.
Branding
The identity for this series had to help elevate the content. It had to be clear and elegant, standing back from the articles and allowing the visual story, the videos and images, to speak loudly. I immediately knew I wanted to encorporate the female gender symbol as well as the YouTube logo. I also had to design an identity which supported the beautiful watercolor portraits that we were using as lead art. As I worked through initial ideas, I quickly realized that integrating such a dominating presence like the YouTube logo would throw off the balance of the logo.
lead art illustration
initial branding exploration
final branding (avenir next ultra light)
Advertising
The illustrations that we comissioned were so beautiful that I wanted to find a way to showcase those as a collection in the banner ads. I also wanted to communicate that the series was primarily about creation, not only the creation of the videos but also about the creation of community and identity. The hand drawn watercolor art spoke to this notion of craft and creativity. In support of that, I added a sublte embossing effect on the logo.
desktop ads
mobile ad