We the Texans

ART DIRECTION | BRANDING | DESIGN RESEARCH

We the Texans was a year-long initiative created by The Texas Tribune in order to bring attention to the state of democracy in Texas. Events within this initiative covered pain points like political distrust, civic engagement, and polarization within politics.

OBJECTIVE
Create a visual style for events under the initiative of We the Texans. This visual style should be distinct and relate to the intent of the initiative: addressing the state of democracy in Texas, highlighting the issues we face and how this affects Texans.

TARGET AUDIENCE
Individuals who have a distrust for politics and government, and who may not be as politically inclined. This audience may also not be familiar with The Texas Tribune, or their events and products.

ART DIRECTION
Alfredo Palacios

BRAND POSITIONING
Alfredo Palacios

TRUST THE PROCESS

To kick off finding the visual identity to this initiative, I first needed to understand the intention and goal of every event under We the Texans:

  • What should a We the Texans event feel like?

  • What information are audiences taking away from these experiences?

  • Who is our target audience? How do they relate to politics?

I pulled key information from the initiative’s brief that aligned with these guiding questions, and created a wordlist to better facilitate a human-centered approach to the overall brand.

With these leading words in mind, visual exploration consisted of mood boarding, then formalizing guidelines on elements used for creative production:

  • High-contrast, black and white images at different angles

  • Scans of the Texas Constitution and other documents
 throughout early time periods

  • Incorporating details like textures, shadows and scribbles 
to push the human-centered theme of the initiative

These elements convey the concept of the symposium: our democracy and the way in which people interact
 and influence it.

CREATIVITY IN ACTION

The end result led to a unique and playful direction that piqued audience’s attention, effectively communicated the topic of each event, and helped convey the state of our democracy: a process that can be messy, but ultimately comes together to form something greater that effects each of us.