Responses by Frank William Miller Jr., design director, and Isis Dallis, managing director, Matter Unlimited.
Background: “Black news organizations have played a vital role in serving Black audiences, acting as crucial arteries to freedom, representation, and culture and entertainment,” says Isis Dallis. “This role is especially key as Black people in the United States have often been denied fair representation by mainstream media, with diversity failures and the decline of local news—including legacy Black newspapers—giving rise to misinformation and disinformation among Black communities.
“To combat this, Lauren Williams, former senior vice president and editor-in-chief of Vox, and Akoto Ofori-Atta, former managing editor of investigative gun violence nonprofit The Trace, chose us as partners to help launch Capital B, a new kind of media company,” she continues. “We created branding that builds trust and showcases Capital B’s commitment to partnership and locality while feeling high quality, professional and considered.”
Design thinking: “Capital B’s mission spoke to us personally, as having access to accurate, timely and relevant information is a prerequisite to having agency and ultimately power,” Dallis says. “When people who have been historically and systematically left outside of primary power structures gain access to information, the dynamic shifts. So, we wanted to make sure to optimize Capital B’s brand positioning and articulate its value proposition most powerfully. We also had to create a cohesive, scalable brand identity system to meet its future ambitions while still empowering everyone in its growing team to create consistent brand content.”
Challenges: “We knew we had to deliver a brand that lived up to a huge responsibility,” says Frank William Miller Jr. “Every creative decision, from type to colors to messaging, had to be imbued with meaning while capturing the brand’s purity and urgency in a straightforward, unpretentious way.”
Favorite details: “A big part of the work we did for Capital B was to create a sense of taking and holding space,” says Miller. “The B in the wordmark is bold, heavy and wide. Well suited for customization within the overall wordmark, the B becomes a sandbox for different textures, patterns and photography centering Black people, as well as alternate colors. Giving the B this versatility reflects the dynamism and diversity of the Black American experience and the Black Americans experiencing it.
“The tagline ‘News We Need’ was also important,” he continues. “The use of the word we telegraphs the notion of ‘by us for us’ without having to say the phrase. Finally, the word need speaks volumes. We need this differentiated model of local and national reporting, especially as many local outlets can’t hold up to the ad-revenue model. We need truth to combat disinformation. We need informed communities. Capital B is ‘news we need.’”
New lessons: “This project allowed our team not only to flex creatively but draw upon our strategic rigor,” says Dallis. “We immersed ourselves in the history of the Black press to imbue a deeper sense of purpose and gravity in the visual and vocal brand expression. Positioning Capital B as carrying the torch forward without discrediting those who came before was a real moment of inspiration for us—one that directly resulted from looking deeper into the historical underpinnings and centuries-long legacy of the Black press. Connecting the dots between historical challenges that continue to plague the way mainstream media serves Black communities and the fresh, unique approach and perspectives that Capital B brings forward with its work was extremely gratifying.”
Visual influences: “We drew inspiration from legacy Black publications, of course, but also mid-to-late-’90s music-liner notes and music videos, contemporary motion graphics and editorial spreads,” says Miller. “We intentionally did not lean too much on motifs and aesthetics from centuries-old papers and newsletters; because Capital B is offering something new, we wanted to reflect that in our more modern typography choices, our color scheme and our photography direction. Much like the reporting Capital B aims to do, we wanted to center Black people and their experiences and provide them with a brand identity that complements and adds prestige to the work that the media company produces.”
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