Responses by Ash Phillips, cofounder, Six Cinquième.
Background: Every year, the National Black Canadians Summit, led by the Michaëlle Jean Foundation, has a goal to unite Black Canadians from across the country with an interest in creating connections and leveraging our strengths to co-create opportunities for more justice, development and recognition. With the summit coming to Montréal in 2025—and with Montréal being known for its arts and creativity—there was a particular interest in engaging English- and French-speaking Black Canadians across generations with interests in business and community work but also artistic and creative industries. The purpose of the project was to bring a fresh identity that could stand the test of time, support the summit’s growing national notoriety and be a representation of Montréal’s unique perspective.
Design thinking: My thinking was to find a contemporary way to visualize the summit’s goals and values while establishing visual tools that are flexible and timeless enough to be repurposed for the future. Luckily, I had an amazing team—Arda Cem on design and art direction and Ines Tremblay on design as well—to help bring the intention to life.
Challenges: To be honest, we were very lucky to be given a lot of trust by the client, which made collaboration feel really smooth. There was a lot of mutual respect and understanding towards our expertise, and we were also very receptive when given feedback. We wanted to be very intentional about making sure the visuals and imagery we used were inclusive and not to portray Black Canadians as a monolith, so we worked together closely with the Michaëlle Jean Foundation’s director and communications lead to make sure we avoided any blindspots.
Favorite details: This isn’t so much a detail about the project, but I was very proud to be part of a larger team and network of Black professionals bringing the entire event to life. The Michaëlle Jean Foundation was very intentional about seeking out local, Montréal-based, Black-owned businesses and professional services, so everything you see at the event will have been conceptualized, designed, printed and organized by a wide range of Black service providers.
Visual influences: With Franco Égalité’s artwork, I really love the mixed influences of local Black art and iconic, classic, timeless design that has come out of Montréal over the years, which uses a lot of repetitive, geometric shapes, patterns and minimal layouts like the city logo, the ’76 Olympics and Expo 67, to name a few. It takes inspiration from design that has left a lasting impression on Montréal and the world while shining a light on Black Canadian art.
Alternate paths: I would have loved to shoot Black Canadian changemakers, youth, artists and everyday people from Montréal to include more throughout the visuals to really highlight the people who are advocating for us and who are being advocated for and also to offer more representation. However, we had some limitations that made it impossible to achieve for the 2025 edition. Hopefully, we can do that for the next one!
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