Shades of Black content package
Timeline: Mar 2018 - Apr 2018 | Visit link
Description: Shades of Black is a collection of interviews of black women in the entertainment industry. It was a greater series about colorism hosted by the Guardian. I art directed, and served as the designer for al of its digital elements.
I commissioned all of the illustrators - all of them black women - and created a visual identity for the series as a whole. For this specific web page, I took branding elements from illustrator Amber J. Finney and designed and coded the web page.
Technical summary:
Created a really cool website
Art-directed the rest of the series
Created a really cool website
The centerpiece of the series was an interactive piece that interviewed famous Black actors about their experience with colorism.
I took image assets from illustrator Amber Finney to lay in the background and create an atmospheric vibe to the page; there’s an algorithm that randomizes their site and movement.
That decision, alongside others, was one of the many touches that make this page one of my favorites. I designed and coded the experience, so I encourage you to take a look and see for yourself.
Developed a brand for content series
I developed brand assets for Shades of Black. The Guardian had existing digital assets and formats for social, so I designed alterations to better align the Shades of Black brand.
A big part of this work is this ‘illustration-as-UI” experiment. Similar to the centerpiece interaction, the art was able to inform the UI patterns, including text and button color, the illustrations building ‘consistent’ brand colors, consistent brand motifs with the paper cutouts, as well as the different types of content being given different types of illustrations (so you know which was created by the Guardian).
