July 8, 2020

New Brand, Who This?

written by Celeste Lavelle with contributions from Danielle Miles

Amidst a global pandemic, the Converge team decided it was time for a new look.  We teamed up with Danielle Miles, of odbutcomplete creative agency, whose personal mission and vision aligns with Converge, for our facelift.  We would like to introduce you to the new Converge! 

Converge has always been inspired by the “Nsaa” symbol, and while it’s still used as our logo, we have emboldened the symbol to represent our company’s evolution and bold new vision.  

“I was asked to give a new take on Converge’s original mark, which was the Akan adinkra symbol, ‘Nsaa’ which symbolizes excellence, genuineness, and authenticity. I had a canvas full of different ways it could look and what you have now is actually the negative space that I removed from one of the versions I had done. One night when Takema, Havanah, and I were on a Zoom call and I had shared my scratch sheet, Havanah pointed out that symbol and noted how he liked that each part looked like an arrow pointing outward and inward”
-danielle miles  

We love it too! 

On the “For Change” font Danielle says she drew her inspiration from mostly old protest posters.  She noted that she wanted the inspiration to blend with our new and changing world  

“Ironically, Takema sent over some Emory Douglas art (my favorite) and asked me to draw inspiration from there, which in a way I had already done, so I thought that was pretty cool that we were on the same page”

-danielle miles  

We also have new colors!  This part of the rebrand was largely Takema’s role since she loves art and design so much.  Danielle noted that Havanah did not add much to the color picking process, but he did advocate for the navy color we use now!  

“After we’d gotten off the call that night, I sat with the new look and thought about Havanah pointing the arrows out and what struck me was that when I think about Converge- not just the word and it’s meaning, but the people that move the work under that brand and the brilliant people they partner with- I think about all the issues they tackle from all these different directions and how they convene them all into a space of unity and solidarity. So, I think that space in the middle where it all converges is where justice lands.” 

-danielle miles 

I asked Danielle if she could pick three words in her opinion that capture the rebrand.  She replied:

“work, solidarity, and partnership”