GIA

The challenge for the GIA GemKids refresh was to modernize the brand identity whilst maintaining the essence of the existing GIA and GemKids brand identity. The GIA marketing team did not want it to look too childish or “cartoony” but rather have elements (wavy, swirly with mineral-like textures) that guide the viewer (both adults and kids) to the information that is being presented. The core deliverables included the field guide, microscope slides, posters, and much more. The color palette must look muted (less saturated), must match the gemstones, and cannot look too bright or too distracting. The shape language must communicate smooth curves (not sharp or straight lines) to keep the viewer engaged and relaxed while looking through the information. The goal is to present the new transformed identity so it breaks away from the previous perception of the GIA GemKids program but still retains the spirit of the GIA brand identity.

GemKids (GemTrip) brand refresh included lots of dynamic, wavy, and swirly textured elements on the corners of the pages. We chose this shape language because it communicated excitement and dynamism in the presentation of the gemstones. We also included these dynamic shapes to wrap around the gemstone which would appeal to both adults and children. The color palette we chose was more muted (communicating maturity) but still matching with the primary colors of the gemstones (turquoise, amber, amethyst and more). The typeface I chose was “Nanami Rounded Bold” and “Nanami Rounded medium” because it was similar to the already established Helvetica Neue LT STD 75 bold (for GIA) but had much more weight and drew the attention of the viewer. Since the audience are both children and adults we needed to make sure the copy was impactful yet minimal. I kept in the mind that we needed to re-ignite that child-like curiosity in all our viewers since we are not just targeting the K-12 demographic.

The solution was to bring out the paint brush and start creating rounded, swirly and wavy textured elements of lava, molten rock, metamorphic rocks, igneous rocks, sapphire, diamonds and bring out that glitter, gleam and shine to these elements. I did not over-crowd the composition with too many elements but only used these to accent the corners and the middle of the pages to balance out the negative space. These elements need to be visually stunning so most of the time and effort went into making sure these elements looked very clean yet minimal. I added to elements to gently guide the viewer from one page to another whilst not losing interest in the content and core information that is being presented.

Since Adobe indesign is a fully vectorized software it was the ideal choice to make the final deliverables exported from Indesign. All the digital painting of the minerals, swirly elements and gemstones was done in Photoshop and then imported in Adobe Indesign. All the copy, lines and tables was added into indesign because they remained as vectors and was print-ready for the marketing team.