Jane Goodall Institute Don't Let Them Disappear branding + campaign

Dr Jane Goodall is one of the world’s most famous conservationists and scientists. She embarked on her pioneering research of wild chimpanzees in 1960, and 58 years later, Jane still spends over 300 days a year on the road in her relentless pursuit for conservation, research and education.

With a shared passion for conservation, existing client Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute for a campaign to raise awareness for ape conservation and their habitats. Superfried were commissioned to develop the design, identity and promo animation for a t-shirt flash sale in association with Represent.

If possible the design should represent all of the following apes – Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Orangutans, Gibbons and Bonobos. This was tricky and various approaches were either too complex or too fun for the gravitas of the message.

Connection to their habitat led to idea of their forms emerging from smoke due to deforestation. However, initial blurred, smokey visuals would not work for a screen printed tee. After various tests, I managed to develop a vector based technique that conveyed the fluid nature of the smoke. Then inspired by the elongated form of the trees, I developed a bespoke, high impact, condensed type style for the key campaign message – Don’t Let Them Disappear.

Liaison with Represent highlighted technical constraints, so multiple re-draws ensued to reduce path density / cross overs and increase negative spaces. In Represent’s tireless perseverance to ensure the design would work, they proposed splitting the paths into two groups, with the less significant printed in a paler grey to reduce the high contrast and create a sense of depth.

Moving onto promotion, one of the most compelling characteristics of smoke is the way it moves. So I decided to see if it would be possible to animate the illustration. Technical limitations prevented the use of tapered paths, so after another re-draw and 80 trim paths the desired effect was finally achieved for the two promos.

In addition to the t-shirt an idea for a potential poster print was proposed to be sold at a later date. To increase the appeal FoilCo suggested printing them in foil and kindly ran a startling test in silver on black.