United NAtions
Responsibility to Protect
The United Nations Responsibility to Protect (RTP) initiative draws a commitment from UN member states to protect their citizens from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing (known collectively as atrocity crimes). The Responsibility to Protect charter contains three pillars: 1) that primary responsibility to protect against atrocity crimes lies with the state, 2) that the international community is compelled to assist states with protection, and 3) that the international community may only take direct action against atrocity crimes in cases when the state fails to fulfill its responsibility.
THE Challenge
Teams within the SVA Masters in Branding class of 2016 were asked to develop a visual identity for the RTP initiative over the course of 5 weeks. At the end of that time, we presented our work at the UN in front of members of the RTP team as well as members of the UN design team. The challenge was set up as a competition between the SVA students. There would be a chosen winner, though it was not assured that the winner’s identity would be officially implemented by RTP.
PROCESS
Our team began our process by outlining what it was we as branding students could offer to the RTP organization. We determined 4 offerings: 1) visual consistency, 2) awareness of the organization and its work, 3) a reflection of the organization’s values, and 4) a visual system that respected the integrity of victims and the ideals of the United Nations. We determined to directly measure our work against these 4 qualities in order to ensure that we were following through on our promise to RTP.
We worked as a team to analyze the visual landscape of the UN. From there, we were able to isolate the key visual equities for UN organizational bodies. We then analyzed logo conventions of independent organizations addressing atrocity crimes to understand where the RTP identity might fall.
Insight
The United Nations is one of the most well recognized and trusted organizations across the globe. Victims of crimes against humanity would be looking for signs of an entity they know and trust. Awareness for the RTP program is most crucial where atrocity crimes are taking place, so that the UN may connect with those in need of aid on the ground.
Solution
In order to truly serve victims of atrocity crimes, we needed to create a visual identity that was highly recognizable as a UN entity, but which would still feel modern and fresh.
To do so, we built a visual strategy around 3 main ideas: 1) community and unity, 2) protection, and 3) UN visual equities. The ideas of community and unity allowed us to visually pull through the ideas behind the original UN charter, which aimed to “unite our strength to maintain international peace and security.” Protection allowed us to pull through the specific intention of the RTP initiative itself. Finally, the UN visual equities would make RTP recognizable and trustworthy as a UN member organization to those suffering on the ground.
Our final solution brought together the iconic UN wreath into a circular pattern, with a subtle shield in the negative space of the interior. The concept of unity came through the multiple strands of the wreath coming together to create a more cohesive whole. The circular shape itself represents protection. The logo was then made blue, to represent one of the most iconic equities of the United Nations.
We were pleased to be selected as the winning identity from the competition, and to learn that our logo would eventually become the official identity for the Responsibility to Protect initiative.