When I started working on the brochure for Cheza Nami, Catherine Ndungu-Case, the president of the Cheza Nami foundation, presented me with the challenge of making cover art that incorporated a drum that had the world at the center and showed children dancing and holding hands. It was a tough task to integrate so many elements into one seamless design but the end solution was a pleasant surprise to the Cheza Nami team. The hands are different colors to represent different skin tones but I also felt the need to add more colors that compliment Cheza Nami’s branded colors of orange and brown. I showed them overlapping and in different sizes to express how different cultures and generations come together at Cheza Nami’s events. And once I had determined what the main artwork would look like, it was easy enough to add in the text. I then decided to add more hands throughout the brochure to keep visual consistency, add pops of color and keep your eye moving across the page.

One thing that was made very clear about every design element while working with Cheza Nami was the need to distance the organization from stereotypes about African culture. Incorporating less decorative fonts in exchange for ones that were readable and had more of a modern feel. I specially chose Franklin for the body copy because of its legibility and because it was created for brochures. I used a bolder version of the font for the pull quote testimonials to break up the blocks of text and play with the layout.