A brand identity and website for a RUNWAY initiative accelerating reparative capital to Black "Worldbuilders".
Client
The Black Imagination Lab (a RUNWAY initiative)
Year
2024
Services
Brand Identity (logo, color palette, pattern system)
Visual Exploration
Website Design
Pitch Deck Design
An Afrofuturist identity built on symbolism
The Black Imagination Lab is an initiative of RUNWAY, the impact-investing platform working to close the racial wealthgap, built to move reparative capital toward the Black investors, innovators, and problem-solvers it calls Worldbuilders. YolkWorks was brought on to give the initiative its first visual identity and website, a system built to carry an ambitious, forward-looking mission for an audience RUNWAY hadn’t yet spoken to as its own institution.
Multiple directions were explored. Connected Tapestry drew on nature and Adinkra symbolism – the sun, soil, ocean, and shared meals as metaphors for the threads connecting Black communities across the diaspora. Afrofuturism looked instead to space and the cosmos, treating imagination as a form of capital and technology as a path toward futures not yet built. The client chose Afrofuturism as the lead direction, but asked that the tapestry concept stay woven in rather than disappear, so the final identity layers celestial imagery, like a moon breaking through a night sky, over earthbound landscapes and portraiture, carrying real Adinkra symbols through as pattern.
Color Palette
A warm, jewel-toned palette spanning earth and cosmos
Marigold Gold
Sage Green
Coral
Cobalt Blue
Blush Pink
Umber Brown
Mint Teal
Crimson Red
Midnight Navy
Ivory Cream
Concept Exploration
Afrofuturism research and symbolism study, mapping the visual and cultural language available to the initiative before any direction was chosen.
Visual Brand Exploration
Two full concepts were developed and pitched: Connected Tapestry, rooted in nature and Adinkra symbolism, and Afrofuturism, rooted in space and the cosmos. The client chose Afrofuturism as the lead direction.
Logo Lockup
The wordmark pairs with a mark carried forward from Connected Tapestry: Ananse Ntontan, the Adinkra "spider's web" for wisdom and complexity, reimagined as a constellation of connected nodes mapped to Cygnus, the swan.
Pattern & Typography
Adinkra symbols carried onto the site as pattern assets, paired with Averia Serif Libre and Roboto Slab typography.
Website Design
A WordPress build translating the Afrofuturist identity into a full site, including hero imagery and page layout.
Pitch Deck
A supporting pitch deck for the Jamaica retreat, extending the identity into a live event context.
