Branding for equality.
Stone Yamashita's rebrand of HRC in 1995 changed the face of the LGBT movment.
In the mid-1990s, the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a political action committee focused on raising money for gay- and lesbian-friendly candidates, set out to have larger (i.e. mainstream) impact. To deliver on this vision, the organization made two strategic moves.
First, they recruited a new executive director. Elizabeth Birch was a bold choice at the time. While she recently served as chair of The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force‘s board, her career as a corporate lawyer positioned her as more establishment-oriented than movement leaders who emerged from grassroots organizing.
Significantly, Elizabeth was not just any corporate lawyer—she was a litigator at Apple Computer. Elizabeth knew first-hand the power and influence of a great brand. So she set out to make one.
Elizabeth could have called anyone, but she picked up the phone and asked her former Apple colleagues for a recommendation. She was referred to Robert Stone and Keith Yamashita (who had also recently left Apple) to start their own agency. Elizabeth and HRCF’s board engaged Stone Yamashita Partners to rebrand the organization—and ended up profoundly shifting the visibility of LGBT people everywhere.
Keith and Robert identified the organization’s core values—“equality, political strength, and an intelligent approach to change”—along with four strategic concepts:
freedom
equality
celebrating people
reaching out
In each category, they presented multiple logo options, advising their clients to evaluate the options with these questions:
Does it communicate something meaningful? And, if so, is it communicating the correct message?
Does it differentiate HRCF from your allies and “competitors”?
Is it unique and memorable? Can HRCF “own” this image?
Is it strong enough to take you to the next level?
“The T-shirt Factor.”
Remarkably, one of the first-round designs is very close to the now-ubiquitous and instantly-recognizable blue and yellow square equal sign logo. Along with the new logo came a name. Stone Yamashita recommended dropping “fund”, to create the Human Rights Campaign.
I’ve been obsessed with this story for years, well, since the very beginning. I was 15 when HRC unveiled their rebrand—a teenager with two loves: the LGBT movement and design. The logo felt significant at the time, but in the decades since, I have become convinced that this is one of the most important moments in LGBT history.
HRC’s brand did two things:
The logo visually connected the struggle for LGBT civil rights with equality
The logo created a symbol that LGBT people, and most importantly their allies, wanted to proudly display. Prior to HRC’s logo, the majority of symbols associated with movement were ones of self-identification. Wearing a pink triangle was a way of saying, “I am gay.” But adhering an HRC sticker to your bumper tells your neighbors, “I support this organization.” Or, more to expand more broadly, “I support equality.”
Applying the logic of branding to a social movement was fresh—and not without controversy. There was significant resistance and critique to HRC’s style and approach. If you knew me in the 90s and 2000s you will know that I was a very loud critic. I was not always a fan of the organization’s tactics, but the brand strategist in me celebrates the work.
Our opponents were outgunning us, outspending us, and essentially doing everything in their power to dehumanize trans people — along with all LGBTQ+ people — in the eyes of the American public.
It was a moment that demanded a bold response.
—Andrea Hong Marra and Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen
Earlier this year, two long-time trans non-profits, the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund—announced they were merging to become Advocates for Trans Equality. The decision to combine was spurred by the tremendous onslaught, and escalation, of anti-trans legislation.
I saw the announcement in January and eagerly anticipated how this new organization would show up in the world. Much to my delight, a few weeks ago their new brand identity was revealed.
In a move reminiscent of Elizabeth calling Stone Yamashita, TLDEF’s Andrea Hong Marra and NCTE’s Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen recognized that they needed a brand that would take their organization’s efforts to the next level. Again, like Elizabeth, they chose a fantastic, celebrated design partner, enlisting Giorgia Lupi from Pentagram.
Next week, we will dig into the brand identity work done by Giorgia’s team to raise the visibility of this, new, more-powerful, trans-led organization.
xx Kyle