UNITED NATIONS

OVERVIEW

In February of 2016, Responsibility to Protect celebrated it’s ten year anniversary and asked the SVA Masters in Branding class to create a unique visual identity for the initiative. The goal of the visual identity was to raise global awareness in regards to international security and human rights norms in order to address the international community’s commitment to end the most horrific forms of violence and persecution. One design would be chosen out of the class to be implemented as the new Visual Identity for the initiative and all groups were invited to present their concepts at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. 

BACKGROUND

R2P, Responsibility to Protect, is a global initiative derived from the United Nation’s 2005 World Summit, in an effort to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity. It provides a framework for employing measures, such as early warning mechanisms or economic sanctions in order to prevent atrocity crimes and protect innocent civilians. 

PROCESS

In order to create an identity that was uniquely suited for R2P, it was extremely important to our team to learn everything there was to known about the initiative in order to truly understand where the essence lay. We dove deep into researching the organization and the challenge at hand. We also spoke to people from within the R2P organization as well as those outside of it.  Once we identified the core of the challenge, we conducted a detailed brandscape analysis of the identities that were currently present in the non-profit sector and inside of the United Nations.  

CHALLENGE

After completing extensive research, we identified a lack of unification in the guidelines, the language, and the goals of R2P. We realized that the people within and behind the organization are ultimately the driving force of its success, thus, we wanted to create an identity that would speak to the idea of cooperation between the U.N., state leaders, and all individuals in at-risk states, as well as the international community at large. 

OUTCOME
First, we created a clear positioning for R2P that states it's goals and responsibilities. This was especially important to us, as it would allow the organization to remain consistent with its internal and external communication in the future. 

Once we identified R2P’s position, we focused on the visual execution of the new brand identity. The result was a flexible and human centered identity that marries the weight of responsibility with the maternal nature of protection and the power of prevention.

With our tagline "Act together. End Atrocities." we created a
straightforward and memorable call-to-action that reinforces the ultimate goal of this initiative as well as strengthens the public's memory of R2P. 

Through the creation of a social media kit, we demonstrated how R2P could use this identity to raise more awareness using the hashtag #act2end on its already existing social media channels.

The Social Media Kit also included the suggestion for a R2P "monitor" that would allow people to access real-time information about the current situation in regions that are facing violence and persecution.

Finally, we further brought the new brand identity to life by showing several applications in print ads that would educate the public about R2P’s efforts as well as promote the R2P “monitor.”