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Shakeel Mohamed

MFA in Graphic Design - 3 Yr Path — Graduate Graphic Design
Course:
601 Graduate Studio 3
Faculty:
Gerardo Herrera

Midjourney Strategic Rebrand

Midjourney is the leading text-to-image generation tool in two years from entity formation. This term I am tasked with reimagining their visual identity while introducing a clear strategic change. At the midterm, I have a clear strategy, logo family, and color palette. In the coming weeks I will apply the brand across: motion, posters, patterns, iconography, web, mobile app, spatial, packaging, and transmedia. Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Keynote, Figma, AfterEffects.
Learning Outcomes:
Gerardo continues to share a wealth of his experience from leading global design teams, while introducing us to iconic and recent brand identities. I appreciated the few weeks we spent on research and strategy earlier in the term while using new tools for presenting key information. He has also pushed us to improve our presentation skills both in terms of storytelling and overall delivery. The class is not easy, but we are learning a tremendous amount every week through his guidance.
“How do you build these boats that let them navigate and be empowered and sort of sail the ocean of imagination, instead of just drowning?” (Founder, David Holz). The new Midjourney logo is an evolution of the previous sailboat symbol. “The Sail” places focus on the most important part of a sailboat enabling navigation and speed, both for our team and users. This refined symbol is a reminder of the groundbreaking work we do.
Midterm presentation poster. I was grateful to receive compliments on the layout and organization of information from both Gerardo and Pamela who I had for Grad Studio 2 in the spring.
What if Midjourney had an HQ?
Audit of current brand assets. Through my interviews, I was surprised how many users of Midjourney knew little to nothing about the brand, many had no idea their logo was a sailboat. Though I explored many forms, with Gerardo’s guidance I chose a brand evolution rather than revolution and continued the nautical theme based on interviews with the Founder, David Holz.
There was little information about Midjourney existing brand given how new the company is. My research focused on Founder interviews to get a clear understanding of his mission.
The Sail. After an exhaustive exploration of logo designs, I found a beautiful compromise of abstraction while carrying forward the DNA of their existing logo. The sail is the simplest expression of the sailboat, which connects back to the above quote from David Holz.
Our brand colors emerged from light refraction, symbolizing expansive creativity possible with our products.
These colors aim to connect with a broader audience across cultures, ages, and industries.
Logo family system expressed through all brand colors: vertical lockup, icon, wordmark.
The abstract intelligence (AI) pattern — naming credits to Gerardo ? ?
Midjourney stationery stystem.
Though Midjourney has been a remote company, I wanted to imagine what their first HQ office space might look like. The HQ would feature a brushed stainless steel sculpture of the Midjourney sail outside.
Promotional posters displayed in the HQ as a reminder of company culture.
I also envisioned Midjourney launching a users conference called Midjourney Navigate, to be held in San Francisco.
Keynote stage and various conference merch. At Navigate, Midjourney would announce their new digital platform featuring an iOS app and image generation in browser (evolving from the Discord only experience).
Promotional posters in context.
Notable creative leaders would receive VIP invites to the conference, including customized VIP cards, access to 1:1 consultations with AI experts, and an invite to a celebration evening.
Midjourney VIP access cards would have digital integration and provide access to VIP lounge areas at the venues.
With great support from Intro to Transmedia with Miles Mazzie, I explored what form an installation might look like at the conference. Attendees would be able to speak into microphones setup around the installation to generate images from their voice.
Week 14 final presentation, so much to show I had to setup in the hallway next to the MGx sign!