SHINING A LIGHT

BRAND CONCEPT

Our concept, Shining a Light, focuses on honoring the documentary films that hold a light to democracy — bearing witness to the issues that define and challenge our time. The brand will embody this visually, lighting up through luminous and bold styles.

The brand styles are built to feel visionary and alive. The logo is composed of two shapes representing frames, from framing a shot to viewing the finished project, referencing light beams that enter aperatures to create films or exit projectors to showcase them.

We also wanted this to be celebratory and exciting! After all, these are awards. Artistry and impact are recognized. So these brand shapes adapt to frame subjects, highlight messaging, or simply act as celebratory ‘confetti’ elements.

WEB TEASER

LANDING PAGE

When having conversations with the Shorenstein Center, they kept coming back to the story of the first feature film. Eadweard Muybridge created the first motion picture—and the first documentary—to settle an age-old dispute: When a horse gallops, do all four hooves leave the ground at once? 

Eadweard got his answer, but the film meant more than that. It set the stage for film as a tool to document and explore everyday life. This proto-documentary was the perfect milestone to tell our story. What Eadweard did was the first of its kind, and the Henry Awards set out to follow in his footsteps.