The e-Humanity Project is an ongoing collaboration between Indiana University, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and several North American museums like the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian which house large collections of American Indian historical artifacts. Its goal is to create an interactive social media website with access to a database housing those museums' collections, which will then be made available to American Indian schools and communities across the nation.
My part in this effort was to design a new logo for their homepage. I was asked to create something artistic that would allow a visitor to the site to immediately recognize that it dealt with American Indian heritage. In addition the logo needed appeal for all tribes, not just Plains or Canadian Indians. Rather than attempting to locate one universal symbol, eventually I decided to use different symbols to spell out the name of the project. I then drew from various myths, practices, and objects I felt covered a broad representation of the collective American Indian culture to form the whole message. A second type-version of the project name was included beneath it in order to clarify the intent.
When a final draft was approved, the logo was shown to several members of the American Indian community and the partner organizations behind e-Humanity to get their input. It was eventually decided that the top portion was too controversial in its portrayal of certain images and themes, and that the bottom part alone was suitable for the projects' needs. The draft version can be seen on the above left, while the final product is visible on the right.
Included below are other designs that did not make the cut.
