How do you create a brand for a person? What does it take to build a visual universe for someone’s personality?
 

How to you pack a personality so big it barely fits into a room into a brand identity?!

The Challenge: How to Capture a 'Big' Personality in a Brand
 

That is what our first task was when we started working on Mary Consolata Namagambe’s personal website.

Mary is a social activist, entrepreneur and public speaker on topics such as women’s rights, racism and Ugandan culture. During our first meeting, she said that her old homepage, while clean and professional “didn’t really feel like her anymore”, that she had outgrown it.

Our process started not to dissimilarly from how we’d approach any brand. But maybe a little more intense. Interviews, research, workshops, strategy, moodboards, experimentation.
 

To translate her personality into colours, fonts and graphics we needed to really understand Mary and her world. We spent time just chatting. About her work, but also about her hobbies, taste and motivation. We soon learnt she likes calm: reading, drinking tea, surrounding herself with neutral colours and simple beauty.
 

But her infectious laugh, and the way she approaches taboo topics with vigour and bravery are anything but neutral. Her willingness to burst into a room and say the things no one wants to bring up for fear of “sticking out” definitely needed to be part of her visual identity.

Designing for Impact: A Deep Dive into Mary Consolata Namagambe’s New Site

Bold - but also inherently positive. Believing in change, and in our potential to influence change. To be part of something meaningful.

 

We looked through 100s of photos. From Instagram posts to pictures of work dos (what does Mary wear to a visit at the European Parliament? Or a charity gala in Amsterdam?)
 

In the end we landed on a colour palette of 2 neutral greys - and a bright, positive and impactful activist yellow. Something hard to ignore.

We built a modern, calm and simple framework with elegant typography - and offset it against big, striking images.
 

The result is something that is at once soft and feminine, but proud and fearless. A website that feels authentically Mary.

Check out the full site here: www.afrodansker.com