AncientFaces / Rebrand

Note:

Watch AncientFaces’ commercial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PKfofqT-DU) which beautifully captures their mission. The commercial is produced by https://guerillawanderers.com/ and it airs on CNN, The History Channel, and Hallmark.

About the project:

I had the pleasure of collaborating with a dear friend on this rebanding project. He happens to be the founder of AncientFaces. Founded in 2000 and based in Silicon Valley, the AncientFaces team is dedicated to building a community that empowers collaboration to create accurate snapshots of the people and places from our past. Their mission is to build a biography for every person in recent history.

My role was to redesign AncientFaces’ brand identity. I also provided creative direction for how their brand should show up online (i.e. colors, typography, design). My goal was to create an iconic symbol that’s easy to recognize, that’s memorable and appropriate for the unique name of the company. After exploring countless design solutions, I fell in love with this pyramid-like ‘A’ (which is a nod to the word ‘ancient’) that holds a silhouetted face profile. The empty space in the pyramid, created by the face cutout, helps the logo mark feel like an ‘A’ which can be attached to the logotype or stand alone as an avatar. This flexibility allows the logo to be scalable and legible, whether it’s in a huge billboard or small Facebook profile image.

Regarding the brand’s style guide, I curated a color palette and selected typography that visually supports AncientFaces’ top three personality traits of warm, collaborative, and trustworthy.

See more at:
https://www.ephraimjoseph.com/work/ancientfaces