A Brand to Meet This Moment
When I took the helm of the Working Families Party two years ago, the organization already had a strong foundation. Over its twenty-year history, the WFP had expanded the window of the politically possible in states like New York, Maryland, West Virginia, Colorado, Illinois, and more. It had won a long-overdue reform of New York’s Rockefeller Drug Laws and secured big wins for paid sick days, family leave, and a $15 minimum wage in multiple states. The WFP had built a well-deserved reputation for combining progressive politics with real electoral chops.
I didn’t want the WFP to lose any of those strengths under my stewardship, but I also wanted to lead the Party in new directions based on our times, our politics, and the fights that lay ahead in the next 20 years.
The WFP was born out of a powerful coming together of labor unions and community groups. But there were so many people with so much energy we were leaving off the table. If we want to build the WFP into a national political party, we need to build a multiracial, working-class base of individuals behind it. I want the WFP to be the political home for LGBTQIA folks, immigrants, and those fighting for disability justice — for everyone who wants this to be a country for the many, and not the few.
Furthermore, as an organizer who works at the nexus of politics and social movements, I want the WFP to be the electoral expression of social movements that have helped change the national political climate over the past decade: Occupy Wall Street, the Movement for Black Lives, #MeToo, the immigrant’s rights movement, and more.
This shift in our orientation has been our northstar for the last two years. Early on in my tenure here, we came to the conclusion that our aesthetic should reflect that internal shift in priorities.
The WFP’s tried-and-true blue had served the organization well for two decades. It was solid and recognizable.
Staff and volunteers in the states where our rapidly-growing Party had been building had a lot of fun adapting it for local use, like our WFP chapter in Wisconsin:
But we needed the brand to reflect the deep changes taking place within the WFP. At the end of the day, a brand is a vessel. And that vessel needed to contain within it our commitment to diversity and inclusion, our focus on building durable power for the multi-racial working class, and particularly Black power-building, as well as our investment in political education and mass membership. Something fresh, bold, and inclusive, that honored and drew from the past while looking towards the future.
What you’re experiencing now is the outward, visual manifestation of how our party has been reinventing itself for the last two years. Let me walk you through it.
The Process
The start of any rebrand process is research. We looked at the history of political party imagery and iconography in the U.S. and beyond, as well as brands from progressive, socialist, and movement spaces. We also talked to our members, staff, and stakeholders about the kind of brand and design they’d want to see. They wanted a design that reflected the people-powered Party we were trying to build. Something forward-thinking, intersectional, inclusive, and fun.
We drew inspiration from several sources. Our starting place for the font and wordmark came from the iconic I AM A MAN signs held by Memphis sanitation workers during their 1968 strike for decent pay and simple human dignity.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joined the strikers as part of his Poor People’s Campaign, viewing the struggle of the Black sanitation workers as an example of how racial justice and economic justice are inextricably linked. The night before Dr. King was assassinated, he told the striking workers: “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end.”
The bold, declarative signs held by Memphis sanitation workers became an indelible part of American history and served as the kernel of inspiration for what would become our new wordmark. But it also reflects the present day, where Black resistance is transforming this country, and where we along with others are building independent electoral political power for the Black working class. Our starting point may have been in Memphis, but our end-point was a nationwide uprising that is forcing our country to confront systemic racism and rethink how it values — or rather fails to value — Black lives.
Along with color, our Working Families Party identity relies heavily on our typographic style. A style that is impactful, exciting, energetic, and bold.
Our typographic hierarchy is outlined below. For the sub-headline at the top we use PF Venue Condensed Light. For our headlines, we use the typeface PF Venue Condensed Bold. And finally, for our long-form / body copy, we’re using Helvetica Neue Regular.
We also knew we needed a full-color palette to create a dynamic and inclusive look and feel for the WFP. Diversity of color was fundamental if we wanted to be the political home for the working class in all its powerful diversity, including Native county, Latinx folks, Asians and Pacific Islanders, Muslims and South Asians. We wanted a palette that conveyed a sense of boldness, excitement, and diversity of thought and people, but that all comes together to work in harmony. It also needed to look nothing at all like the color schemes of the two dominant political parties.
The inspiration for our color palette comes from Sister Corita Kent’s lively and optimistic serigraph editions. Sister Kent (1918–1986) was an artist, educator, and advocate for social justice. Throughout the ’60s, her work became increasingly political, urging viewers to consider poverty, racism, and injustice.
She remained active in social causes until her death in 1986, by which time she had created almost 800 pieces, thousands of watercolors, and innumerable public and private commissions. “Like a priest, a shaman, a magician, she could pass her hands over the commonest of the everyday, the superficial, the oh-so-ordinary, and make it a vehicle of the luminous, the only, and the hope filled,” said Corita’s friend, theologian Harvey Cox.
Below is an overview of the Working Families Party color palette. Our goal was also to make its uses simple and intuitive while promoting interesting and often unusual combinations.
For our core color, we’ve settled on a vibrant and energetic hue we call Working Orange.
Finally, there’s symbols and iconography. This one was a challenge. What symbol defines a progressive political party? We thought through just about every option: from sparks to suns, and from upraised fists to clasped hands.
The end product is a flexible, powerful visual language that helps tell the story of WFP and where it’s going.
The Compass Rose
Building a multiracial, working-class electoral movement within the confines of capitalism and a rigid two-party political system isn’t easy, and tough choices come with the territory. The only way to navigate those choppy waters is to have a clear, fixed North Star to guide us.
That’s why we decided our primary symbol should be a navigator’s Compass Rose. The Compass Rose steers us towards our end goal: a country where everyone can thrive, no matter what your color is, who you love, where you come from, or how much money is in your pocket. A country for the many, not the privileged and powerful few.
The Abbreviation
Sometimes you’re pressed for space and only an acronym will do, especially in the world of social media. Our members and the media frequently use “WFP” as a shorthand for the Party, so we’ve developed an acronym wordmark.
The Wolf
This one came from the WFP activists who unofficially adopted the wolf as the Party mascot last year. A lot of folks started adding wolf emojis to their social media handles, including myself.
Well, now we’re making it official. Fearless, smart, brave, the wolf acts as our guide. And in most representations, she’s following that Compass Rose.
You don’t see donkeys or elephants plastered on Democratic or Republican branding, and the wolf won’t be everywhere on ours. But she’s a part of our identity — and look out for her in the wild!
The Roundel
The Roundel plays off the aesthetic of 70’s political parties campaign buttons and pins. Utilitarian, distinct, and continuous.
And here you can see how it all hangs together:
So that’s it. That’s the core of our new look. There’s lots more to come, including all the paraphernalia that come with a political party: t-shirts, posters, flyers, pins, hats and banners. And a new website (you can see here).
This has been a long process that forced us to dig deep and think through the Party we’re building. It’s been a delight to work with our designers, staff, and members to arrive at this new brand — and to share it with all of you.
Now let’s get out there, win this election, and build the political party of our dreams.
Maurice Mitchell
National Director
Working Families Party
