Grantboost
Grantboost is a premiere web application that uses Generative AI to help folks write grants. This sector was long underserved. They humbly approached me with a disclaimer that this would be a work in progress, and those words could not have made me happier.
Trust the process.
The task was to create a brand from their collective ideals of making something that has a positive impact and ensuring it is useful. Much like the grant writing process, the journey is messy, complicated, romantic, and the like. With grantboost, the clients wanted to convey that it’s the starting point of a concept, the jump-off. And so off I went.
With most projects, I begin on paper; it’s the easiest way to make sense of the random lines I see in my head — don’t worry, I’m fine. Sketching gives me a loose idea of the direction I want to take, but it is not the gospel. These things can always change.
Exercises in exploration.
In developing the brand, I created several mood boards to brainstorm around what both the clients expected and what I wanted to make. These board topics range from color, style, art period, feelings, etc. The objective here is to establish what those intangible things are that invoke a reaction.
Color me #DE6445.
Of course, color plays a large part in creating a brand and its mark. To avoid cliché, the client expressed not having anything explicitly rocket-shaped in the design. But we still need the feeling of mechanics and industry. In enters our color palette. Privately, I titled the palette 'Rocket fuel' instead of being able to use anything too blatant in the design.
Progress. Progress. Progress.
How it started, how it ended.
The final solution flaunts a bold, and minimal style with balanced typography and vibrant contrast. The circle with the stylized “b” conveys movement and growth. All of these elements combine to create a visually striking mark with a message of forward momentum.