Asian Pacific American Student Success Program

Logo Design // Illustration

Client
John Ho — APASS Program Director

Deliverables
One Full Color Logo

Objective
To create a logo that fully encompasses the diversity, scope, and goals of the Asian Pacific American Student Success (APASS) program. The logo will be used on all business materials, as well as a merchandise line that will be for sale in Fall 2019. Link to be posted — images featured now are placeholder mockups.

Concept
The power of community

Approach
The region of Asia + Pacific Islands spans almost half of the globe, making this a challenging logo to create as it needed to represent so many diverse cultures. I began with researching what symbology was significant in each culture, while looking for similarities between them. The greatest common denominator between all of the countries is their relationship with water. In Asia, the tie to water is with rainfall. Digging deeper into cultural ties with rainfall, the dragon was consistently described as the bringer of rain. All vary slightly on the specifics, but Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, and Thailand all see the dragon as a symbol of growth, success, and high achievement. This was very fitting as these three descriptors are part of the APASS program goals. The lower half of the logo is the Pacific Islander representation. Whales are consistently seen as guardians in Pacific Island cultures. Legend has it that whales guided the ancient ancestors to the islands originally. This symbology is also very fitting for APASS’s program goals as it is not only a place for academic and career counseling, but somewhere for Asian Pacific American students to connect and feel at home. The wave in the center unifies the mainland and islands, while the calligraphic typeface echoes Asian/Islander brush strokes.