Queer Crush Vermont.
Creating a sticker design to represent and promote a 501(c) non-profit organization that establishes safe spaces and communities for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC climbers in Vermont.
Project Type
Client Project
Team
Myself
My Role
Product Manager
User Research
Graphic Designer
Tools
Figma
Figjam
DALL-E
Illustrator
Duration
2 Weeks (2024)
OVERVIEW
Project Context
Queer Crush is a 501(c) non-profit organization that creates safe and inclusive spaces for Queer and BIPOC individuals to seek healing, health, community, and connection with the land through the art and sport of climbing.
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In late 2023, a Vermont chapter of Queer Crush was established, joining 29 other chapters mainly located on the West Coast. As the only East Coast chapter, Queer Crush Vermont wants to create a sticker design that represents their unique community and environment, and will help to promote their organization.
Design Process
UNDERSTAND
Everyone is obsessed with stickers!
Walking through the climbing gym, you'll be hard-pressed to find a water bottle, cellphone, or laptop that is not covered in stickers. This trend seems to have been brought into the mainstream largely by Gen-Z, who use stickers as an accessory, an extension of their personality, and a conversation starter. Stickers have become a way of publically (but quietly) expressing one's values, loyalties, and memberships.
So what?
The proliferation of stickers reveals an opportunity for organic brand promotion and word-of-mouth — especially when the brand or message represents a minority group or hot-button topic. Creating a sticker to represent Queer Crush Vermont would not only empower the existing community, but could also serve as a conversation-starter that encourages more people to attend future meetups.
RESEARCH
How do we stand apart from the other chapters?
As a method of "competitive benchmarking," I compiled a collection of imagery and logos from the other Queer Crush chapters, as well as some similar organizations closer to home. I noticed that every logo or sticker incorporated rainbow colours, and most also included some kind of reference to rock climbing (ie. a mountain, rock climber, or climbing gear).
ANALYSE & DEFINE
The Project Vision
Our sticker design should represent both the Queer community and the climbing community, and should also serve as a conversation starter. It should include multiple colours — ideally those of the pride flag — and some representation of climbing, as well as a specific characteristic unique to Vermont.
MOODBOARD
What kinds of feelings are we going for?
Before defining the brand, I first perused Dribbble and Pinterest for some inspiration to help narrow the direction for the logo. The images that evoked the strongest responses from me were cartoon-ish, vibrant, and bold in their effects. Based on this information, I decided the sticker logo would include typography and a cartoon-style illustration, stark effects, and a saturated colour palette.
BRAND
Defining the brand
I started by creating a word map to identify any concepts or topics related to Queer Crush Vermont. Then, I selected the 3 concepts that I felt best described Queer Crush's brand and mission: "bold," "friendly," and "quirky."
Developing the colour palette
I wanted the colour palette to reflect queer pride and the org's 3 main brand adjectives. At first I pulled colours directly from the Pride flag, but I found that the hues pulled a bit too dark (ie. too low in brightness) for the vibe I was going for — especially when compared to the colours used in the designs from other orgs. Additionally, I felt like I needed more than just the 6 colours from the original Pride flag, and I liked how the pink and lighter blue from the Trans flag added vibrancy to the updated Pride flag designs.
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I increased the brightness and saturation on all hues to between 90 and 100%, and then played around with the hue values until I settled on a set of 8 main colours, plus a neutral grey. I then created expanded swatches in either direction of each main colour. The primary colour in each swatch is bordered in black in the palette below.
IDEATE
So, we have our brand. Now comes the hard part...
I wanted a design that would represent rock climbing and queer pride in the context of the org's 3 main brand adjectives. I used Microsoft Designer and DALL-E to help me generate ideas, and started sketching.
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I was set on using a rock wall and climbing holds in my design, so I started by sketching out a basic climbing wall.
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Next, I refined my design to try and fit my criteria.
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When I was happy with the second sketch, I started creating a vector outline of my design.
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Then, I added colour to the vector outline, pulling hues from the colour palette I created.
Finally, I added noise and details, as well as highlights and shadow effects. I ended up with a striped climbing wall with multi-coloured holds in a 3D cartoon style.
BUT, the design seemed too complicated somehow. Compared to the designs I pulled from my research, the effects were too realistic and too soft. I also couldn't get the perspective on the left side to look right in the design style I chose, and I didn't feel like the single Vermont-shaped hold was an adequate representation. At the same time, I didn't simply want to drop the design in a Vermont-shaped outline — that approached felt too overdone, and frankly, easy.
So, I removed the thick black border, and harshened the drop shadows and highlights by eliminating the blur and increasing the saturation.
However, the perspective issues on the left seemed to get worse without the border, so I adjusted the vector path on the left to mimic the jagged edge without requiring perspective.
And that's when it hit me...
The jagged left edge looked an awful lot like a state border... Vermont is essentially a straight line on its western border, but its eastern border is definitely more unique...
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Ironically, even though I didn't want to rely on the Vermont outline, I ended up in a similar place (but better)! I moved the jagged edge of the design to the right side, and adjust the vector path to follow the eastern border of the state. I moved the holds around to fit in the newly defined space, and added typography to finish it off.
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The sticker will now be coming soon to Queer Crush Vermont's future monthly meetups!
We've got our design!
FINALIZE
