Behind the Scenes with Discover Bonifant
photos from Discover Bonifant Instagram account
Friends, I am so excited. Discover Bonifant has just unveiled a new mural, painted by artist Alexander Brewington and it features the logo I designed!
The logo was the most prominent part of my collaboration with Discover Bonifant, a branding project that involved developing a color palette and posters that have informed the overall look and feel of the brand—bright, fun and unconventional with lots of color and imperfect textures. That look became the baseline for other designers and artists who have worked on the website and social media.
But let’s back up for just a second. What is Discover Bonifant?
If you live in or around downtown Silver Spring, MD (DTSS), surely you know Bonifant Street. And if you don’t, you should. Along its one block, Bonifant Street features 15 small, locally owned businesses, from cafes to hair salons to a dentist.
Discover Bonifant is a coalition of the business owners, who have come together to support one another. Indeed, the Discover Bonifant Twitter bio reads: “One street, all the things. Big Community. Small Business.”
“It’s like a neighborhood of small businesses surrounded by city life,” said Angela Walker, co-owner of Jaha Hair Studio. “When you turn down Bonifant it’s like you’ve literally discovered a quaint little town of businesses. Two-story businesses with manicured lawns and no big-name restaurants. It’s filled with long-standing honest business owners that have been around to see the changing scenery of Silver Spring over the years.”
Silver Spring boasts a thriving immigrant and international community. Nowhere in Silver Spring is this international yet local feel more prominent than on Bonifant, and it’s what brings people to the block. I couldn’t quite track down a full demographic report and COVID life makes a door-to-door canvassing a bit tough, but an incomplete list of countries/regions represented on Bonifant Street include Ethiopia, Thailand, Myanmar, Dominican Republic and West Africa.
The Challenge
At first, I felt somewhat intimidated by the idea of designing a comprehensive look to represent a whole block and multiple businesses. What if the business owners had opposing ideas about what should be communicated, or what kind of look and feel would best represent Bonifant Street?
Luckily, everyone was really on the same page. The Discover Bonifant initiative, led by Walker’s business partner, Susan Peterkin of Jaha Hair Studio, had already been in motion for several years. It ended up being very easy to come to a consensus on what the logo should look like. Which, frankly, was good with me, because I didn’t get into this line of work to mediate arguments.
The Process
During the branding process, I conducted a brief survey and created a word cloud based on the responses. As you can see, some of the words that most come to mind when people think about Bonifant Street include: local, diverse, small, eclectic and fun.
A lot of my preparation for this project also involved walking along Bonifant Street, taking photos and talking to people. When you walk down Bonifant, it feels fun, exciting and unconventional. It’s completely different from other streets that are populated with chain stores and restaurants. That’s what the folks who own the Bonifant businesses take pride in. I wanted to capture this bright, fun energy in the colors and the lettering by creating a sense of movement and activity. Because multiple countries are represented on Bonifant, I wanted to create something that could feel international and multicultural, without referencing any one specific country or culture.
In addition to my initial casual chats and interviews, I also met with as many business owners as possible, usually at the Kefa Cafe library extension, to discuss ideas and review mood boards.
Impact At A Glance
We knew the logo would be seen by people both walking and driving on Bonifant, as well as online. It needed to feature a dynamic, bold typeface that would allow them to quickly absorb the words we needed them to read: Discover Bonifant. One small, but significant (and super fun) variation we created is to have versions of the logo with arrows pointing in different directions. That way, wherever the sign was placed in the city, there could be an arrow pointing toward Bonifant Street.
For those who are local to the Silver Spring area, I cannot offer you enough encouragement to follow the arrows to Bonifant Street and check out all the fantastic businesses. Make sure to pick up a coffee at Kefa Cafe for your walk. Everyone, regardless of location, please check out the Discover Bonifant website to learn more about this amazing block of big community, small business.
CHANGEMAKER OF THE MONTH
For this month’s change maker of the month, I’m spotlighting and donating to a wonderful project that my dear friend Natasha is involved with called Protestra. It is a coalition of classical musicians who protest injustices & raise awareness through benefit performances.