New Voice for Voices of Youth

Established in 1995 by UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund), Voices of Youth is a global initiative that aims to give young people, ages 10 to 25, not a just a place to voice their opinions on but to learn about topics like major social issues, such as the environment, HIV and AIDS and human rights. A new identity for Voices of Youth has been designed by Brooklyn-based Hyperakt.

Voices of Youth Identity from Hyperakt on Vimeo.

I simply love it when initiatives like this get some designer love. Typically lost amid a bigger organization's concerns it's easy for something like this to feel neglected and not be able to reach full potential. The logo is a very nice typographic solution that is bold and striking and manages to use the speech bubble in a refreshing way. I appreciate the detail too of how the bubble center-aligns with the 'V' and, overall, the V/SpeechBubble icon is very well integrated and locked-up with the condensed typography. The logo also makes for a great favicon.

Set of icons that represent Voices of Youth's topics: Human Rights; Poverty and Hunger; Education; Health; Environment; HIV and AIDS; and Violence, War and Conflict.

The icons add another dimension to the identity and make it feel both playful and infographic-ish, giving youngsters a sense of being involved in things that matter. (Okay, maybe I'm just making that last stuff up because I woke up optimistic). The icons can then populate the speech bubble and help define each topic whether it's on their website or in printed communications. Even when adding this fourth element to the logo, it still holds up well and doesn't feel overdone. And the icons look great blown up and all overlaid on the website.

Sample web pages with icons in action.

This identity gives Voices of Youth its own voice that will surely help make it more engaging for its users.