“Representations of diversity largely rely on abstract metaphors, narrow definitions, or iron out our idiosyncrasies by focusing on what makes us ‘the same.’ Attempting to create something that’s inclusive of everyone, can often end up including no-one. For an organisation as diverse as Be Equitable, we needed to create illustrations that celebrate our unique differences, while still being representative of a wide range of people. 

The best way to find a new approach is to seek out new perspectives – which is why we collaborated with New York based artist, Edward Ubiera, to develop Be Equitable’s custom illustrations. Instead of relying on literal representations, these imaginative and intentionally imperfect forms are a glimpse into a possible future – an equitable world where difference is the norm and individuals are free to be. 

We embedded these illustrations into a type format to make it easy for anyone at Be Equitable to use. By combining the alphabetic elements with the symbolic ones, we created a pictorial style of writing – with a slight nod to ancestral scripts. Bringing phonograms and ideograms together, Be Equitable is able to write figuratively, symbolically and phonetically all at once.”

words by forthepeople.agency