Project Jonah is a registered charity, operating since 1974. Project Jonah exists to respond to strandings throughout the whole of New Zealand. Along with this they train hundreds of volunteer Marine Mammal Medics each year, present to schools and special interest groups and raise funds to continue their work. I've been involved with Project Jonah since 2020, redesigning their logo for digital platforms and working on various fundraising merchandise.
For their 50th anniversary in 2024, Project Jonah asked me to work on a series of logos for a new sticker sheet, featuring logos old and new, and one new bespoke illustration that would evoke the 1970s.
Three existing logos were being included in the sticker sheet. The first is the current circular logo. The second is a new 50th Anniversary logo I created, and the third design is traced from an existing logo from the 90s. For a fourth design, I was asked to create a retro illustration and design that would evoke the 1970s, with some reference images provided to give me inspiration.
Once I had my colour palette locked, my initial illustration drafts focused on stranded orca, with their dramatic black and white colouring offering a strong contrast against the coloured backgrounds. After a few rounds of feedback, we decided to move away from orca imagery, as most of Project Jonah's rescue efforts have focused on pilot whale strandings. I decided to instead produce a more detailed illustration of the Project Jonah logo's whale tail, originally drawn by Sandie Cairns. The tail went through different colour and weight variations before the final was chosen, with a 70s-inspired font added around the border of the design for the sticker layout.
The stickers went on sale in November 2024 and were quickly snapped up by Project Jonah's volunteers, appearing on books, water bottles, cars and laptops. It was a wonderful project to be a part of and I am very honoured to have been involved in celebrating a cherished organisation's 50th anniversary.
