Africatown
A unified visual identity system for one of Seattle's most vital Black-led community organizations, built to match the scale of the work they have always been doing.
- Brand Identity
- Web Design
- Art Direction
- Interactive Prototyping
- Client: Africatown Community Land Trust
- Collaborators: Photon Factory
- Website: africatownlandtrust.org
Creating a Unified Voice
Africatown operates across several distinct entities in Seattle's Central District: a community land trust, individual properties, Africatown Plaza, and Africatown Marketplace. Each had grown its own visual identity organically over time. As a maturing organization ready to scale its communications and elevate its public presence, Africatown needed a unified system that reflected the visionary work they have always been doing and created the organization-wide design standards to carry it forward.
Pattern became one of the system's most distinctive identifiers. Drawing from African textiles, architecture, and decorative motifs, it weaves together lines, systems, and pixels that pay homage to the digital era and Africatown's forward-thinking vision. We pulled from Kente cloth and its symbolism, along with the textures of Africatown's own spaces: the brickwork at the Liberty Bank Building, the murals, the Art Deco details of the William Grose Center, the barber pole's stripe. Patterns can stand alone, layer with photography, or pair with typography.
Africatown's hero typeface is Tatsuro, from Vocal Type, the Black-owned foundry founded by Tré Seals. Every Vocal Type face is drawn from the history of a movement or an underrepresented community, so choosing it was a values decision as much as a design one. Tatsuro's bold, declarative letterforms give Africatown a voice that carries weight: confident, dignified, and impossible to overlook. It sets a tone of presence and pride that runs through the entire identity.
The pattern is built to scale in emphasis depending on what a moment needs. On a title slide or a cover, it can take center stage, setting an immediate, celebratory tone. In a data-heavy or photo-driven layout, it steps back to a quiet accent or disappears entirely, letting the imagery do the talking. This range keeps the identity flexible: unmistakably Africatown when it needs to make a statement, and never competing with the content when the work itself should lead.
The Africatown Community Land Trust website puts the whole system to work. A striking hero typeface carries bold, declarative headlines, pattern adds texture and rhythm, and community imagery keeps real people at the heart of the story. The layout stays clear and purposeful, guiding every visitor toward one unmistakable action: a bold Donate button anchored in the top right, ready the moment someone decides to join the movement.