Safety Check

Brand Project Deliverables

Branding

Jersey Design

Motion Graphics

Copy Writing

About The Brand

Safety Check is a fictional charity ice hockey foundation. The purpose of this foundation is to raise awareness of the potential brain damage hockey can cause, particularly focusing on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Safety Check would partner with one of the most prominent CTE research institutions in the country, the Boston University CTE Center, with jersey and ticket sales from the charity game being donated to aid in their research efforts.

Safety Check is a fictional charity ice hockey foundation. The purpose of this foundation is to raise awareness of the potential brain damage hockey can cause, particularly focusing on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Safety Check would partner with one of the most prominent CTE research institutions in the country, the Boston University CTE Center, with jersey and ticket sales from the charity game being donated to aid in their research efforts.

Branding

Logo Design

The main element of the logo functions as both a hockey stick and a check mark, with the negative space in the "K" serving as a design element - which can be seen below.

Color Palette

The color palette is inspired by the actual color of brain enzymes that can be seen in a petri dish through a microscope, with the darker red spots being tau protein clusters surrounding damaged nerves and blood vessels. This cluster buildup is believed to cause atrophy (impacted areas of the brain begin wasting away), leading to CTE. The reference picture was pulled from research conducted by the Boston University CTE Center, led by Dr. Ann McKee and her team.

Brand Elements

The brand elements were designed in a way that represents various symptoms of CTE: cognitive impairment, impulsive changes in behavior, mood disorders and motor functionality. Triple-layer, transparent typography and an abstracted check mark with intersecting lines are systematically chaotic to provide a sense of the internal chaos one with severe brain damage might feel.

Jersey Design

After researching hockey jersey designs from professional and minor league teams, and creating several different iterations in a more standard jersey style, it became clear that the jerseys for Safety Check needed to push the boundaries of the controlled chaos motif.

The jersey is asymmetrical: one sleeve has a number as opposed to both, the name plate on the back is arched in a downward direction, and expands on the abstracted check mark. Staying true to the asymmetry, each sock is also different from the other.

After researching hockey jersey designs from professional and minor league teams, and creating several different iterations in a more standard jersey style, it became clear that the jerseys for Safety Check needed to push the boundaries of the controlled chaos motif.

The jersey is asymmetrical: one sleeve has a number as opposed to both, the name plate on the back is arched in a downward direction, and expands on the abstracted check mark. Staying true to the asymmetry, each sock is also different from the other.

Early Iterations

At one point, my Adobe Illustrator file had around 30-40 different artboards. The versions shown below ultimately acted as the roadmap to the final version. One is more structured and traditional, utilizing a layered checkmark across the torso and sleeves. The other is more chaotic, using pieces of a brain damaged with CTE illustration as a pattern.

At one point, my Adobe Illustrator file had around 30-40 different artboards. The versions shown below ultimately acted as the roadmap to the final version. One is more structured and traditional, utilizing a layered checkmark across the torso and sleeves. The other is more chaotic, using pieces of a brain damaged with CTE illustration as a pattern.

Motion Graphics

Brain Comparison

The purpose of this animation is to represent the extreme damage a brain with CTE has compared to a healthy brain. It was created in Adobe Illustrator and animated with GSAP (GreenSock), a JavaScript animation library. MRI scans used as a reference were pulled from BU CTE Center research.