The strategy and story behind the SHEEHY strategies logo
Symbolism means everything to a storyteller. So when we designed the logo for SHEEHY strategies, we had a specific vision.
The logotype had to be bold, serif and should be able to stand-alone. The line art below SHEEHY has rich meaning that signifies our purpose. The color palette hints to some of our key values that are vitally important to our mission. There’s a subtle tribal element that connects to other SHEEHY strategies brand elements, especially our tagline, and illuminates certain dynamics of our field. We’re incredibly proud to present the SHEEHY strategies logo.
As you can see, we’ve met our key objectives. Now let’s share the story for each.
The logotype — One of our founder’s favorite fonts for SHEEHY in all caps is Georgia. That’s the place of her birth and where she was married (OK, so that’s a little much, but we told you symbolism is important to us!). Even though we love Georgia (both the place and font), we wanted to evolve the logotype concept for originality.
Notice how the S can stand alone, especially in social graphics. Having a serif font was also fundamental, as we needed to communicate a classic, perhaps even ancient flair, since our icon has a primal history. And finally, with any logo design, it’s essential to have a logotype that can be used alone given we’re limited on space. Today this is particularly imperative in order to be versatile, especially in the digital landscape.
The line art design — The icon below our logotype is inspired by an ancient African symbol that means, “achieving the impossible.” Due to the nature of our field, this is paramount to us as public relations practitioners are often tasked with initiatives that appear impossible at first, but with inventiveness and diligence, goals are absolutely possible. In “Herd it Here,” we’ll share our own observations of how organizations and communities are achieving the impossible.
The color palette — Ah, color, such a powerful indicator of one’s potential and ability! SHEEHY strategies selected black, gold (a couple variations), beige and white. Education and empowerment are two of our core values — our goal is to consistently educate and empower our team, our partners, our clients and the community. Our founder’s undergraduate university (Go Knights!) AND high school (Go Vikings!) alma maters use the colors black and gold. Beyond our passion for education, black symbols strength, gold represents prosperity, beige signifies dependability and white illustrates virtue.
The tribal vibe — The tribal subtly of the logo connects to our commitment to promote cultural diversity. This isn’t limited to ethnicity, although we greatly appreciate various infusions of experience and perspective. Diversity is a dynamic that our company plans to showcase regularly. Often times, the most sensitive issues to address, like the complexities of mental health or homelessness, can be normalized with a simple conversation, which most certainly connects back to our values of education and empowerment. Finally, with the tagline, “a new breed of public relations,” which gives nod to our spirit animal, the elephant, the tribal symbol will come to life in many forms in both compelling and subtle ways.
