North Star Rising

Thrilled to once again be asked to develop the visual identity for the new movie by the team behind Raise. Jen and Todd, in their continuing quest to highlight the inequality of opportunities for quality early childcare. This time, they turn their sharp lens on the efforts of New Mexico, and their first-in-the-nation attempt to create a system for universal early childcare. Called both ambitious and foolish, the film is a story about both the need for this in all 50 states, and the challenges and set backs such a monumental task requires.

Again, so lucky to be a part of this team.

Early revisions of a poster feature desert and mountain like imagery in browns and beiges. — Round 1, experimenting with a desert palette and some sans (sand?) serif treatments

The visual identity of this film required several things, the first of which is just place setting. It is, in the end, not a universal story – it is a story of a place, and the people living in that place. As a result, leveraging the dramatic and stunning landscape of the natural New Mexico biome immediately came to my mind. Lots of design elements to work with here – the stunning plateaus and mountains like the Sangre de Cristo, the deep sky and towering cloud formations, the patterns of the desert floor. Eventually, I settled on the magnificent New Mexico sunsets and star viewing as the best metaphor.

A later round of posters, feature pink, purple and blue sunsets overlayed on star layers. — Round 2, a few of which start to look like a Star Wars poster.

Additionally, the name of the film – North Star Rising – is a reference not only to the Zia, the Zuni Pueblo star symbol on the state flag, but also to the idea of reaching for greatness, as in 'reaching for the stars'. After a few false starts that included some reaching arms that looked a little much like a zombie film, I chose the masked look of the little girl looking into the sky as an apt visual metaphor.

A silhoutte of a girl, masked with stars, over some towering desert clouds. — Round 7. I quite like the NC Wyeth clouds, but declined by client.

I like it because it's not really a visual story about reaching your goal. It's about the hope and possibility of reaching it. This effort that New Mexico is trying is bold, inspiring – and potentially could not work. Big ideas oftentimes need to be so big, they face a risk of collapse. And so it is with this poster.

It is about hope and possibility. One of my finer pieces, I think.

Some nice zia patterns I made for their social media kit.

The final poster, a silhoutted of a little girl, looking up, stars masked inside of her. Behind her, the mountains of New Mexico sit in front of a stunning sunset. The stars of the desert night are at the top of the poster. — Final.