This Is What Happens When Women Read
A typographically-driven identity and messaging platform serve as a catalyst for the vision of achieving liberation through literature.
Project Components:
Brand Identity
Messaging, Voice & Verbal Strategy:
Mary-Catherine Jones
Strategy:
Heidi Hackemer
Website:
Principle
Author and musician Julianna Glasse founded This is What Happens When Women Read, a global initiative that empowers women through education and safe community. We created a visual identity and messaging platform that reflect the initiative’s intelligence while infusing it with exuberant energy to engage a broad audience. Through this work, we aimed to raise awareness, build a lasting legacy, and spark meaningful action—inspiring women to discover their true selves and helping create space for others to live authentically.
We drew inspiration from the bold spirit of the Women’s Suffrage movement and combined it with the refined lettering style often seen in fashion editorial design—particularly the work of Cipe Pineles. Artists like Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, and Sister Corita Kent influenced us with their attention-commanding directness, reinforcing our belief that the message should drive the art and open space for subversive vernacular.
We designed a collection of signature wordmarks and graphic labels for flexibility and variation across a range of applications. The framed holding shape was inspired by vintage cloth-bound book cover plates. This approach gave the identity a sense of visual authenticity and resilience. For practicality, the holding shapes help to ensure legibility and establishing rules for clear space.
The initial phase of work included the delivery of a brand book to be used by collaborators and creative partners. It functions as a source of truth for the strategy, visual design, voice and tone and functions as a working example of the identity in action. The brand book serves to inspire, empower, and guide—to help ensure a consistent presentation of the brand across all touch points.
Motivated by the founder’s story, the defined brand values and pillars, the brand anthem is an emotional declaration that captures the heart and soul behind the organization.
The typeface family Schnyder provided the right balance of refined high contrast and organic variation. The mix of different weights and optical styles allowed us to create visually striking and impactful typographic expressions.
