EMPOWER Michigan

Empower Michigan brought me on to design their brand for a Central Student Government race at the University of Michigan. I needed one visual identity that could hold up across flyers, Instagram posts, and full-screen digital slides, while still reading as one campaign no matter where you ran into it.

Their platform centered on accessibility, affordability, and student wellness, and I wanted the design to feel like it came from the same place: clear, confident, and built around community rather than any one candidate.

The Dotted M

The centerpiece of the brand is a custom M built entirely out of bold yellow dots, my twist on the University of Michigan’s block M. Every dot stands for something separate: a distinct idea, community, or lived experience that only becomes the full letter once it’s part of the group.

That’s the whole idea behind Empower Michigan too: real change on campus happens when different students, commuters, grad students, marginalized groups, everyone with a stake, show up and work together. The dotted M is just that idea rendered as a logo.

Unity through collective action, strength through difference, not despite it.

Bold, Flexible, and Recognizable

For type, I went heavy and confident, matching how assertive Empower’s platform was on things like reproductive care access and campus safety at night. I kept Michigan’s maize and blue, since ditching official school colors felt like a nonstarter, but pushed the contrast harder than you’d see in a typical university branding guide.

I built the system to hold up anywhere: campaign slides, business cards, event signage, Instagram graphics. Wherever a student ran into Empower’s brand, on a table in the Union or in their feed, it needed to read as the same campaign.