World Ocean Day

World Ocean Day is a UN-recognized celebration to inspire and galvanize conservation action worldwide. Spearheaded by The Ocean Project along with a growing network of global leaders in 140 countries, the organization provides resources for anyone to take action to restore and protect the ocean.

We worked with the World Ocean Day organizing team to design a brand and campaign graphics that would allow WOD participants—zoos, aquariums, museums, schools, businesses, and individuals—around the world to easily use materials and promote a cohesive global event.

We surveyed the organization’s 25-member youth advisory council from 16 different countries and positioned the design celebrate the benefits and beauty of the ocean—without ignoring heartbreaking evidence of warming and pollution—to inspire its protection and restoration, rather than create fear. One person may not have the power to enact sweeping change, but the organization believes in empowering individuals to demand policies from governments and corporations that will bring about positive change in our shared ocean.

We designed a new brand identity for World Ocean Day along with a playful suite of graphics. Our goal was to introduce a sense of fun, color and dynamism to the materials and encourage partner organizations all over the world to use them to promote their World Ocean Day events. We mixed the requisite blue with pops of warm color and graphic elements drawn in a modern style to appeal to all ages of audiences.

The 2019 materials downloaded over 12k times leading up to World Ocean Day on June 8—a gigantic increase from the mere hundreds of downloads in years past. The graphics were used to promote individual events and encourage participation at the over 2000 events in 140+ countries. There was a 38% increase from 2018 in instagram photos tagged with #WorldOceanDay (226k) and the organization reached 145k followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. There were also impressive influencer and organization mentions on social media as well as over 40 major media mentions.