HelloFCB+ Designs for Cradle of Human Culture

HelloFCB+, the human connections agency based in Cape Town, designed the corporate identify for the Cradle of Human Culture, launched in April by Wesgro and the Department of Cultural Affairs & Sport and Economic Development and Tourism.

A grouping of archaeological and paleontological heritage routes, the Cradle of Human Culture project is a partnership with the Cradle of Humankind, which is already a World Heritage Site.

While the Cradle of Humankind showcases the biological development that led to the appearance of Homo sapiens, the Cradle of Human Culture captures their behavioural development. Included on the Western Cape route are the Blombos Cave, Pinnacle Point Site Complex and Diepkloof Rock Shelter while three additional sites – Klasies River in the Eastern Cape; and Border Cave and Sibudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal – have also been identified.

The challenge put to HelloFCB+ was to inspire people to be curious about their origins, and take time out to explore more about this interesting topic. The team also needed to visually link the Cradle of Human Culture to the Cradle of Humankind, and highlight the routes and the sites and experiences along those routes.

“Our corporate identity for the Cradle of Human Culture incorporates design devices derived from the decorations on the egg shells and shards found on some of the sites. These graphics represent the contour lines of the geography, the layered edges of the sharpened rocks as well as the water adjacent to these sites while the overall design alludes to fingerprints, which represent our original identity,” said HelloFCB+ Nadja Srdic, Executive Business Director.

“To make the markings more unique we shaped them into the acronym COHC to become an iconic mark for the brand. This is positioned within the same ovoid shape used for the Cradle of Humankind to show a clear link between the two brands. We kept the lines bold in order to allow for easy reduction and to work effectively across all media platforms,” she said.