Pentagram’s Natasha Jen has designed a new identity for Apex for Youth, a non-profit organisation providing mentorships and educational programs for underserved Asian and immigrant youth in New York City.

Apex’s network of volunteers is made up of working professionals who provide support in academics, social skills, and community engagement for elementary through high school students. Many of the mentees are are first-generation university students, and are encouraged to become volunteers after graduating high school, helping to extend the outreach cycle of the Apex program.

The logo design is inspired by the tangram, a traditional Chinese dissection puzzle in which seven flat, geometric shapes are arranged to form familiar objects. The logo makes use of these shapes by forming an apple, which alludes to New York City’s most well-known moniker.

“In addition to being an Asian cultural symbol, the tangram also suggests the infinite number of future possibilities for the students in Apex’s programs,” say the designers. To illustrate this aspect of the identity, the designers animated a sequence of some of the potential forms that could be created with the wooden puzzle, which then morph into the new Apex logo.

Set in Museo Slab, the “Apex” wordmark appears in all lowercase. A contemporary slab serif, the designers say it “speaks to the geometry of the tangram logo and conveys strength and friendliness.”

The new identity has been applied to the Apex for Youth website, echoing the logo’s geometric shapes and using bright colours for graphics throughout the site.

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