Visual identity and website design for a university research initiative
CLICK (Critical Literacies – Images for Sharing Children’s Knowledges) is a research project led by Dr. Diane Collier at Brock University that explores how children experience, understand, and create photographic images as critical visual literacy practices.
Our collaboration began with the development of a visual identity that felt grounded in academic research while still reflecting the curiosity, warmth, and creativity that guide the work. The identity was designed as a flexible system that could support presentations, research materials, participant communications, and other applications as the project continued to grow.
The collaboration later expanded to include a custom website, bringing CLICK’s research, resources, publications, and evolving collection of Research Stories together within a cohesive digital home.
Logo concept and visual system
The CLICK logo blends the mechanical precision of a camera with organic forms to reflect the project’s focus on slow photography and children’s visual literacies. The camera functions as both tool and metaphor, symbolizing attention, inquiry, and documentation. Its rounded form supports approachability, while the layered radial lens references an aperture, with subtle nods to a flower and sun.
An angled plane introduces a sense of depth and perspective, referencing photographic depth of field, while viewfinder-style corners frame the project’s full name and reinforce ideas of framing and visual awareness. A small yellow dot above the “i” in CLICK recalls a vintage camera flash and subtly suggests the human presence behind each image.
This logic extends into a broader visual system that includes custom icons, pixel-based patterns, and framing devices. The final identity deliverables included a full logo suite, an expanded visual system, a comprehensive guidelines document, and a set of Canva templates that make it simple for the research team to copy, paste, and adapt elements for future use.
Extending the visual identity to the web
As CLICK’s body of research continued to grow, the next phase of our collaboration was the design and development of a custom website that could bring the project’s research, people, publications, and resources together in one accessible online space.
The website extends the existing visual identity into a flexible digital system. CLICK’s colour palette, custom icons, pixel-inspired patterns, photography, and framing devices are used throughout the site to create continuity with the original identity while giving the website its own sense of movement and discovery.
The site was designed to make a substantial body of academic content approachable and easy to explore. Research Stories document individual projects over time, while dedicated areas introduce the research team and bring together publications, presentations, news, and resources for researchers and educators.
Custom graphics and image treatments help translate the identity into the digital environment, including an interconnected lightbulb graphic that represents CLICK’s research process through gathering, making, analyzing, and sharing. Responsive layouts ensure the experience remains clear and engaging across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
The finished website gives CLICK a central home for both its established body of work and future research, with a flexible structure that the team can continue updating as the project evolves.
“Catherine was so excellent to work with. She helped with designing materials for a new research study. She really listened carefully and produced tools that will help us spread the word about our work. I was beyond impressed.”
– Dr. Diane R. Collier – Professor, Faculty of Education, Brock University & Principal Researcher, CLICK
