Case study 09 / 09

Ganges Guardians

An emblem for a river dolphin conservation group. A Ganges river dolphin leaping out of a guardian's shield.

Role: Sketching, logo design & style sheet
Year: 2025
Discipline: Logo design
Tools: Pencil & paper, Illustrator

Overview

Ganges Guardians needed a mark that works as a badge for volunteers and as a friendly face for awareness campaigns. I started on paper, filling sheets with dolphins in every frame I could think of, then took the strongest idea into vector and built a compact style sheet around it.

Protect, not just depict

The Ganges river dolphin is India's national aquatic animal and it's endangered. Early sketches just drew the dolphin; the breakthrough was putting it inside an open shield, so the mark reads as protection. Orange and green split the shield, the dolphin breaks out of it and into the water.

The logo

Initial sketches · 15 sketches

One sheet of pencil roughs under the key message, save dolphins and raise awareness: dolphins in circles, over waves, on a globe and, in the one that stuck, leaping out of a shield.