Women's Day Inspiration with Beatriz Lozano
By Alixandra Rutnik on Mar 08, 2023
YG20 Winner Beatriz Lozano designs Yahoo logo for International Women’s Day
As you will see, all brands are celebrating women today for International Women’s Day, and we too are highlighting a recent female-forward project designed by Young Guns 20 Winner Beatriz Lozano. Before pursuing a design career, Beatriz was on track to become a mechanical engineer. So when she was tasked with the March Yahoo logo redesign to honor Women’s History Month, she pulled inspiration from early female inventors.
Beatriz created a super cool AR feature for Instagram that allows you to overlay the moving Yahoo logo over your image or video by scanning a QR code, which she could no doubt teach you how to do in her interactive design class at Parsons.
We got the details from Beatriz about her unique Yahoo design, teaching career at Parsons, and color refresh for the Creative Week 2023 branding.
Happy International Women’s Day, ladies!
It is Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day today! How did you let the spirit of unstoppable women inspire your Yahoo logo design?
Women inventors have played a significant role in shaping history, despite facing systemic discrimination and barriers to their participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Despite these challenges, women have persevered to help use their skills and knowledge to make the world a better place, and their legacy lives on through their positive contributions!
How did this women-centered Yahoo project come across your desk?
Alyssa Velazquez, Yahoo’s Senior Social Manager reached out with the opportunity to work on the project. Alyssa was introduced to my work through her former coworker and my friend and mentor Rich Tu. Not only with this project, but also through his work with COLORFUL, Rich is an inspiration for how we can use our experience and connections to uplift others!
You mentioned that your design was inspired by the patents and sketches of early inventors Sarah Boone, Mary Anderson, and Hedy Lamarr. What is it about these three women that inspire you?
These three women have paved the way for future generations of inventors. Studying their journeys has taught me that innovation and invention can come from unexpected places and that challenging the status quo and persisting in the face of obstacles is essential for creating change. Before becoming a designer I was originally on the path to becoming a Mechanical Engineer at the University of Michigan. I remember walking into lecture halls of over one hundred students and I would be one out of three women in the entire class, and the only Latina. I can only imagine the hurdles these women went through, especially Sarah Boone who was one of the first Black women to receive a patent in 1892.
"Before becoming a designer I was originally on the path to becoming a Mechanical Engineer at the University of Michigan. I remember walking into lecture halls of over one hundred students and I would be one out of three women in the entire class, and the only Latina."
You also noted that the color purple is powerful and historically symbolic of women– can you give us some examples?
In the early 1900s, purple was used as a symbol for the Women’s Suffrage Movement, which advocated for women’s right to vote in the U.K. and U.S.A. In the present day, purple is the color of the 8M march in Mexico, which is part of a global movement for women’s rights and gender equality, and it is currently one of the largest and most visible demonstrations in the country.
As a teacher at Parsons, what do you value about educating your students on interactive design?
This is my third-semester teaching at Parsons. I love that teaching allows us to build communities and empower young designers to learn to think critically and find their voice through their work. I’ve been teaching Interaction design these past few semesters, which is often students’ first exposure to learning to code. It’s incredibly rewarding to see students embrace this new skill and harness it to create inspiring work.
Since you did the Creative Week rebrand for us last year at The One Club, what are you planning to change up about it this year?
This year’s identity is a color refresh of the system I created with the Sunday Afternoon team last year. The logo was designed with my generative typeface, Java Sans, which allows users to customize the colors and form of the letterforms. This year’s brief was to update the identity to be “vibrant, celebratory, and future-forward,” so I updated the color palette to a bright magenta, pink, blue, and yellow!
In your winning Young Guns interview, you said, “I would describe my personal brand as the intersection of design, technology, and activism. Experimental. Bold. Joyful.” How is this statement reflected in your Yahoo and CW logo brand redesigns?
In both designs, I intentionally used bright and joyful colors as an act of celebration. The Yahoo logo carries a deep history of perseverance despite discrimination, which I think is important to recognize and understand in our journey to gender equity. Both projects allowed me to incorporate my love of motion and technology. For the Yahoo logo, I developed an AR version of the design which can be viewed as an effect on Yahoo’s Instagram. I often view AR as a tool to create sculptures without the limitations of the physical world, and this project was no exception!
"The Yahoo logo carries a deep history of perseverance despite discrimination, which I think is important to recognize and understand in our journey to gender equity."
Since accepting your YG20 Cube in November 2022, in what ways have you noticed your career flourish as a Design Director?
I am so grateful to have been recognized as part of Young Guns last fall. Since then I have been very fortunate to have a constant influx of prospective design projects, as well as opportunities to pursue my passion in education, such as holding workshops and giving talks. The biggest adjustment is learning how to keep up with all of the emails, but I think that’s a good problem to have. This year, I want to continue working on projects that allow me to bring in my love of new technologies and social good!
"Since then I have been very fortunate to have a constant influx of prospective design projects, as well as opportunities to pursue my passion in education, such as holding workshops and giving talks. The biggest adjustment is learning how to keep up with all of the emails, but I think that’s a good problem to have."
One Club for Creativity Members get featured here on the One Club website and across our social media channels. Have a new project you'd love to share? An upcoming exhibition and you'd like us to help spread the word? We always love to know what our One Club Members have been up to, so don’t forget to send us your cool work!
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