Ashraf Milad is a lawyer based in Cairo, Egypt, specialising in refugee protection and who has worked in numerous crisis zones, including Darfur, with Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and Sudanese and African refugees in general in Egypt.
Ashraf asked me to look over his CV and I ended up also designing for him a new brand identity for his law practice. Of several initial concepts, and in discussion with others, the focus narrowed to the simple beginnings of that effort: a colonnade, to represent law, including an offset pyramid both for reasons of his being in Egypt, and also to suggest an M, for Milad, in the logo
The Law Office of Ashraf Milad
Initially, the pyramid shape was centred. But on reflection, the logo could be confused for a bookmark, so it was shifted to an off-centre position. Doing so suggested a way of getting around the reduced legibility of the colonnade by the inclusion of a triangle, as opposed to an arc, to suggest its roundness: making lighter one of the channels, to give the suggestion of a three-dimensional tube.
More could have been done to reinforce the colonnade. But as I strive towards simplicity, I left it as simple as possible. The lighter tone on the left-side channel also helps reinforce an M inside the logo mark.
