Role Brand Designer at INQOVA
What I Did Brand Strategy, Brand Identity Design
Duration 2 months
The Challenge
The Outcome
ChromeFree® Leather Alliance (CFLA) is a leather organisation aiming to be a thought leader and an education hub for the chrome-free movement in the leather industry. As the lead designer at INQOVA, I was tasked to create a brand strategy and design a brand identity that reflects the brand's aim to achieve a chrome-free future. To understand what a chrome-free future means, we need to know about chromium.
Chromium or chrome is a widely used natural element in the leather tanning process; however, it will turn into hexavalent chromium, a toxic chemical compound for people and the environment when treated poorly. Some leather tanneries that cannot process the toxic wastewater have no choice but to dump the contaminated water to the nearest rivers, affecting freshwater supplies of communities around the rivers.
The toxic chromium travels to people homes and their farmlands. As a result, people and animals drink water and eat vegetables contaminated with chromium. Multiple research found that highly exposed people are more vulnerable to long-term health damage and even cancer.
Chrome-free future is as simple as it sounds. It is a future where communities can drink their water without any worries and where plants can thrive in healthy soil.
After creating the brief for CFLA, I started my research process by researching different leather organisations and leather certification bodies. Most of all, incorporate the universal leather symbol to tie them back to the leather industry.