Client: Preservation By Film, the nonprofit arm of United Storytellers
Creative Repute was commissioned to design the logo for Preservation By Film, a nonprofit that connects filmmakers with preservation campaigns across the country. Their mission is to raise awareness of endangered historic landmarks and inspire community action through film.
Preservation By Film is part of United Storytellers, a creative network founded by Sedrick Lakpa, an Atlanta-born, award-winning film director with over 15 years of experience in studio production. Sedrick’s vision is rooted in a deep love for Atlanta and a strong belief in storytelling as a tool for cultural preservation. Through Preservation By Film, that passion is channeled into a specific focus—mobilizing film as a medium to save places that hold cultural and historical significance.
While our work was not directly tied to a single campaign, we learned early on that Preservation By Film’s first major project would center on Paschal’s, a soul food restaurant in Atlanta with deep ties to the Civil Rights Movement. Paschal’s served as a frequent meeting space for Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders. With demolition on the horizon, the site has become a focal point for discussion around preservation, memory, and community history.
That kind of real-world urgency informed our design direction from the start.
Design Goals for Preservation By Film
The client approached us with a clear vision: they wanted a logo that reflected heritage, storytelling, and action. It needed to connect with two core audiences—filmmakers and communities rallying to protect local landmarks.
A successful design would do several things:
1. Capture the essence of film and documentary storytelling
2. Evoke preservation without being tied to any one place or time period
3. Be versatile enough for use across multiple platforms—film posters, event materials, social media, and grant proposals
Convey trust, seriousness, and momentum
We also needed to keep in mind that this was a nonprofit. The logo needed to feel mission-driven but still visually engaging to the creative professionals who would work under the Preservation By Film umbrella.
The Process
We began by researching symbols commonly associated with both film and preservation. Film reels, camera viewfinders, frames, and light were recurring themes. On the preservation side, we studied architectural forms, keystones, foundations, and historical iconography that spoke to the idea of legacy and endurance.
Instead of leaning on any one cliché, we chose to combine visual languages—blending storytelling cues with structural forms. Early sketches explored ways to visually “frame” a landmark within a cinematic lens. We played with the metaphor of preservation as a kind of framing in itself: choosing what stories to spotlight, protect, and pass on.
After several rounds of exploration, we landed on a mark that fuses a film frame with the strong, grounded geometry often found in historical buildings. The typography we chose complements the mark with a bold, confident presence—serious but accessible, modern but respectful of the past.
We presented the final design with a small system of usage guidelines, including lockups for digital and print, and mockups that showed how the brand might live on everything from a film festival banner to a social campaign graphic.
The Outcome
The final logo reflects what Preservation By Film stands for: the power of story to protect place. It’s a brand identity that invites action while honoring memory—a visual anchor for a movement that relies on emotion, narrative, and impact.
From the client’s side, the feedback was strong. The design struck the right balance between cinematic and cultural, and helped establish Preservation By Film as a serious platform for community-led film initiatives. For an organization just beginning its public rollout, having a clear, consistent visual identity has helped bring legitimacy and recognition to their mission.
We’re proud to support this kind of work—projects that use creativity to make a difference. In a time when so many communities are watching historic spaces disappear, Preservation By Film offers a new kind of solution: not just protesting the loss, but telling the story before it’s gone—and using that story to inspire real-world change.
This project is a great example of how branding is about more than looks. It’s about setting the tone, creating clarity, and giving people something to rally around.
