Proudly collaborating since 2023
The English Honor Societies, a nonprofit organization based at Northern Illinois University, represents four distinguished academic honor societies dedicated to recognizing and promoting excellence in the English language arts and literature: ELA Honor Society (middle schools), NEHS – National English Honor Society (high schools), Sigma Kappa Delta (two-year colleges) and Sigma Tau Delta (universities).
The 2026 Sigma Tau Delta Convention takes place in New Orleans and the design draws inspiration from the energy and movement of the Second Line—a vibrant New Orleans tradition—but here, the silhouettes represent the expressive spirit of the humanities: literature, music, theater, and the visual arts. Each figure’s unique pose and color captures the joy, creativity, and diversity found in these fields and draws on traditional Mardi Gras colors.
The suite of logos can be used for multiple purposes, including a standard logo, logo lockup (with date and location) and a logo icon on both a bold black background and without background. The logo reflects the lively theme of the convention and the powerful role the humanities play in bringing people—and voices—together through expression and stories.
ELA Honor Society was founded in 2023 and created by Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society for four-year universities and colleges, which has been operating since 1924, and the National English Honor Society (NEHS), which works with over 80,000 high school students worldwide.
The organization recognizes outstanding and diverse achievement by engaging students in grades 6-9 and their teachers in the valuable experiences fostering literacy, studying literature, and using their skills to impact their community.
Through a series of brand strategy sessions, we developed their overall brand strategy and brand positioning, including mission and vision, brand pillars and keywords, audience and key messaging. From that framework, we developed the related brand assets and marketing deliverables, including Logo, Brand Guide, Marketing Toolkit, Merchandise (sticky notes, enamel pins, and Canva-accessible Marketing Templates.
We integrated the history of the founding organizations along with the youthfulness of the market ELA Honor Society serves into the brand strategy and visual identity, highlighting their vision of amplifying student voices and creativity in the English Language Arts.
This project was a winner in the 2024 GDUSA American Graphic Design Awards.
