Southern Poverty
Law Center

For more than 50 years, the Southern Poverty Law Center has been an integral force in the fight for racial justice and human rights in the deep American South. Put simply, they are the organization that bankrupted the KKK.The Champions Design team worked closely with SPLC to build an updated identity system that would sync with their new strategic framework and help unite core communities.
Logo, Identity, Packaging
We are in a different time, but we are still in the same fight. When Baby Boomers and Gen Z each entered their teens and twenties, they entered the political zeitgeist and battled the establishment for long-needed change.They are our catalyst generations and they are both critical to the SPLC. To have that connection between the oldest and the youngest generations today is remarkable. The SPLC identity system had to unite them both.
Today, the SPLC provides much more than just legal aid. The shift to leading with their acronym gives more oxygen to the organization’s diversity of offerings and reflects how they are commonly referred to in community and in conversation.The monogram makes use of redrawn letters with custom terminals that sync with the tile system, while the interpunct serves as punctuation. It says SPLC, period.
The new SPLC identity calls on the common geometries of Southern Gothic style. The color palette demands attention be given to what matters and offers new freedom to celebrate joyous moments.
TeamPartner: Jennifer Kinon
Design Director: Michael McCaughley
Designers: Preston Thompson, Amira Lin, Michael Penda
Strategists: Justine Olivia Marks, Paulina Alvarado Serrano
Producer: Haley Kattner Allen
Lettering: Ben Kiel
In-house Team: SPLC Communications & Design
2025 © Michael Penda