Brand — Jessica E. Boyd

BINAMU

I led logo and visual identity design in 2024, when BINAMU was originally envisioned as a card game intended to inspire connectedness and conversation across the African Diaspora.

After the brand was reimagined as a digital magazine exploring Black migration, memory, art, joy, and resistance, I was invited to return in 2026 to lead art direction and editorial design.

CAPABILITIES

Logo + Identity Design
Art Direction
Digital Collage
Editorial Design

Text on a dark red background that says 'Blame' in large orange letters.

BINAMU Logo

Two young children in traditional African clothing stand in front of a vintage microphone with a cloudy, leafless tree in the background against an orange sky.

“Cracking the Cipher: Why Our Children Must Inherit the Code in Black Music”

A woman with styled hair and a pearl necklace, smiling with her eyes closed, surrounded by flying cranes, with a historical map of Tennessee in the background.

“I Left [Big City] for the South and Found a Different Version of Blackness”

A collage of diverse elements including a woman with a serene expression and outstretched arms, a man in traditional African attire dancing, and a videographer recording, set against a cityscape with high-rise buildings and a dark purple sky with a city map overlay.

“The New Black Renaissance Isn’t Happening in One City”

A man wearing a straw hat and sunglasses driving a vintage silver car, with white magnolia flowers in the background and a red textured backdrop.

“How Black Migration Is Reshaping Local Culture Across America”

A woman with dramatic makeup and long white nails holding her face, with a large wooden African mask and various vintage coins, a ship's wheel, and a compass in the background.

“Museums Spent Centuries Profiting From Black History. Now Communities Want More Than Apologies.”

Black Mary Paper Co.

Though the founders shelved this brand pre-launch due to the wide-scale unpredictability of 2020, I led brand strategy, logo and identity, packaging, and merch design for Black Mary Paper Co. The concept was a greeting card and paper goods brand inspired by the true story of Mary Fields, also known as “Black Mary,” the first Black woman star route worker for the U.S. postal service.

CAPABILITIES

Logo + Identity Design
Art Direction
Merch Design
Packaging Design

Collage of various Black Mary Paper Co. logos and designs on a black background, including text and stylized illustrations of a person with a headwrap.

A round black sign with white text reading 'Black Mary Paper Co.' hanging from a black metal arm attached to a brick building. The building has a wooden awning and other colorful building facades visible in the background.

A white tote bag with black face illustrations and orange starburst patterns hanging on a red car door handle.

A graphic art print of a Black woman with a headwrap on an orange background, placed on a teal fabric surface.

Person wearing a white sweatshirt with a design resembling a postage stamp featuring a stylized portrait of a woman and the words 'Black Mary Paper Co.'

Person wearing white pants and black sneakers, carrying a black tote bag with a graphic of a person's face with an orange hat on it, standing on a cobblestone surface.

Multiple white paper envelopes with the text 'Black Mary Paper Co' printed on the flap, arranged overlapping each other, with small orange starburst symbols scattered around.

Close-up of black paper box with orange and white text. The box features the words "Special Delivery" and "Black Market Paper Co." along with a small illustration of a person's head with a turban.

HBCU Prep School

When first-time author Claudia Walker set out to release The ABCs of HBCUs under her publishing company, HBCU Prep School, she desired an illustrator and creative partner with lived HBCU experience.

With our shared background at Spelman College, I was selected to lead art direction, logo and identity design, and provide digital illustration and book design that seamlessly reflected the beautiful and diverse nuances of HBCU culture. I also led creative for Walker’s second release, The ABCs of Black Wall Street.

CAPABILITIES

Logo + Identity Design
Art Direction
Digital Illustration
Book Cover + Layout Design

The image shows multiple copies of a book titled 'The Arts of' with illustrations of children in graduation caps on the covers, overlapping each other.

Back cover of a book titled "The ABCs of HBCUs" with a red background, white title text, and small illustrations of children sitting or standing on the title. The description highlights the book's focus on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, their history, and cultural significance. The barcode, ISBN, and price are also visible.

Four people are sitting in a row at a bar or counter, each wearing yellow and blue clothing, with a red patterned background.

Illustration of two diverse women, one with curly hair and the other with braids, standing behind a podium with a microphone, against a blue background with geometric patterns, representing women empowerment and leadership.

ACCOLADES

The fall 2020 release of The ABCs of HBCUs was a breakout success—selling 1,000 copies in its first month, far surpassing the typical lifetime sales of 250 copies for self-published children’s books**.
Both The ABCS of HBCUs and The ABCs of Black Wall Street were instrumental in HBCU Prep School winning the $25,000 Build Black Shopify Pitch Competition, as well as business mentoring from entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Daymond John.
Each title landed retail placement on Macys.com and Bloomingdales.com, as well as in over 1,900 Target stores nationwide during Black History Month 2022.
The books also earned recognition on “best of” lists by Essence magazine and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, as well as major national media recognition in Forbes and others.

International African American Museum

To help mark the 23-years awaited grand opening of the International African American Museum, I art directed and designed a commemorative event t-shirt worn by museum staff and volunteers facilitating grand opening events across the city on July 27, 2023.

Governed by IAAM brand guidelines, the shirt depicts a minimalist line drawing of the oceanfront museum alongside text identifying the grand opening date and historically-significant location at Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston.

CAPABILITIES

Art Direction
Apparel Graphic Design

Black t-shirt with white line drawing of a modern building, palm trees, and text about an African American museum grand opening in Charleston, South Carolina.

Close-up of a person wearing a gray blazer and a black t-shirt with white printed architectural drawing and text for the grand opening of the International African American Museum on June 27, 2023, in Charleston, SC.

Grand Opening Commemorative T-Shirt Design

IAAM x Mia Saine - art direction & print production management

A diverse group of people, including adults and children, posing outdoors on a wooden patio with palm trees and blue sky in the background.

When the Education Department took to task to help make complex historical content lively and resonant for the museum’s youth visitors, they decided to develop a self-guided student activity booklet for school groups touring the International African American Museum.

I joined the project as art director, developing the creative brief and sourcing award-winning, Memphis-based illustrator Mia Saine (they/them) to bring the booklet to life. Mia’s exceptional ability to capture the intended aesthetic and direction meant their illustrations brought instant clarity and energy to the project. The collaboration successfully demonstrated how thoughtful art direction can help transform “hard” educational content into an engaging and culturally meaningful resource for young learners.

IAAM x #HipHop50 SOCIAL-FIRST CAMPAIGN

Two months after its 23-years-awaited grand opening in June 2023, the International African American Museum circled an opportunity to stake its place in the global conversation on the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop. While other outlets and institutions celebrated with high-budget concerts and celebrity-driven campaigns, I conceptualized and creative produced a lean three-part, social-first rap cypher featuring influential, yet unexpected voices from across the museum’s host city of Charleston, South Carolina.

Reach extended to over 4 million through organic shares, with positive cross-generational and cross-cultural brand sentiment reflected in comments across the series. The campaign not only kept the museum top-of-mind in the early honeymoon phase following grand opening, it also affirmed the museum’s mission to honor untold stories of the past alongside living history of today.

A woman is speaking in front of a camera, gesturing with her hands. She is inside a room with a collage of black-and-white photographs on the wall behind her.

COPYWRITING

CLICK TO ENLARGE ON MOBILE

SOCIAL BUZZ

CLICK TO ENLARGE ON MOBILE

A screenshot of a social media comment section with several comments and reactions, including emojis, and a small image of a woman with her eyes closed, hand near her face, in the bottom left corner.

Screenshot of a social media post with a series of comments filled with fire, microphone, and hip-hop related emojis, expressing excitement and praise for a musical performance or event.

IAAM - Special Exhibitions & New Programs Digital Content

Special exhibitions and programs are key drivers for reaching new audiences, growing repeat museum visits, and increasing new and renewed museum memberships.

In my role as Communications Manager at IAAM, I talent sourced and led production teams of videographers and photographers to capture special exhibition promotional content and edited short-form videos for real-time/quick-turnaround social media posting. These efforts grew awareness of ongoing museum engagement opportunities beyond the permanent collection.

IAAM x Hadiya Williams - artistic liaison

Two people standing and looking at a wall exhibit titled 'REDEFINED' with smaller text about creative expressions of blackness from the diaspora, in an art gallery.

When the museum’s curatorial team began planning for an upcoming exhibition, "re/Defined: Creative Expressions of Blackness from the Diaspora," I served as artistic liaison and referred acclaimed DC-based artist Hadiya Williams to lead exhibition design. Hadiya’s global/diasporic aesthetic and background in pattern-making and textiles made her a perfect selection for executing the creative vision for the exhibition.

IAAM Digital Asset Library - creative production

A diverse group of people, including a man with glasses and a beard, smiling children, and adults, gathered around a table with colorful pens in an art or craft setting, with patterned fabric wall hangings in the background.

To support ongoing print and digital marketing collateral development, content creation, and press/media readiness, I led creative production efforts to position the museum in alignment with its mission for both internal and external stakeholders.

I planned, casted and directed on‑campus commercial shoots, and also coordinated and creative produced other routine and project-based brand photo and video shoots to grow a robust digital asset library.