BAYETE ROSS SMITH
AN IDENTITY ABOUT IDENTITY
Bayeté Ross Smith is an multidisciplinary artist, visual journalist, filmmaker and education worker, working at the intersection of photography, film & video, visual journalism, 3D objects and new media.
His work explores how identity is performed and perceived through public installations that confront the viewer with images, iconography and sculptural assemblage.
To develop a visual identity for Bayeté’s studio, Shift 7 Studio took inspiration from his series “Taking Aim,” which superimposes a shooting target over an image of a person—in this case Bayeté’s own toddler portrait—a work that forces the viewer to question who is a victim, and who is a target.
Exploring the lines between victim and threat; entertainment and attack; and sanctioned and unsanctioned violence, Bayeté Ross Smith’s “Taking Aim” series challenges the viewer to consider their own relationship to the use of firearms in American culture.
Bayeté’s visual identity draws on the form of the target to create a typographic mark that embodies the unease and power dynamics implied by the targeting of another human being.
“My goal is to look at how identity and presentation form how we perceive the world; and to provoke viewers to question their pre-existing beliefs”
—Bayeté Ross Smith
Logo Standards
Typography
As a nod to Bayeté’s journalism roots, headline type is set in Morris Fuller Benton’s ATF Alternate Gothic; text and subheads are set in TypeTogether’s Tablet Gothic and Abril Text if a serif face is required.
Colors
In order not to compete with the imagery or color in Bayeté’s work, the symbol, logo lockup and typography should appear only in BLK or YT.
Business cards feature images from different projects as visual examples of Bayeté’s work.
