Forum Umwelt & Entwicklung · Giftfreie Zukunft für AlleOne Symbol for a Toxic-Free Future
Sector
Environment, health, chemicals policy
Role
Design Lead
Year
2020
The Challenge
The Approach
I mapped the coalition's themes, from human and environmental health to the fight for change, and its tone: hopeful and organic, yet professional and critical. Two logo concepts each combined the hexagonal chemical molecule with a symbol of health: seeds for growth, or bubbles for clean water. We also explored the campaign: “The Right to a Non-Toxic Future”.
The Solution
Hazardous chemicals kill around two million people a year, yet the issue gets far less attention than climate or biodiversity. As the UN's chemicals framework expired in 2020, a coalition of German NGOs wanted a shared platform for stronger rules. The brand had to unite five organisations under one symbol, stand apart from IPEN and SAICM, and feel positive rather than alarming.
The coalition chose the bubbles: a chemical molecule transformed into clean water. A confident violet sets it apart from typical environmental greens, and the mark works alone, over textured nature photography or as a badge. I designed and built the website as the coalition's shared home for policy background, materials, news and events.
Impact
Six years on, the bubble mark and website are still the coalition's home. Funded by Germany's Federal Environment Ministry and Environment Agency, the platform now campaigns on the new Global Framework on Chemicals, ahead of its first international conference in Geneva in November 2026.