Launched in February 2022, Harris County Public Library (HCPL) Connected is an ongoing initiative aimed at closing the digital divide among communities in the Greater Houston area. I was tasked with designing a mark for this initiative that would live on each of the 15,000 Google Chromebooks available for patrons to borrow from their local HCPL branch.
Read more about HCPL Connected here.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/3e1d3828-e07a-4562-a2b8-125ba607fda4/4060532f-1adb-421d-93b3-703a43592ecb_rw_1920.png?h=c85ece8421514e972275587615c732e3)
The icon design, depicting signals emerging from an open book, represents HCPL's services extending beyond the books on our shelves.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/3e1d3828-e07a-4562-a2b8-125ba607fda4/451e0336-5bf2-41ca-a723-5651cc8a2c17_rw_1920.jpg?h=8fd265a3461e6a2da5012dd2d23853dd)
Here are the signal & book concept sketches made in Adobe Fresco. I settled on a horizontal profile view for two reasons:
A front or inside view called for details that would not scale well at small sizes
A book on its side is similar in shape to an open laptop and the letter "L" (for library)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/3e1d3828-e07a-4562-a2b8-125ba607fda4/568b53e6-1a5d-408d-b695-4781ac94e882_rw_1920.png?h=b3d6e5c8ec0f7740ceae84455ca0b25c)
The final logo combines my icon design, "connected" in a bold, sans-serif typeface, and the current HCPL wordmark.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/3e1d3828-e07a-4562-a2b8-125ba607fda4/f29e9eb5-0780-459c-baa8-00c95fcb2316_rw_1920.jpg?h=c44b7d7a2cda5cc2bd2f78064d672538)
Photos from the first days that HCPL patrons could check out Google Chromebooks.