All Power Books
BRAND DESIGN
All Power Books is a bookstore, community space, and mutual aid hub. As cofounder my role was ownership of the entire visual brand, including logos, social media assets, apparel design, and product design.
OVERVIEW
Political Education
The main role of All Power Books is political education. We hold workshops, lectures, and reading groups of our own curriculum and provide free space for aligned organizations to hold educational events. Past guests have included Abby Martin, filmmaker of Gaza Fights For Freedom, and Vincent Bevins, author of The Jakarta Method.
MUTUAL AID
Another of our pillars is mutual aid. We provide a free store with pantry goods, hygeine items, and other essentials, as well as a weekly grocery distribution. We also utilize our space in times of acute need: the photo here shows the bookstore being used as a supply hub during the LA wildfires of January 2025.
CULTURAL EVENTS
We seek to create a left culture and build genuine community based on shared values instead of similar consumption. We have hosted music performances, poetry and literature readings, coworking days, and more.
BRAND
Challenge
Create a strong visual identity that reads as "professional" to a degree, without creating too much distance from the grassroots culture from which we evolved.
Must translate well to social media posting, printed and digital educational material, and a wide variety of merchandise.
Inspiration
The mutual aid group that went on to found All Power Books met in the streets and started by doing food distributions with folding tables out of cars and vans. Many of the members also have roots in the DIY music scene. We wanted to mainain our connection to that scrappy, anti-establishment culture.
However, we also saw the need for more than scrappy. The left needed (and still needs) institutions. We wanted to show we could develop more complex, longer-lasting organizations with more and greater resources than tables and a van. With that in mind, I looked to logos and imprints from independent presses, union logos, and imagery from the rich but hidden history of revolutionary movements.
execution
Settled on a book breaking through chains. Broken chains is a long-standing symbol of resistance. An authoritative gothic font (in a happy coincidence, called "Social Gothic") shows the professionalism we wished to convey, and a rough treatment distances us from the corporate/non-profit world and maintain our connection to our grassroots origins.
There is a crest and rectangular version for different applications, and the logomark stands on its own.
Typography
I have always personally favored bold, severe-looking, condensed sans-serifs. In the case of All Power Books it fit the seriousness we wanted to portray. As a practical consideration, condensed fonts enable larger display size on mobile and social media graphics (where almost all of our interfacing with our following happens).
Color
Instead of a traditional color palette, I opted to embrace the full spectrum of red (a spectrum symbolizing our desire to build broad coalitions among the left) and use gradients heavily. Again, while we wanted to portray professionalism, we also wanted to reject an overly corporate or sterile image.
Imagery & Tone
One major way distance from corporate or sterile appearance is achieved is with heavy use of noise and mimicry of the imperfections that come from photocopying and DIY printing.
"Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video...The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them."
- Brian Eno
Repeatability
Because All Power Books is 100% volunteer-run, capacity is a constant challenge. By establishing the above simple but strong and clear imagery and setting up templates in Canva, I was able to create easy systems for anyone to assist with graphics while remaining on-brand.
Conclusion
Lessons Learned
It has been a true privilege to work on a 100% values-driven project. Because All Power is 100% volunteer run, we do not have to make nearly as many concessions to increase our marketability. However it has also been a lesson in how marketable authenticity is.
Designing in accordance with my values has increased both the volume and quality of my work. While left politics are still fringe in the U.S., All Power has taught me it has much more support than I thought.
Success metrics
(as of June 2025)
400+
Educational events held
6,000+
Books sold (plus hundreds of freely distributed books)
$10,000+
In relief to families affected by the 2025 LA wildfires
30,000+
Pounds of food distributed
40,000+
Instagram followers