Open call · Closes September 30, 2026
MAP belongs to its community. So should its logo. We are inviting the broader MAP community, including current and past students, organizers, members, faculty advisors, and friends of the network, to design our new visual identity. Many of us are creatives at heart. Some of us professionally, too. Time to shine!
Why an open call
For thirteen years, Minorities and Philosophy International has run on the conviction that those closest to a cause should have the loudest say in it. Our chapters are autonomous. Our organizers are graduate students. Nothing about MAP has been handed down from above, and that shouldn't change now.
We could commission a logo, decided upon by the five-person committee currently organizing and directing MAP International. That would contradict the heart of what we do. So we are doing what we should have done from the start, and asking you.
The selected design will become MAP's official logo on this website, on our reports and posters, on conference banners, mugs, and tote bags, and in the corner of every browser tab that ever opens our pages. It will outlast all of us who are currently organizing.
The brief
Let your creativity roam free, limited only by a few little practical constraints.
The mark must stay legible as a favicon and as a social avatar: 16 px in a browser tab, 32 px in a bookmark bar, a small circle on Instagram. Fine detail, thin lines, and anything with more than a few elements will disappear. Test it yourself at these sizes before submitting.
At minimum: a standalone symbol that works alone in a square, and looks good when paired with the words Minorities and Philosophy set beside it or beneath it. Look at our current Minorities and Philosophy wordmark at the top left of this page, and imagine the logo beside it. A monogram (MAP) is also welcome as a third variation, or a monogram could be the logo, in whatever way you think of it. Explore!
It must survive being printed in a single flat color, and being reversed out of a dark background. If a design only works in full color with gradients or effects, it will not survive a photocopier, a conference badge, or a tote bag.
The strongest marks carry an idea that fits in one sentence. Ours is an organization about opening a discipline that has been closed, about bridging gaps, about connectedness, about inclusion, and so on. None of that is meant to be illustrated literally, in a descriptive way. We welcome abstract, minimalist, typographic, or geometric approaches. Just tell us what it means. Ideally, the symbol itself will tell its story, too.
Stock imagery, clip art, clichés like globes, handshakes, puzzle pieces, and lightbulbs, and marks that read as symbols of another organization are all to be avoided. And please check that your idea isn't already someone else's. Great minds think alike is not a catchphrase that characterizes MAP, but you can test whether your great mind thought alike another, and check your logo's similarity against others, using free tools like this one.
Context
We just rebuilt our site in summer 2026 after a decade on the old one. A logo that lives comfortably here will feel right everywhere else.
Typography. Headlines are set in Fraunces, usually in its lighter weights. Body text and labels are Inter. Both are open-source and free forever, which matters for a volunteer-run nonprofit.
Temperament. Warm, but firm enough to become the symbol of our efforts for social and interdisciplinary change. You got this.
You are welcome to depart from all of it if your idea is better. Show us why.
How to enter
You can work alone or as a team. Chapters are also welcome to submit collectively, if they wish.
Send the logo on its own, plus at least one variation, and a version of it in context: a poster, a slide, a tote bag.
A short paragraph. A hundred words is plenty. What is it, what does it mean, and why does it suit MAP?
Upload through the form as PNG or SVG. Rough sketches are also welcome. A strong idea drawn by hand can be more effective than a weak one rendered digitally. In either case, if your design is selected, we will work with you to prepare the final files.
Credit and rights. The designer of the selected mark will be credited publicly on this site and in our annual report, in perpetuity. By submitting, you agree that if your design is selected, MAP International may use it as its identity, but you keep the right to show the work in your own portfolio.