The Substance and Soul of the South

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution stands as the sole journalism brand with a 150-year legacy in the South. Working alongside the team at Matchstic, our goal was to reposition the brand as a modern media company with Southern roots and global potential. My role was helping develop the overall concept and look of the identity.

While The AJC has long enjoyed the trust of Southerners, the organization faced a modern challenge. With the ongoing decline in newspaper subscriptions and emerging technology continually redefining the way we consume information, the brand needed to reaffirm its relevance for today’s audiences. Enter The Substance and Soul of the South, a message that touts their trustworthy and rigorous reporting and highlights their distinctly Southern perspective.

The AJC’s rich history is best reflected in its blackletter wordmark. Recognizing the necessity to update this iconic blackletter to better suit the brand’s evolved focus on digital and non-print media, we collaborated with Dalton Maag to simplify and unify the letterforms without compromising their visual equity.

Before

The primary concept of the visual system is pulled from the organization name itself. In 1982, The Atlanta Journal merged with the Atlanta Constitution—and in 2001, the hyphen was introduced to connect the two names. The hyphen is now used as a visual frame to elevate our stories, as a connector line to link contrasting information, and as a repetitive device to create rhythm.

The verbal identity is rooted in the AJC’s dual embrace of substance and soul, reinforcing their commitment to Atlanta while setting the stage for a true leadership position not just at home, but across the South. The brand voice blends the intelligence of top-tier journalism with the Southern character that suffuses all Atlanta, brought to life by short, sharp, headline-inspired language written to be smart without sounding preachy or academic. It's the verbal complement to a design system that highlights the AJC's role as a "frame" for the South’s biggest stories, inviting the AJC to celebrate their journalistic bona fides while creating space for a unique POV.

At the end of the day, this evolved brand identity for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution makes one thing crystal clear: anybody can cover the South, but there’s only one paper that can claim it.