Being asked to design the Black Dog Institute Aboriginal Suicide Support document had its challenges. Generally, there are image restrictions when doing graphic design for Aboriginal culture. The design should not use pictures of Aboriginal people or artwork. With this in mind, we had to rely purely on workshop photos, typography and generic photography.

The brief

The Black Dog Institute had compiled information and outcomes from a workshop they held in Adelaide in 2017. It covered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis support and aftercare. The document needed to be easily palatable for readers. Additionally, it had to explain the reason for the workshop, as well as the agenda and, most importantly, the findings.

A different solution

Graphic design for Aboriginal culture should not use pictures of Aboriginal people or artwork. Instead, we sourced pictures of Australian landscape and trees. We made sure the colour tones matched the oranges and blacks from the Black Dog Institute colour palate. The large blocks of colour balanced the information on the pages. The shapes we chose also made the pages less blocky.

Lato was the only font in the Black Dog Institute brand guidelines. We wanted to add some interest, and for this document, we introduced the font Intro Inline.

At Kollectiv Studio we go above and beyond to service our clients’ needs. And, with decades of experience, we have worked on many culturally-sensitive documents, and have learned what is needed.

For other examples of report layout, please go to the PSK report and the Actevate Activity Statement.