Apex for Youth is a non-profit organization that provides mentoring and educational programs for disadvantaged Asian and immigrant youth in New York City. Apex's network of volunteers is made up of working professionals who provide support in academics, social skills, and community engagement for elementary through high school students. Many of the mentees are are first-generation college students, and are encouraged to become volunteers after graduating high school, helping to extend the outreach cycle of the Apex program. Apex for Youth also holds its annual Inspiration Awards Gala, celebrating exceptional students and outstanding members of New York City's Asian community.
Pentagram has designed a new identity for Apex that reflects the organization's influential mission. The logo design is inspired by the tangram, a traditional Chinese dissection puzzle in which seven flat, geometric shapes are arranged to form familiar objects. The new Apex logo makes use of these shapes by forming an apple, symbolic of the organization's educational mission and alluding to New York City's well-known moniker.
In addition to being an Asian cultural symbol, the tangram also suggests the infinite number of future possibilities for the students in Apex's programs. To illustrate this aspect of the identity, the designers animated a sequence of some of the potential forms that could be created with the wooden puzzle, which then morph into the new Apex logo.
The Apex wordmark is set in Museo Slab, a contemporary slab serif that speaks to the geometry of the tangram logo and conveys strength and friendliness. "Apex" appears in an approachable all lowercase, and the use of a slab serif helps bring stability to a word that balances on a descending "p." Museo Slab is also a versatile font family that works well as display typeface and remains clear and legible as text.
The new identity has been applied to the Apex for Youth website, echoing the logo's geometric shapes and using bright colors for graphics throughout the site.
