For over 15 years, the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival has shared fun and meaningful math with kids worldwide. We have always believed that a math festival – a community event that brings people from all walks of life together to celebrate math – has the power to change a person’s perspective on what math can be. Math doesn’t need to be a competition, done alone, or an activity only the “smart” kids can do. Math is a community activity and the joy of math is for everyone.
I am excited today to launch our new brand in order to reinvigorate our vision of a world where every child has access to joyful problem solving and the opportunity to celebrate math. JRMF has not changed its branding since its inception in 2007, so we wanted to be as thoughtful as possible when changing our image. Here are some of my favorite things about the new brand:
The new logo brings JRMF’s unique focus on math festivals to the forefront. Although we love our math activities (and we love math at JRMF!), our math festivals have been the foundation of our work. We wanted a brand that embodied our commitment to not only create fun math activities but also create environments that inspire kids and adults to want to learn and play with math. Just as our mission is to empower communities to transform math into a festive experience, our new logo was designed to make math into a festival.
Our new colors modernize JRMF while also emphasizing that math is for all students. After a certain age, math is typically seen as a male-dominated field. We’ve seen this gender divide dissolve at math festivals, and we wanted our visual landscape to model our festivals by appealing to all genders. We deliberately included traditionally feminine colors, like pinks and purples, along with traditionally masculine ones, like blues and oranges, to create a welcoming feeling for everyone.
You’ll notice illustrations and stylized photos that put kids front and center. We never want to forget that JRMF is here ultimately for the good of our next generations. The joy, excitement, and wonder you can see on the faces of students during a math festival is one of the most fulfilling parts of this work. It’s why I do this job, and it’s the one thing that, if nothing else, we hope to show to the world: kids can and want to enjoy math.
Sometimes what you don’t see is just as important as what you do. At the heart of our new logo, you’ll find the entrance to a festival tent. From the outside, it looks like empty space; but inside you’ll see a splash of bright, colorful math activities; you’ll hear the buzz and excitement of kids in play; and you’ll feel the joy and community that we get to experience at every math festival.
Math has a hidden beauty that many people never get the opportunity to see. We hope you’ll join us inside our festival tent, and be a part of a growing community committed to changing the way the world sees math.
