May 24, 2018

Pulling on String: How We Designed Our New Podcast Logo

Our digital art director explains how he came up with the design.

James West/Mother Jones

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Yesterday, we launched the Mother Jones Podcast. One exciting step in putting out a new show is creating a logo that distills for eyeballs the essence of what we are offering listeners’ eardrums.

That’s where Adam Vieyra, our digital art director, stepped in. In this video, Adam explains how he conceptualized the logo from initial sketches to the final version: a ball of string with one thread sticking out, placed on our orange background. “It organically comes up as a terminology for reporting, to keep pulling on that string, or to keep gathering string on that,” Adam told me. “It’s just something I’ve heard in newsrooms, and specifically at Mother Jones.”

Watch Adam’s creative process unfold:

Listen to our debut show here:

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DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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