Jacobs created branding for Molly Rawn’s mayoral campaign

Anna Jacobs, founder and owner of Fayetteville design studio Jacobs & Co., created the nontraditional branding for Molly Rawn’s successful mayoral campaign. Rawn defeated Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan in a Dec. 3 runoff.

Jacobs said she started working on the campaign in August 2023 after a client referred her to Rawn. Jacobs created the branding for Rawn’s campaign website, social media, T-shirts, stickers and yard signs.

“At the top level, it was really establishing the brand as an overall visual kind of system … so, logo, color pallet, font, stuff like that,” Jacobs said. “Then, talking to them about also language and voice. Then from there, drilling down to the actual assets.”

She received a lot of feedback on the yard signs, Molly For Mayor, which came in two colors. Jacobs noted the diverse range of colors she created for the campaign was something that made it unique to the other campaigns and that the unique colors helped the campaign stand out from the more traditional Fayetteville colors like purple, or more broadly, red, white and blue.

Jacobs also said using the candidate’s first name and being on a first-name basis helped Rawn seem more personable and approachable. And, being the only woman in the race, Rawn’s first name set her apart.

“The yard signs were like the thing for people … for supporters,” Jacobs said. “People saw those not really as campaign materials but kind of like as a symbol of Molly’s fresh approach. They just looked different than anything else out there.”

Jacobs said she’s received more feedback on the signs than on almost anything else she’s done in her career. She joked that she had a lot of friends and acquaintances who supported Jordan but still liked the signs.

This was Jacobs’ first political campaign to work on. Jacobs established her design studio in 2019. She works with contract workers as needs arise. An existing project is updating the branding and signs along the Razorback Greenway.

She also does work for the University of Arkansas School of Art, area hospitality and retail clients, and events, including Northwest Arkansas Pride Festival for Northwest Arkansas Equality and Falltoberfest for Experience Fayetteville.