Ireland’s Warrior Queen

I am so excited to share with you some visuals of a fun branding project I worked on throughout 2021 for Maeve of Connacht. I was approached back in late 2020 to design a brand identity for Maeve of Connacht to complement illustration work/storyboards that had already been conceived by Kevin Keane. I was immediately blown away when I saw the illustration work that had been done by Kevin for the project, Maeve looked so powerful and fearless exuding female strength, equally, I wanted the brand mark that I would create for her to represent this beautiful, strong woman.

Many know Maeve to be a legendary figure in Irish Mythology, she was a decisive forceful leader, an excellent warrior and her sexual prowness and beauty were famous. But most know of her from her association with The Tain, which was the 'Cattle Raid of Cooley'. Maeve wanted to be equal in every way to her husband, the only difference between them was that he owned a magnificent white-horned bull, while Maeve had nothing that could compare to it. Maeve sent messengers to search all of Ireland for a bull that was just as splendid as that possessed by her husband. Eventually a magnificent creature was found, the Brown Bull of Cooley, however it’s owner did not want to part with it and so began the famous battle to steal this bull.

As the story goes, Maeve assembled a great army of her allies from all over Ireland to invade Ulster to steal the bull. At the time, there was a curse on the Ulster armies that put them out of action for 9 days. But this curse did not affect the young warrior, Cúchulainn, the only man who stood between Maeve and her invading army and the defenseless lands of Ulster. Maeve persuaded her greatest warrior, Ferdia, the foster-brother of Cúchulainn, to represent her in battle, but alas this was to no avail. At the Battle of Ardee, Cúchulainn slayed Ferdia, the last great champion of Connaught. On the final eve of confrontation between the 2 armies, the Brown Bull of Cooley was smuggled into Connaught by Maeve's agents and they retreated back to Connaught.

There are many tales associated with Maeve in Irish Mythology but the tale of The Tain is the most famous. Initially for the brand mark, I did some variations with bulls horns protruding from the “M” but we felt that it was best to keep it more generic as the graphic novel of Maeve will contain various stories and best to keep the identity simple. I wanted the identity to be really strong and contemporary which could sit comfortably alongside any modern superhero identity. It is hand drawn and specially crafted, the ‘M’ is distinct and works well across social and various platforms. I created a specially drawn shield to accompany the main brand mark with the celtic tri sceal spiral at the fore front, this too can be also found on Maeve’s head band.

I will be sharing more of this work soon on my website, this project reached many touch points including merchandising, print and packaging.

Maeve illustration by Kevin Keane

#branding #graphic design #logo design #branding design