PUT A LOOK TO IT

I get asked to work on all sorts of identity projects. Some may be rebrands or refreshes of existing companies, others could be upstarts looking to invest in their look/feel or even projects where I’m putting a look together to add credibility to a presentation for gaining investors. This project was an exploration for a business that may include purchasing already existing, established brands and re-naming or even starting from the ground up with finding the right distribution channels and building something new.

Either way, the project had a budget, and I was hired to start creating various looks/feels! I typically wouldn’t show all the unsold, unfinished work, but I pulled most all of my thoughts together for this post to give a little added insight into this project. 

At the top of this post I show the final outcome, a simple “B” formed from a hook and a bit of serif type. I felt for the style we wanted, the serifs added an established feel that worked well with the fishing theme. Since this was an apparel business, I also looked at developing secondary marks for women’s, children’s and specialty men’s product lines. This idea resonated well with the client and gives a lot of flexibility in branding going forward. This also would require more funding and somewhat of a challenge in making sure each of the lines are linked back to Blue Water Inc. 

I used low res imagery for quick mockups to show some of the designs in an environment when talking over layouts. These mockups wouldn’t be used public facing in branding as I pulled all of them from google images, but just give a quick glimpse as to the style each brand mark could fit within.

It’s always such a fun process to see how sketches come to life in black and white vector pieces, the vectors then change into color selection and final versioning until finally really coming to life in realistic mockups. 

I know some designers dislike a project where the intent is more exploratory than starting with an organized brief and sourcing paper samples for use etc., but there is something amazing about being given free reign to explore a brands direction and see where the concepts lead. In the end, the client was excited about the look and I was  compensated to design/create which is my favorite thing to do!

BABIES ARE AWESOME

Mercy Community Crisis Pregnancy Center is a great non-profit in Reading, PA. They help council and assist young mom's in need and show the love of Jesus to struggling families. Mom's in need can go to Mercy and get everything from baby wipes, to diapers, to some life advice. What an awesome ministry! Volunteers and donations really help make their ministry possible and like many ministries that have been around a long time, they needed a bit of a refresh with their brand, starting with their visual identity.

"Crisis Pregnancy Center", while being a descriptive part of the logo seemed to be a little wordy. Also, "Crisis" itself has a bit of a negative connotation to it and the simplicity of "Ministry" really seemed to get to the heart of what Mercy wanted to communicate. They exist to minister to the community and families in need. When a young mom comes needing help, yes, they can provide some support with the physical needs of baby products, but also encouragement and advice at a time when they really need it. 

Mercy also was taking over an additional space in another area of reading. The building was a real fixer-upper, but has come a long way with donated time and volunteers to be a great space for supporting couples new to parenting. With the addition of the new building, there was additional questions on how to brand the new building. Should that be connected to the Mercy Ministries logo or branded separately. The new building name was a combination of the location and a verse that fit the ministry. After multiple conversations and emails back and forth from PA, I started developing concept designs for the umbrella of Mercy Ministries and then also the 921 Center.

As you can see, the center logo design was chosen (originally it was in a slightly different color scheme). In addition to the logo design, I designed a donations brochure for the 921 Center that would be a part of a launch package of materials. I really liked "The Room to Grow Campaign" name the Mercy team came up with and I thought using the combination logo (includes the mercy center family icon) to kick off the 921 Center would help connect the new project to the Mercy Ministries brand. The combination logo will also be used on signage for the new building. Typically the independent logo will be used, but in the launch I would like to get some awareness built around that family icon.

Also below is a glimpse at the Brand Standards Guide I put together for the new identity. I can't explain how nice that is to have for a brand that most likely will involve many different vendors and designers assisting on projects. One problem with many ministries or small businesses in general is that people come and go and nobody remembers who worked on what, where the original files are, and somehow they only have a pixelated version of their logo embedded in a word doc. Besides providing organized vector and raster filetypes that include full color PMS versions, grayscale versions, one color versions and reversed versions, I provide a description of each filetype and best practices for using each. The brand guide clears up spacing, what can and can't be done with the logo in marketing materials, color profiles, complimentary typefaces and examples of marketing materials that showcase how the brand should look. Anyway, I hate hearing businesses get toasted by either hiring a designer that doesn't give them any information because it's really valuable for any company rebranding.