Branding & Identity Design
Back Story
The 40-year old Greenwood Senior Citizens Center had just formed their first Board of Directors when their new CFO contacted us with the hope of increasing membership, revenue, and outreach.
Full Circle Design consisted of Tabitha Cravens, Ross Shafer, and myself while we were still undergrads in the Herron School of Art & and Design’s Visual Communication Design major.
[Horrible Imagery Omitted]
I love before-and-after shots, but I can’t legally show you the identity they came to us with. The logo had been "borrowed" from a similarly-named organization. The rest was all Times New Roman Bold, which I won’t show out of general respect.
Process
We drowned ourselves in the subculture of baby-boomers with academic research, personal interviews, documentaries, concurrent popular music, visits to competing organizations, and concurrent advertising imagery and techniques.
Result
A few examples are shown. We also produced:
- Recreated documents as client-editable templates
- Redesigned Welcome package & marketing materials
- Programming suggestions, volunteer sources, & community outreach connections
- Transportation graphics, and
- Remodeling recommendations
Back Story
When my clients bought this small restaurant, the brand was muddled, inconsistently distributed, and missing in many key areas. Their word-of-mouth reputation (vital for small businesses) had also been spoiled by the previous owners.
We agreed that developing a new brand would be much faster than bringing the existing brand up to par. Plus, visibly shedding the old identity would send a message of newness to customers.
Process
I volunteered in the restaurant for a week to maximize my proximity to my clients and their customers, and determined that they were the same people. This shortened the research process, and increased the value of my clients’ suggestions.
We brainstormed for a couple weeks, and settled upon the subculture of American barbecue tradition, specifically the pairing between music and food.
Deliverables
- New logomark, with typography and palette specs
- New client-editable menu and advertising materials
- Social media-integrated web site wireframes (expandable to online ordering capability)
- Sign company contacts and cut patterns
- Individual, local, and regional marketing methods
- All of the above under extreme budgetary constraints
Result
Although my suggestions were approved, the landlord resisted upgrades, and the business had already fallen below critical mass to remain open.
The upside for me was that I did some great first-person research, made some excellent mockups (and some killer sweet-and-sour sauces), and soon after, assembled a freelance contract I never leave home without.