Creative Grease: Stains on the Driveway of Hot Glue Media

Featured Project: Pottstown Cluster Rebranding

The Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities is an interfaith organization that supports our former community, Pottstown, Pa, in a number of different ways, including a food pantry, clothes closet, and providing community meals. When they contacted us in January regarding a logo redesign, they’d already tried redesigning internally several times, but didn’t feel that any of the results met their goals or communicated their mission.

Challenges

This project presented a wide range of challenges beyond a typical logo/brand design project (if there is such a thing). The original logo, shown at right, was well-liked by board members and committee members, but there was a fair amount of dissenting opinion regarding why the logo needed to change, if at all. We worked with the committee to focus on the reasons for undertaking an organization-wide rebranding. The resulting points of focus were:

• The organization lacks community recognition. A new logo, in combination with the forthcoming capital campaign and move to a new facility, can be used to increase awareness of the organization among three distinct groups: current and potential donors (primarily local businesses); community members who may be in need of the organization’s services, now or in the future; and potential volunteers.
• Among those who are aware of the organization, including volunteers, donors, and Board members, there is no common name by which the organization is referred; common names include “The Cluster”, “Cluster Outreach Center”, and “PCRC”. The rebranding offers an ideal opportunity to present a cohesive “short name” to the community at large, while maintaining a connection to the organization as community members may know it.
• The existing logo is outdated and is used inconsistently throughout the organization. In addition, the tagline “A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out” does not sufficiently communicate the organization’s mission. The new logo should be more modern, incorporate a new tagline, and guidelines should be provided for its use.
• The Board and Committee stressed the importance of maintaining a spiritual motif within the brand, in accordance with the organization’s mission and spiritual foundation.  However, because this is an interfaith organization, the imagery should not be specific to or exclude any one religion.

Process

Before hitting the sketchbook, I started with a hefty amount of research to find out how interfaith organizations represent themselves. The common theme seemed to be overlapping or interlocked symbols, usually circles, to display cooperation among groups. I also researched logos for non-profit organizations and religious organizations such as churches and youth groups.

I pursued a number of different routes and associated taglines with my sketches (above; click to view full). Of all the sketches, one that was purely a brainstorming throwaway – a stylized hand – started to stick out. (More on that in a bit.) I met with the Executive Director to review a select number of the sketches, and during an impromptu brainstorming session, the new tagline was born: “Nourishing Lives. Strengthening Families.”  The new tagline, with two still-rough logos, as presented to the Committee:

A number of type and color options were presented, including a crisper, less hand-stroked option for the heart/hand, but in the end, it was option A, in bright tones of purple and raspberry, that won over the Committee and the Board. Not bad for a throwaway sketch. It grew out of the existing “heart in hand” logo that they liked, and was originally nothing more than an exploration of an existing idea; an exploration that came to represent the evolution of their organization. The tagline, in cooperation with the evolved hand/heart, communicates their message and mission. The name of the organization was purposefully set to bring attention to the “short name” “Pottstown Cluster”, with emphasis on the commonly-used term Cluster, to enforce the connection between this logo and the existing organization. The inclusion of “Of Religious Communities” underscores the spiritual aspect of the organization, while simultaneously clarifying the organization’s name and purpose.

A look at the final logo and some of its implementations:

The logo and branding guide have been passed along to their marketing team, who will be implementing the logo for their capital campaign and website, and their new stationery, business cards, and brochures have been submitted to the printer. I look forward to seeing this design implemented throughout the organization as they proceed with their capital campaign and move to their new location.

To learn more about the Pottstown Cluster and their mission, learn more about the capital campaign and new building, or get involved in their support of the Pottstown community, visit their website at PottstownCluster.org.

Dani made this mess on August 9th, 2010 and filed it under Projects