cracking the Good Egg Grant: part two

Ding ding ding… we have a winner!

triptych image featuring Dove's cucumber refillable deodorant, a layered mushroom visual by Bolt Threads, and Seedlip's compostable mushroom gift packaging

After careful consideration, the Golden Thread emerged triumphant, along with a new name: the Northwest Center. Short and sweet, Northwest Center (NWC) still references geographic location, maintains the familiarity of the first and last words, and eliminates the perception of housing-only. Now, it was time to explore some refinements to the toolbox—in particular, ways to elevate the brand’s maturity, recognizability, and communication of services.

The logo was reworked to increase memorability, adding a red open door “N” icon that serves as a welcoming reference to the original brand. Color-coded icons also use the N’s negative space to represent the NWC’s areas of service. Merging all four colors together elevated the connecting line, and an expressive chalk-like texture added that down-to-earth feel. Structured grid layouts brought balance to the line’s whimsical feel. We had fun stress-testing the new brand’s flexibility on some practical mock ups and fun office swag.

triptych image featuring Everlane's sustainable clothing and smiling employee
triptych image featuring Everlane's sustainable clothing and smiling employee

The logo was reworked to increase memorability, adding a red open door “N” icon that serves as a welcoming reference to the original brand. Color-coded icons also use the N’s negative space to represent the NWC’s areas of service. Merging all four colors together elevated the connecting line, and an expressive chalk-like texture added that down-to-earth feel. Structured grid layouts brought balance to the line’s whimsical feel. We had fun stress-testing the new brand’s flexibility on some practical mock ups and fun office swag.

triptych image featuring Adidas's collaboration with Bolt Threads on a new mushroom-based shoe
triptych image featuring Adidas's collaboration with Bolt Threads on a new mushroom-based shoe
triptych image featuring Dove's new refillable deodorant

Codifying a Brand

Next up was a restructuring of the brand architecture using a Why-How-What approach. Through a detailed working session with the NWC team, we decided to shorten their existing category names and organized the contents by audience for ease of communication: Housing, Financial, Organizing, and Belmont Cragin Initiatives.

triptych image featuring Everlane's sustainable clothing and smiling employee

Codifying a Brand

Next up was a restructuring of the brand architecture using a Why-How-What approach. Through a detailed working session with the NWC team, we decided to shorten their existing category names and organized the contents by audience for ease of communication: Housing, Financial, Organizing, and Belmont Cragin Initiatives.

Like any professional organization, the NWC needed a brand standards guide. For us, this is a big part of making design accessible — ensuring that even an organization without a team of in-house designers can design within their brand identity after our partnership ends. Canva was a great tool to build a library of templates for posters, documents, and social media posts to ensure a seamless process for the NWC team.

triptych image featuring Dove's new refillable deodorant
triptych image featuring Dove's new refillable deodorant

Like any professional organization, the NWC needed a brand standards guide. For us, this is a big part of making design accessible — ensuring that even an organization without a team of in-house designers can design within their brand identity after our partnership ends. Canva was a great tool to build a library of templates for posters, documents, and social media posts to ensure a seamless process for the NWC team.

triptych image featuring Everlane's sustainable clothing and smiling employee

Designing the Annual Report

A new brand had been hatched. Now, it was time to break some rules. Designing the NWC’s 2020 annual report gave us a chance to flex the brand assets into new territory. Data visualization, creative type styling, and macro-scale were all employed to bring the content to life. The end result was a colorful and moving celebration of all that the NWC had accomplished in the face of a difficult year.

triptych image featuring Everlane's sustainable clothing and smiling employee

Designing the Annual Report

A new brand had been hatched. Now, it was time to break some rules. Designing the NWC’s 2020 annual report gave us a chance to flex the brand assets into new territory. Data visualization, creative type styling, and macro-scale were all employed to bring the content to life. The end result was a colorful and moving celebration of all that the NWC had accomplished in the face of a difficult year.

We’ll unveil the NWC’s new website in Part 3 of this post. Stay tuned!