cracking the Good Egg Grant: part two
Ding ding ding… we have a winner!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!