A strong and consistent brand identity has the power to influence the way people interact with your organization. Matching your stakeholders’ brand perception with the public is essential to becoming recognizable within your community.
Transforming a local organization’s brand identity
Inclusive Arts Vermont is a statewide 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit focused on the arts and inclusion. Formerly known as VSA Vermont, the organization promotes access to the arts through education, training, professional exhibitions, and capacity building for arts and culture organizations. During the organization's name change, we surveyed the local community to vote on three options that best represented it.
Already familiar with our work, the organization approached LONDONmiddlebury to develop a new brand identity to coincide with the launch of their new name. The brand identity needed to be highly personalized, capture the ‘magic of the arts,’ and embrace a culture of creativity.
Crafting a collaborative design journey
Our goal was to distill the organization’s mission, vision, and values into a new logo and identity that resonated with staff, board members, and the public. We conducted a series of brand discovery sessions and surveys to understand the feelings stakeholders wanted to convey through their branding.
In a variety of responses from community partners, staff members, and supporters, we learned that three main concepts came to mind when thinking of the organization: inclusivity, creativity, and accessibility.
With this inside look at the characteristics of the organization, we were able to start the logo design process, considering color palettes and typography that most aligned with the brand’s mission and values. We created and presented Inclusive Arts Vermont with multiple iterations of the logo, allowing them to share their thoughts and suggestions for future rounds.
Impact: a new face of Inclusive Arts Vermont
After a series of logo revisions that spanned from corporate to zany, we arrived at an identity that captures the motion of the arts and inclusiveness of the organization. The organization loved the digital graphic we designed for their logo, but they wanted more of a personal touch, so we incorporated a fingerpaint by the executive director. The fingerpainted strokes of their new logo depict people coming together, focusing on the participants that define the organization. This cohesive logo and branding package resonated with staff, board members, and the public, ready to carry the organization for years to come.
