Tina Claussen
UX/UI Designer
Haven of the Ozarks Animal Sanctuary rebrand
Overview
In order to create a comprehensive brand strategy, I crafted the following deliverables:
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A new logo
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A brand guide
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A set of promotional materials using the new logo and brand guidelines.
I was the sole designer on this project and was responsible for all of the deliverables above
Tools used:
Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
Key Drivers
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Due to budgetary constraints, non-profits often have…less than stellar branding and promotional materials.
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Implementing a good branding strategy can give the organization a comprehensive cohesive public face, increase awareness of the brand/organization, drive more donations, and generate broader participation in the organization’s programs and initiatives
Research
Research
Haven Animal Sanctuary of the Ozarks is a regional non-profit animal sanctuary that provides shelter for animals, runs foster and adoption programs, and hosts various events in the local community to promote their mission to provide sanctuary to pets in need, educate the community on the humane treatment of animals and to do their part to end overpopulation and abuse.
I completed fairly extensive market/comparative research, both on other local shelters, and on a large shelter in Kansas City called KC Pet Project that has won awards for their branding and marketing strategies. I have a contact in that organization who sent me their brand guide for my research, which was immensely helpful. Several themes emerged as part of this research:
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Common colors were purples, oranges and blues. These colors reflect stability, care and compassion.
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Most logos featured some sort of animal element in their logomark.
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Typography was simple and logomarks were short and to the point.
Process
Process
Logo
While the logo does reflect their mission, it’s not scalable, the gradient is outdated and distracting to the overall look and message and the logotype interferes with the logomark.
I wanted to keep the message of shelter and care in the new logo. I sketched many iterations to try different ways of communicating that message before landing on the one below as it was compelling, scalable and easy to execute in single or multiple colors.
Color Palette
The old color palette of greens and neutrals were more reflective of banking, lawncare or a nature-based non-profit. The new color palette in shades of orange and blue were chosen to reflect stability (blue) and caring/compassion (orange). I chose a lighter and darker shade of each to give options for promotional materials and to create appropriate contrast for accessibility.
Typography
The website features many different typefaces-serif, sans-serif, hand lettered, italic, multiple sizes and weights. Text may use any brand color, pure black #00000 or pure white #FFFFFF so long as proper contrast is maintained for accessibility.
Deliverables
Brochure
The brochure features the brand colors and logo. It emphasizes the orgainzation’s mission and the three CTA’s of “adopt!”, “volunteer!” and “donate!”
Posters
The posters use the same illustrations as the brochure but include more information about how to be involved with each initiative..
Social Media Posts
The social media posts use the same CTA’s as the other promotional assets, but feature a larger version of the image and less text.
Brand Guide
The brand guide gives a complete overview of the brand system including logo, typography, color palette, mission, tone of voice, images, graphic elements and merchandise
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Learning Opportunities, Takeaways and Outcomes
Learning opportunities
The learning curve on Adobe Illustrator was my biggest learning opportunity on this project. I wanted to figure out a simple project to help me become comfortable enough in Illustrator to render the logo, but still produce something I could use in the branding strategy. After doing some research, I decided to create an icon set for use on the website and in promotional materials. The icons were simpler to render than the logo and were a great learning project.I started by sketching the logos in a grid system to ensure they were the same approximate scale and size. I then rendered them in Illustrator with the pen tool. While this process took a LOT of time, it did give me the confidence I needed with the pen tool to be able to tackle the more complex logo.
Takeaways and Outcomes
This project created a comprehensive branding identity and strategy for Haven of the Ozarks Animal Sanctuary through creation of a new logo, brand guide and promotional materials.
On a more personal note, as this was my first large project in the design field, I learned a great deal about research, creating a comprehensive design for a business or organization that not only looks great but considers business goals, design best practices and strategy, and learning to be more comfortable with design tools like Illustrator, InDesign and Figma.
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