For Alberta Printmakers (A/P), limited resources and volunteer turnover made it difficult to create and support a consistent brand across its communication channels. I worked with A/P to help develop their rebrand and evolve a thirty-year-old logo that better suited the organization’s future vision.
ROLES
Brand advisor
Lead designer
Project manager
CLIENT
CATEGORY
Brand Design
Project Management
Logo Design
Photography
Since its inception in 1989, A/P had undergone a lot of changes. Part studio space and education facility, operations always took priority. This left the organization with little time to reflect on whether their current vision and mission still remained true. As the brand advisor, I worked with A/P’s board members and key volunteers to address this question. After all, without a clear vision and mission statement, there could be no brand identity.
Brainstorming sessions with A/P’s board members helped everyone get on the same page. Surveys sent out the community served as a litmus test in determining whether or not the Board’s perception was the same as the community. Though this research sparked debate, the Board was better able to formulate A/P’s vision and mission.
After, the findings were taken back to the communication’s committee. With a solid vision and mission statement, I could begin A/P’s rebrand by developing the brand standards guide and logo.
For the logo, I went with a theme that was synonymous with all printmaking; pulling a print. In the end, the final logo resonated with printmakers, as it spoke to the sense of discovery that comes with printmaking.
With the brand standards guide, I worked with writers who were long-term members and who were able to capture A/P’s voice. In addition, the standards guide featured prints from local printmakers, which spoke to community and printing as a medium. Combined with event and class photography, the brand standards guide succeeded in illustrating brand requirements on collateral and A/P’s identity.
The A/P’s rebrand was completed at the end of 2018, just in time for their thirty-year anniversary.
-Eveline Kolijn, Vice Chair, Alberta Printmakers
