Alberta Printmakers Rebrand

“The thing which most surprised me is the tremendous amount of hard work and time which goes into creating a focused and revised purpose for the group which everyone could agree upon. Change is really hard to accept for some people. There will always be resistance to change. What was especially challenging was the brand standards guide and logo. A lot of fine tuning before we got them adopted.”

– Paul Mercer, Board Chair, Alberta Printmakers

APPROACH

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.

CONCLUSION

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.