The Ohio State University | Intermediate Visual Communication Design 1 | Autumn 2022
Description
This project was a cumulative assignment throughout the semester dedicated to rebranding an organization of my choosing. I chose to rebrand "Girls on the Run". Girls on the Run is a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring girl empowerment by building confidence, kindness, and decision-making skills through their evidence-based program.
Girls on the Run: Brand Identity Guide
Process
This project was created in three separate phases to produce the full brand identity guidelines: developing brand identity, furthering that identity into a brand system, and applying that system to many different elements. To develop the brand mark, I started by looking at Girls on the Run's original brand mark and comparing it to other brand marks of companies in a similar field. I then created iconic, indexical, and symbolic sketches for the words "girl" and "run". Using these sketches, I produced 6 potential brand marks to use for my project, refined them further, and narrowed it down to three marks. I chose a mark to go with and tested it on an audience with the following words: young, playful, approachable, professional, and energetic. The mark is comprised of a shoe in motion over a heart turned on its side. I chose these two objects to represent the core values of the brand: running and empowerment.
To develop the brand system, I decided on a typeface, brand colors, iconography, and more. I decided to use a geometric sans serif because my main audience is young kids. I wanted the letterforms to be simple and clear enough for them to be able to read and recognize. For brand colors, I chose warm, vibrant colors to represent the brand and bring that playfulness and energy I wanted to convey. All of these aspects were used to develop the rest of the system and applied to multiple elements which can be viewed in the final brand identity guide above.
Reflection
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this project and would love to do it again with another organization. If I were to complete this project again, I would pick an organization that's less familiar to me. I have been involved in multiple health and fitness programs/companies/communities/etc. Because of this, I think it would have been a good challenge to create a brand identity guide for a company in a field I'm not as aware of.