Renew'd
A vibrant, welcoming brand identity for a Baltimore-based nonprofit.
Project Overview
Objective
Over the course of an entire semester, work with an assigned client to develop a modern and cohesive brand identity for their business. Developed as a group project with Zakiya Brown, Arrabi Nandakumar, and Toni Taylor-Satterfield for my Seminar in Publications Design course at The University
of Baltimore.
Solution
For this project, my team helped take a Baltimore-based community closet and resource provider's branding, storytelling, and visual identity to the next level. Renew'd (previously known as "Love, Hope, and Purpose") provides free, gently-used clothing and household items to people who need them in Baltimore and the surrounding communities, while also sharing information on a range of community resources. The organization's vision is to eliminate clothing insecurity in Baltimore and beyond by connecting people with the items and opportunities they need to not just survive, but thrive.
My Role
Project Manager, Lead Researcher & Writer, and Supporting Designer.
The Process
This project required my team to dive deep into every aspect of Renew'd's business model. We researched, wrote, and designed a 47-page Process Guide that outlines the core problem Renew'd solves, along with the nonprofit's history, mission, vision, values, services, audience, competition, short- and long-term goals, and success metrics. We also created a 47-page Style Guide for Renew'd, which includes the story of the brand, as well as detailed instructions on how to use each element of the Renew'd identity in practice. In this way, we've set Renew'd up with the comprehensive guidance needed to implement its refreshed brand for years to come.
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Discovery
The first phase of this project involved business research into the problem space, competition, and target audiences. After interviewing our client and conducting secondary research, we investigated the need for Renew'd's services. This gave us the foundational understanding needed to develop personas for our primary audience (clients), as well as our secondary audiences (donors and sponsors).
Our client research also led us to an important discovery. We learned that there are some common barriers that can prevent people from accessing support services like Renew'd. Research showed that anywhere from 20–50% of eligible households don’t enroll in government assistance programs. While Renew’d isn’t a government program, it provides similar support to people who are financially struggling, so this was important to investigate. As we dug into this problem, three common barriers emerged. And Renew’d’s service model is designed to counteract them.
Our research also led us to rethink our client's original name ("Love, Hope, and Purpose"), as we worried that it wouldn’t serve its target audience. So we did some market research. We brainstormed possible new names, sharing out the 12 strongest, along with Love, Hope, and Purpose, through a survey. We received 108 responses, and only 2.8% chose “Love, Hope, and Purpose” as their top choice. The favorite alternative name was “Community Threads,” but after learning of some potential copyright issues, we chose to go with Renew'd, which was the second most popular choice. Because our client had already incorporated the name "Love, Hope, and Purpose" and she was interested in growing the organization into several sub-entities in the future, we recommended referring to Renew'd as an affiliate of this broader umbrella organization. And so the organization's new name and tagline was born: "Renew'd with Love, Hope, and Purpose."
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The name received positive feedback from respondents, as it encompasses both the renewal of the gently-used clothes that donors provide and the renewal of the clients themselves. It also doesn’t signal the specific services we provide, which might make our target clients uncomfortable.
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Experimentation
At this point, we had a solid understanding of our users, their needs, and their pain points. Thanks to this foundational research, we could start to explore a brand identity that would speak to them, while conveying Renew'd's core services and values. During this phase of the project, we experimented with logo designs, patterns, typefaces, and color palettes.
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Implementation
Based on all of our research and experimentation, as well as the feedback we received from both our client and our classmates throughout this project, we were able to craft Renew'd's final brand identity.
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Renew'd is committed to ending the stigma around asking for help, and the brand’s aesthetics are a direct challenge to the so-called “poverty porn” that so many organizations that serve under-resourced communities engage in. Everything about the brand — from its vibrant colors and modern aesthetic to its respectful and approachable voice and tone — is designed to disrupt this dehumanizing narrative. Instead of casting clients as victims, Renew'd celebrates their resiliency. Instead of focusing on misery, the nonprofit focus on joy. The people Renew'd serves are full human beings who deserve full support, which is why the themes of dignity, mutual aid, and community care permeate every aspect of the brand.
Renew'd donation gathering and distribution mockups.
Renew'd digital touchpoint mockups.
Renew'd print material mockups.
Renew'd merch mockups.
