Our two year rebranding process with Beyond Shelter Frederick (formerly The Religious Coalition for Emergency Human Needs), an organization we are honored to work with and a new brand we are proud of, was a long and extremely fulfilling journey.
This process began two years ago with exploratory discussions involving the staff and key stakeholders. We were initially tasked with determining if a name change was warranted and how it might be received after decades in the community. This involved meetings over multiple months and an elaborate surveying process to fully understand how the organization is position and what was keeping it from reaching its full vision. The result of this initial phase was the decision to change the name and developing the next steps to lay the foundation for success.
Renaming the organization was a creative process in which we brainstormed with their project team and developed many options, but fully dissected and presented our best recommendations. Beyond Shelter Frederick was chosen by a unanimous vote.
The second phase of our rebrand project for Beyond Shelter Frederick was designing a new logo and brand guide. While labor intensive, this is something that really gets our creative juices flowing and allows our team to flex their collective design muscle.
During this phase we work with the client and our “tile exercise” to identify colors, design elements, and vision for what they want the new brand visuals to reflect. Our team of designers then crafts multiple brand ideas to present to the client via “stylescapes”.
Once we have narrowed it down to a stylescape the client likes, we will continue to refine the design with small changes until we land on final brand visuals they love. In this case, our designer Devyn developed the initial stylescape that ended up becoming the final Beyond Shelter Frederick brand!
The ultimate result of our two year rebranding process with Beyond Shelter Frederick was this amazing new brand and a new name which aligns with their work to prevent homelessness through their many assistance programs and case managers, at not simply sheltering people experiencing homelessness.
The brand visuals contain subtle hints to their tagline “Illuminating Paths to Hope” with a mark evocative of a pathway with rays of sunlight in the negative space. The path in some instances changes color highlighting the transformative nature of their work. The color palette is warm and inviting, reflecting the desire to be approachable yet unique.
We are extremely proud of the end result of this process and have been excited to see the positive community reaction everything! It was a pleasure to work with the board, staff, and hear from community partners that were integrated into the process.
