HomePlate Youth Services
Brief — Develop a new brand and content that gives staff the tools to communicate clearly with program participants and the broader community
In December of 2020, HomePlate Youth Services hired a new Director of Development, Marie Piayai, who recognized pretty quickly that she didn’t have the professional marketing materials she needed to fundraise and engage with donors.
Heading in to the second year of the pandemic, another endeavor began for this nonprofit; they started fundraising to purchase and renovate a new building for their programs. The capital campaign for a new building and more robust housing options for their youth became integral to their rebrand.
Role / Project Lead
Skills / Rebrand / Brand Strategy / Logo Design / Print Design / Web
Team / Jess Leftault / Marie Piayai, Communications Director / HomePlate Youth & Staff Members
Rebranding the Organization
A key factor in this rebrand was the organizations’ desire to include the youth they serve in the rebranding process. Getting their opinions on design direction and color palette. We held a series of meetups where youth could tell us about how they viewed HomePlate’s personality and eventually vote for their favorite direction.
This brand personality scale was used with youth to gather data about their views of the organization.
meeting youth where they are
The New Logo
After working closely with program youth, staff, and the board to gather data, the final logo uses a playful, hand-lettered typeface played to the approachable nature of the organization.
The letter ‘a’ has been replaced with a roof line and window that replicates the Circle of Courage model used by HomePlate. This can be used by itself when space is tight, but the full logo should be close by.
Typography
We decided pretty early on that a hand drawn type would work well to create the youthful and approachable look of the logo. I developed a typeface for use in the logo and paired it with New Hero, a geometric typeface with open and inviting letterforms.
Color Palette
Because their brand colors would go on to be used throughout their new building, we chose a palette that was trauma informed. We leaned into using calming cool tones.
Branded Content
Once our brand guidelines were finalized, several pieces of brand content were created to provide updated information to current and potential program participants.
Business Card Types
Some staff, many who were program participants as youths, still required a level of anonymity. This required a version of the card without an image. Variations on the back of the card included a drop-in schedule or an appointment reminder for staff who often met directly with program participants.
Outreach Flyers
We also developed a collection of outreach flyers. Staff would recruit participants by offering help to youth living on the streets, so we developed a small card that could be easily carried around. A larger piece focused on their plans to construct a new space for the organization.