Creating a brand 'family' that houses 14 sub-brands under one roof, in a project that included everything from web design to puppet making
Westhill Community Church had recently moved into their new building when I was initially tasked with creating a new website for the organisation. However it quickly became apparent that there was a much greater opportunity presenting itself with this move and so the scope of the project broadened out to almost a holistic renewal of the church.
Old and Out. WCC's existing identity was very closely constructed out of the organisation's key values (In, Out and Up), although over the years it had become tired and unusable. Each part of the symbol held a particular meaning (such as the orange of a new sun, or the blue waves of healing) and was designed to represent a person worshipping. In constructing a new brand for the Church it was important to retain the same key values it had been founded upon, as well as develop the hopes for a renewed vision.
In and New. As such, instead of arms contained within a box they now stretched outwards, reflecting the renewed focus on community outreach that the organisation was about to embark upon. The existing colours have been carried through, but the symbol is constructed in an outline fashion to more clearly define the main figure, this was also to add a sense of liveliness to the person worshipping, as they have an epiphany moment of God with them.
An Imperfect Family. A new typeface was also developed to reflect the 'family' nature of the church. Much like any family, it's not perfect in its construction, however together each letter helps form a cohesive whole. The typeface also needed to be robust enough to work in multiple settings, and create an immediate and slightly casual impact.
Homecoming. The next part of the process included auditing all the disparate ministries the church had facilitated over the last twenty years under this new brand voice. Creating separate sub brands allowed each ministry to retain a sense of identity while they were also linked through proportion to the parent brand.
Enabling outreach. Each ministry was then individually aided by various unique design outcomes for their given needs, whether through print or puppet making. Many of the symbols/motifs were created for 'stampability' so that the members of the congregation didn't need to overthink when designing and instead could spend more time doing the really important work of serving the community.
Pastures new. The launch of the community café was also another important milestone in the rebrand. The café identity uses tweaked letterforms from the main typeface to feel distinct but also linked to the brand family. The name draws its influence from Psalm 23 which is used throughout the café to create a space a calm.
Let the Children Roar! As part of the rebrand, naming, creating and launching a new children's ministry was one of the main highlights. The children's brand focuses on Roary the Lion who is a young cub in training, looking to find his roar. To continue the narrative a puppet version of Roary (see the picture above) was created to be used at the Church's monthly All Age Service, as well as a large scale wall mural and decorations for the newly created Roar Room.
Forward planning. After a long process, the website that I was originally commissioned to do was completed. The design was led by the need to create something that could be more easily updatable and suited the range in expertise across staff and volunteers.
Finally, a set of brand guidelines and template library were devised to help guide the brand as the WCC family changes over time.