HIRED
Identity Issues: Creating and Protecting a Brand
The Situation:
HIRED – one of the Twin Cities’ most respected workforce development organizations, enrolling more than 8,000 people annually – recognized that their graphic identity had become diluted and outdated. In an effort to more accurately convey the history, quality, mission and success of the organization – as well as to solidify their brand and reinforce their image – HIRED decided to undergo a complete communications audit and subsequent facelift of their organizational graphic identity.
The Communications Challenge:
Today’s not-for-profit organizations face significant pressures in service, funding and operations, making it extremely important to more effectively convey who they are and what they do on a consistent, clear and concise basis. The creation and consistent application of a professional, distinctive graphic identity system that reflects the HIRED mission would help the organization “spread the word” about HIRED and the wonderful initiatives the organization spearheads in our community.
Strategy:
We determined the best approach would be to create a comprehensive graphic identity system to help support the mission of HIRED by establishing a meaningful, recognizable look that enhances the organization’s image among its key constituents. Those constituents include clients, policy makers, foundations and other donors, employees, and the general public.
Results:
Identity issues solved. A new logo, a complete business system, a bevy of supporting forms and templates, a revamped website, and complete signage for the organization’s nearly 15 locations were put into place to complete the freshening of HIRED’s face.
The cornerstone of the new graphic identity – the HIRED logo – was designed to reflect the organization’s sense of mission … its sense of passion … its sense of purpose. The HIRED name is purposely designed into the logo itself because it keeps front and center what the organization is all about … helping people with the hiring process … helping people find employment solutions. This strong sense of mission is brought out through each of the elements of the logo.
The next step? Disseminating the new graphic standards manual to the far corners of the organization. But that’s another story …
