Rebranding for Reputation Renewal

Summary
In 2015, I oversaw a complete visual brand redesign for the Illinois Water Resources Center and transition to a content management system. The center funds scientific research, supports water professionals, and conducts community outreach to address water resources challenges in the state.

Responsibilities
Brand management
Act direction
Project management

The Problem

When I joined the center in 2015, our visual identify conflicted with the character of the organization and failed to capture the full scope of its mission. IWRC's mission statement at the time was "Bringing watershed science to the people of Illinois" and our messaging focused on the center's collaborative approach to solving community problems. However, our visual identity used a color palate more commonly associated with corporations than community organizations. The center's logo also implied that staff worked only on issues related to rivers—a misconception that we frequently had to correct.

On top of all that, our only logo lockup had a vertical orientation and was not a vector graphic. It also used the wrong acronym—the official acronym had not been "Illinois WRC" for at least several years.

Logo prior to the brand redesign.

What I Did

As the head of IWRC's communication program, I initiated and oversaw each phase the visual branding relaunch and replatforming. This included:

Working with leadership to reexamine and document the center's goals and desired brand perception.
Researching design trends and patterns, particularly in the environmental outreach sector.
Identifying the best content management system for the center's needs and budget.
Getting quotes from external design companies.
Communicating with the lead designer on branding goals and file needs.
Providing edits through several design phases.
Migrating and rewriting web content.
Managing the project budget and schedule.

The new color palate conveyed more openness and reinforced that the center's work included land policy and other watershed issues

This and other horizontal lockups in the new branding enabled the center to meet the specifications of more platforms