Rebranding a historic, Black church in the heart of Boston, MA
When Union Church approached me for this branding project, they were struggling with how to visually communicate their identity without losing their historic nature. Union Church is one of the last historically Black churches in downtown Boston and has had a long tradition of justice and community work. However, the neighborhood has changed in the past 20 years and more and more members of their community weren’t Black. The brand refresh came as the staff saw the need to expand the brand into other parts of Union’s ministry but didn’t want to depart from so much of the old logo’s meaning and significance.
The rebranding process began with a small team of staff and congregation members sharing their perspective of Union’s identity. We worked together to understand who Union is and convey that identity into four brand cornerstones. These cornerstones served as a guide post for what was most important to visually convey in the branding. This allowed the team to have a collective vision for what aspects of Union we would incorporate into the new brand.
I guided the team through a brand strategy process of deciding what these brand cornerstones might look like in the new brand. We used mood boards and other sources of inspiration to decide what visuals were most appealing to the team and which best conveyed the spirit of Union.
Our initial round of logo development explored three different iterations of the old logo, which was something the team expressed wanting to keep in some way. I showed options that included color variations, font variations, and style variations. Ultimately, the team felt strongly about keeping the old logo colors but were open to changing the style of the heart and the font choices.
The final version of Union’s logo aims to keep many of the important themes that were a part of the previous logo. This design keeps a strong emphasis on color and bold lines while highlighting the imperfect, ever-growing nature of Union’s identity. This updated brand also includes a more modern, versatile font that can be used in a variety of contexts to make Union feel more inviting and welcoming.
In addition to this, the final brand included “sibling” logos to represent each of the areas of ministry at Union, making use of the full Union brand colors and giving variety to how the logos can be used for new endeavors and programs.
The final delivery of the project included a brand and style guide (sample shown in the first image above), all the various logos in multiple formats, and several mockup images for inspiration. The clients also request a 10-page InDesign template, stylized to fit the new brand colors and fonts. This document was designed and set up with 10 different page layouts for future grant proposals and publications they might need.
When Union Church approached me for this branding project, they were struggling with how to visually communicate their identity without losing their historic nature. Union Church is one of the last historically Black churches in downtown Boston and has had a long tradition of justice and community work. However, the neighborhood has changed in the past 20 years and more and more members of their community weren’t Black. The brand refresh came as the staff saw the need to expand the brand into other parts of Union’s ministry but didn’t want to depart from so much of the old logo’s meaning and significance.
The rebranding process began with a small team of staff and congregation members sharing their perspective of Union’s identity. We worked together to understand who Union is and convey that identity into four brand cornerstones. These cornerstones served as a guide post for what was most important to visually convey in the branding. This allowed the team to have a collective vision for what aspects of Union we would incorporate into the new brand.
I guided the team through a brand strategy process of deciding what these brand cornerstones might look like in the new brand. We used mood boards and other sources of inspiration to decide what visuals were most appealing to the team and which best conveyed the spirit of Union.
Our initial round of logo development explored three different iterations of the old logo, which was something the team expressed wanting to keep in some way. I showed options that included color variations, font variations, and style variations. Ultimately, the team felt strongly about keeping the old logo colors but were open to changing the style of the heart and the font choices.
The final version of Union’s logo aims to keep many of the important themes that were a part of the previous logo. This design keeps a strong emphasis on color and bold lines while highlighting the imperfect, ever-growing nature of Union’s identity. This updated brand also includes a more modern, versatile font that can be used in a variety of contexts to make Union feel more inviting and welcoming.
In addition to this, the final brand included “sibling” logos to represent each of the areas of ministry at Union, making use of the full Union brand colors and giving variety to how the logos can be used for new endeavors and programs.
The final delivery of the project included a brand and style guide (sample shown in the first image above), all the various logos in multiple formats, and several mockup images for inspiration. The clients also request a 10-page InDesign template, stylized to fit the new brand colors and fonts. This document was designed and set up with 10 different page layouts for future grant proposals and publications they might need.
When Union Church approached me for this branding project, they were struggling with how to visually communicate their identity without losing their historic nature. Union Church is one of the last historically Black churches in downtown Boston and has had a long tradition of justice and community work. However, the neighborhood has changed in the past 20 years and more and more members of their community weren’t Black. The brand refresh came as the staff saw the need to expand the brand into other parts of Union’s ministry but didn’t want to depart from so much of the old logo’s meaning and significance.
The rebranding process began with a small team of staff and congregation members sharing their perspective of Union’s identity. We worked together to understand who Union is and convey that identity into four brand cornerstones. These cornerstones served as a guide post for what was most important to visually convey in the branding. This allowed the team to have a collective vision for what aspects of Union we would incorporate into the new brand.
I guided the team through a brand strategy process of deciding what these brand cornerstones might look like in the new brand. We used mood boards and other sources of inspiration to decide what visuals were most appealing to the team and which best conveyed the spirit of Union.
Our initial round of logo development explored three different iterations of the old logo, which was something the team expressed wanting to keep in some way. I showed options that included color variations, font variations, and style variations. Ultimately, the team felt strongly about keeping the old logo colors but were open to changing the style of the heart and the font choices.
The final version of Union’s logo aims to keep many of the important themes that were a part of the previous logo. This design keeps a strong emphasis on color and bold lines while highlighting the imperfect, ever-growing nature of Union’s identity. This updated brand also includes a more modern, versatile font that can be used in a variety of contexts to make Union feel more inviting and welcoming.
In addition to this, the final brand included “sibling” logos to represent each of the areas of ministry at Union, making use of the full Union brand colors and giving variety to how the logos can be used for new endeavors and programs.
The final delivery of the project included a brand and style guide (sample shown in the first image above), all the various logos in multiple formats, and several mockup images for inspiration. The clients also request a 10-page InDesign template, stylized to fit the new brand colors and fonts. This document was designed and set up with 10 different page layouts for future grant proposals and publications they might need.
