How does a client-focused nonprofit rebrand without breaking the bank? They find a creative partner like YellowDog! 

We worked with Summit County, Colorado, nonprofit FIRC (Family & Intercultural Resource Center) to breathe new life into their visuals and better communicate their mission. FIRC’s brand needed to reflect the positive, welcoming, community-oriented nature of their work. They wanted this new iteration to be interesting, exciting, and inviting with a color palette that drew people in. As the team expressed early on: “We want an uplifting feeling—we are helping people!”

They needed a brand toolkit to reach a diverse audience in both English and Spanish across many different channels. A key priority and challenge was improving the public’s understanding of FIRC—who they are, what they do. Our work together would span our design, web, print, and marketing offerings, resulting in a cohesive visual story to help further this nonprofit’s mission. Everything needed to be rooted in FIRC’s unique programming. The entire brand also needed to work together to demonstrate its brand to donors, clients, volunteers, and neighbors.

Luckily, this was a perfect case for YellowDog’s special skill set. We were up for the challenge and ready to fetch some great results.

We dug right into this nonprofit rebrand and learned that FIRC’s programming falls into four main pillars: food, peer support, community health and financial empowerment. The YellowDog creative team saw potential in bringing these four pillars together into the new logo and developing a cohesive visual identity for each.

Hands-on logo design

We crafted the ethos of connection and helping hands into a distinctive logo that is both clean and welcoming. Representing community members supporting one another, the logo features four interlocking hands that symbolize community support, the four service pillars FIRC provides to Summit County members, and the many ways these needs interlock and overlap.

Branding

Logo design is just one piece of the puzzle. Our experts went on to build out a complete visual identity and empower FIRC to tell its story across channels. To meet their goals, we created a bright, inviting a color palette along with typography, complementary brand visuals like graphic patterns, and guidelines to put it all to work. Once designed, we set up FIRC’s brand kit in Canva. Now they have consistent brand colors, fonts, and assets at their fingertips, no matter what they may need to communicate.

Web design

That visual identity would flow directly into new website visuals, which needed to be compelling and user-friendly for clients, team members, volunteers, and donors. Information needed to be presented clearly and visually, with clear distinctions between service areas. To achieve that, we built pages for each program pillar, using a different brand color for each. Now these pillars and content blocks work well together while subtly indicating where a visitor is within the website.

We created a responsive volunteer calendar to make it easier for community members to get involved and simplified the donation process. Now, volunteers can find upcoming events and sign up directly, and anyone can easily donate directly to FIRC.

Removing barriers to entry

To help ensure resources are available regardless of language or literacy level, we implemented Spanish, French, Russian, and Ukrainian translation and mobile accessibility on FIRC’s website. We also broke up blocks of text with engaging infographics, helping visitors understand the nuances of FIRC’s services at a glance.

Marketing collateral

Beyond the website, we applied that delight to developing new social media and email templates and to print collateral, including flyers and letterheads. We coached the FIRC team on applying these new tools, providing guidance on creating impactful, accessible emails and on putting templates and designs to work.

Taking the show on the road

We also designed a beautiful vehicle wrap to help get FIRC seen. Their new logo is designed to figuratively reach out to the entire Summit County community, offering opportunities to get involved, support, volunteer, or seek services. Using their service van as our canvas, we showcased this new logo, brand pattern, and each program pillar, with their website prominently featured and a call to volunteer bringing it all together.

FIRC’s new website and branding clearly and concisely show who they are and what they do. They have a full toolbox of templates, collateral, and assets, plus best practices and actionable insights to use everything we built. 

The result? A 22% increase in web traffic, consistency across platforms, and a cohesive brand encompassing distinct yet complementary programming.

FIRC now has the visual identity it needed to communicate its work, secure support, empower volunteers, and make its offerings accessible to clients. What a treat to empower a doggone delightful nonprofit to do more of what they do best: connect clients with their services, help the community give back, and create an uplifting brand that makes everyone smile while they’re at it.