Nonprofit rebrand pattern - repeating logo of four interlocking hands in orange, purple, blue and yellow

Case Studies

Family & Intercultural Resource Center

A nonprofit rebrand FIRC the love of Summit County

Client Goals

FIRC nonprofit rebrand for web and mobile

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.

Our Process

Nonprofit rebrand mood board: FIRC's new logo and brand colors and patterns featuring deep purple, yellow, blue, salmon, light purple grey and black.

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 consists of four interlocking hands that represent community support, the four service pillars that 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 in a clear, visual way with distinctions between services areas. To achieve that, we built pages for each program pillar, with a different brand color used exclusively 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 members of the community to get involved and simplified the path to making a donation. Now, volunteers can find upcoming events and sign up directly, and anyone can easily donate directly to FIRC.

Removing barriers to entry

To help make resources available regardless of language and literacy, we implemented Spanish translation and mobile accessibility to 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 delightful to work new social media and email templates and print collateral including flyers and letterheads. We coached the FIRC team on applying these new tools, providing guidance on impactful, accessible email creation and how to put templates and designs to work.

Taking the show on the road

We also designed a beautiful vehicle wrap that gets FIRC seen. Their inviting new logo is made to figuratively reach a hand out to the entire Summit County community, with 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.

Outcomes

Vehicle graphics, designed by YellowDog, on a white service van featuring the FIRC logo, service pillars, website and a call to volunteer.

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 they needed to communicate their work, secure support, empower volunteers and make their offerings accessible to clients. What a treat to empower a doggone delightful nonprofit to do more of what they do best, to connect clients with their services, to help the community give back and to create an uplifting brand that means everyone’s smiling while they’re at it. 

Sarah Grant FIRC
“The most impressive aspect was the YellowDog team members we worked with–they brought creativity, passion, and professionalism to our project.”
– Sarah Grant, FIRC development director

The Team

Dan Mulligan of YellowDog Denver
Dan Mulligan
Jen Gauerke of YellowDog Denver
Jennifer Gauerke
MInna Quist, Project Manager, YellowDog
Minna Quist
Morgan Heslin of YellowDog Denver
Morgan Heslin

Our Best Tricks

Flyer printing and brochures featured image
Flyers & Brochures
Yellowdog graphic design
Graphic Design
Logo design and Branding featured image
Logo Design & Brand Identity
Yellowdog web design and development
Website Design & Development

Ready to get started?

If we could do this for Family & Intercultural Resource Center, just imagine what we can do for you. Take YellowDog for a test walk, and see how we can become your brand’s best friend.

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