Working with a team of eight SCAD students over a ten week period, I helped to deliver a complete brand redesign for local nonprofit Greenbriar Children’s Center. The re-imagined “Greenbriar Family Center” repositions the brand as central to the community it serves and makes its purpose clear in name and visual identity.
The center was founded in 1944 as a shelter for Black children at a time when they were not welcomed at white orphanages. Instead, boys were sent to a penal farm and girls to a “Protective home.” So started its image as a place where bad children go, with threats by local parents to drop their children off at Greenbriar if they were bad. Clearly in need of a reset, our team came together to help.
After conducting a brand workshop we discovered three recurring words that key members of Greenbriar felt were key to their mission: Family, Hope, and Community. With those three words in mind, our team broke into three groups to develop distinct approaches to the project.
We collectively decided on a rebrand from “Greenbriar Children’s Center” to “Greenbriar Family Center” to better encompass all of Greenbriar’s programs and its commitment to helping families and keeping them together. At the five week mark we presented our client with three brand directions. My logo, seen on the left, was chosen.
Using this logo as a basis, two of the three logo designers were challenged to push the concept further; I was tasked with refining this one further. At week seven we presented these to the class.
Again, my logo was chosen. I was appointed as the logo designer for the project and again tasked with refining it further.
After hundreds of sketches over the course of the project, Greenbriar Family Center’s new logo was finalized.
Along with a logo, our team delivered the client a complete brand package, including a strong tagline, a set of illustrations, tone of voice, stationery done by me, a website re-design, and merch.
A legacy of love and care
At our final presentation to the client, we surprised them with merch and stationery samples, and followed up with the delivery of all of the files and a brand guideline for usage instructions.