CASE STUDY
Brand Design
Relata
SERVICES
Brand System Design
​
COLLABORATOR
Ketchy Studio
THE CHALLENGE
Craft a visual brand identity for Relata, which offers a spiritual curriculum emerging from the Episcopal tradition at the Epiphany Parish of Seattle. Relata aims to meet the need for spiritual growth among tech workers in the Seattle area; folks that appear to “have it all” but are otherwise questioning their larger purpose in life. Relata was in need of a visual strategy to convey their unique curriculum: a transformative approach to personal growth through open-ended community discussions and harnessing the power of relationships. They needed to balance conveying their authority as an educational institution, and the innovative nature of their curriculum.
THE STRATEGY
We started this project with an in-depth exploration of the brand’s values, mission and vision. The client completed our brand questionnaire to flesh out these pillars of their brand, define their target audience, and start to outline their brand voice and style. We reviewed their responses together and identified the key areas where we wanted to focus our research:
​
-
Meaning and symbolism: Relata is the latin plural of relatum, meaning "one of a group of related things" the symbolism behind the brand’s name was an important thing to represent in the visual identity.
-
Visual juxtaposition: At the onset we recognized the need to address a stark juxtaposition between Chirstian tradition and contemporary relational philosophies. It was important to research how other institutions have struck this balance, and to keep our desired balance top of mind in the design phase.
-
Audience: The client outlined defining characteristics of their audience, it was important to explore the environment they lived in, the media they consumed, and the needs they had to understand how Relata could speak to them thoughtfully as we developed this visual strategy.
THE RESEARCH:
After a careful review of local, national, and international competitors we concluded the following:
-
The competitors that emit the highest sense of credibility use a mix of modern and traditional design elements to show permanence, stability, and forward-thinking leadership. These sites use plenty of white space and bright visuals that make the viewer feel welcome. However, some lack a sense of authority in the industry by utilizing an identity that’s too simple and generic.
Take Away: To display credibility and an inviting community, the brand identity needs to marry traditional and modern design elements.
-
Many Seattle-based competitors use a cool-toned color palette, light blue and turquoise. These colors have a calming effect, but when not paired with any additional colors, they can feel cold or stark, which fails to create depth of meaning for the brand.
Take Away: A unique color palette that diverges from the industry norm has better chances of standing out.
-
Many theology study programs exist, it's not always immediately clear from their marketing the ethos of their curriculum. Those looking for academic rigor will be enticed by a well-crafted curriculum that is clearly stated upfront. There is room in the industry for a more academic program to fill the needs of clients ready to challenge themselves.
Take away: Consider highlighting the program content as a valuable differentiator by showing the curriculum in action in photos and graphics.
A sample of competitive analysis from our research phase.
THE DESIGN PROCESS:
Based on the competitive analysis and brand questionnaire, we put together three possible visual directions. These mood boards represent three separate directions that we could explore for the brand identity.
The client chose mood board 1, and we set off on the design phase beginning with the keystone of any brand: the logo. We spent time exploring the rich symbolism within a few themes that emerged from the research: theological study, relational philosophies, and human connection.
We compiled an extensive word bank with any term that related to our central themes, the more the better. From this word bank we started to pull visual representations; nouns and adjectives that could visually represent anything within our themes.
A sample of our brainstorming.
Then, the long process of sketching began: we worked through many early ideas on paper before taking our ideas into the digital realm.
Initial round of sketches.
Sketches in the digital stage.
A few favorites emerged and we refined these into 3 initial concepts.
We discussed the symbolism and traits of each concept with the client, referring back to our research takeaways and our target audience analysis. The client wanted to see a more inviting, softer mark. They were thrilled with the rich symbolism in this first round, and wanted to see it carried through in the second, although the strictly religious symbolism wasn’t as important as representing human connection, as their curriculum largely focused on group discussion. They also wanted to see a style that felt more inspirational, cosmic, and beyond the individual.
Say no more! We got to work on an additional round of logos that maintained the level of symbolism but captured a more ethereal, spiritual tone. We started with some additional sketches.
Second round of sketches.
The client loved option 4. The clean, flowing lines were softer and more approachable than previous options. The gradient tones matched the cosmic, contemporary style that they were looking for. The symbolism of the holy trinity, represented in the three arching loops, was legible but not overtly religious.
We had our winner! We went through a few rounds internally to refine this concept, pinning down the final color, form, and layout with text in the examples below.
THE RESULTS:
Of course a brand identity only starts with a logo, so we set to work building out the supporting identity. We worked from the initial mood board to define a color palette, brand typography, photography, and iconography (you know, all the ‘-ographies’). We also put together examples of how to apply these brand elements within different marketing contexts. With this, we compiled Relata’s new brand guidelines: an extensive document that functions as a reference for the in’s and out’s of the brand identity. This is a central resource that marketers, collaborators, designers, and web developers can reference as they build out assets for the brand.
A sample of the final brand guidelines.