BrandingforNonprofits:Developing Identity with Integrity

BrandingforNonprofits:Developing Identity with Integrity

DK Holland

© 2006 DK Holland

All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention,Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan-American CopyrightConvention. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, withoutprior permission of the publisher.

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Published by Allworth PressAn imprint of Allworth Communications, Inc.10 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010

Cover and interior design by Whitehouse & Company, New YorkTypography by SR Desktop Services, Ridge, NY

ISBN: 1-58115-434-8ISBN 9781581158427

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataHolland, DK.

Branding for nonprofits : developing identity with integrity / DKHolland.

p. cm.Includes index.1. Brand name products. 2. Nonprofit organizations— Marketing.

I. Title.

HD69.B7H645 2006658.8'27—dc22

2005026430

Printed in Canada

Dedication

In 1831, while the young Alexis de Tocqueville traveledthe rough terrain of our fledgling United States, hewitnessed the remarkable optimism, energy, andfaith of the people he met along the way. The notionthat change was possible against the odds waspalpable. Later, in Democracy in America, he toldthe world about this phenomenon—this uniquelyAmerican can-do attitude, an attitude that wouldsoon become part of the brand of the United Statesof America.

The nonprofit and branding systems are also, notcoincidentally, unique to the United States. And thisbook is dedicated to those Americans of thetwenty-first century who are the future of nonprofits:those generous, creative, savvy Americans who willuse the force of optimism—and their brandingskills—to push the world forward.

ContentsAcknowledgmentsForeword by Ed PuszChapter OneWhat’s That Branding Buzz I Hear? AndWhy Nonprofits Can’t Afford to Ignore It

Chapter TwoAnatomy of a Design Brief: Start to GetYour Nonprofit Brand in Focus

Chapter ThreeIt Takes a Village to Raise a Brand: TheRoles and Responsibilities of the BrandingTeam

Chapter FourGetting the Team Ready to Birth the Brand

Chapter FiveSpotlight on Designers: What They Do andHow They Do It

Chapter SixThe Design Process: Taking It in Phases

Chapter SevenFinding the Sweet Spot: Arriving at a NewBrand Identity That Everyone CanEmbrace

Chapter EightThe Devil’s in the Details: From Inspirationto Implementation Branding for Nonprofits

Chapter NineThe Big Switcheroo: Implementing YourNew Brand

Chapter TenStorytelling and the Brand: A ThousandWords . . . and Loads of Pictures

Chapter ElevenLooking Inside the Funder’s Mind: TheBoard, the Staff, and Branding

Chapter TwelveOn the Evolution of Branding: You’veCome Such a Long, Long Way, Baby!

Branding ResourcesAppendix A: Aish Branding Guide:“Guidelines Without the Guilt”

Appendix B: Branding the AIGA

Appendix C: BAM Graphic StandardsGuide

Appendix D: Governance MattersPresentation

Brand GlossaryAbout the AuthorIndex

AcknowledgmentsA phone call in the winter of 2003 led me to Mitch

Nauffts, editor of Philanthropy News Digest (PND),the online publication of The Foundation Center. Ihad conducted two seminars there on branding fornonprofits that had been very well received andsuggested to him that I follow up by writing anarticle, and he said, to my delight, “How about anongoing column?”

My first thought was that it would be best to presentthe process of branding chronologically and explorea phase in each column so that the reader wouldbetter grasp the importance of sequencing in thestages of development. “It would make a goodbook,” I said. Having produced over a dozen bookson design, I had no problem imagining it. So thanksto Mitch for his support as “Nonprofits by Design”rolled out online over the course of two years. Hisskeptical mind and keen editing skills made a bigdifference to this book.

Thanks to Judie Gilmore for her help and endlessenthusiasm for this project. Her insatiable curiosityand commitment to social change gives me hope forthe future.

Thanks to Ed Pusz, design director at the Museum ofModern Art, for providing the foreword for thisbook. MoMA was the first nonprofit brand I choseto interview for my online column and it remains thepinnacle of nonprofit branding, as far as I’mconcerned.

Thanks to my sisters, Jennifer and Cecelia Holland,for their help in chapter 12, “On the Evolution ofBranding” (the only chapter in the book that did notappear in PND).

When most of the columns were online, I contactedTad Crawford, president of Allworth Press,publisher of virtually all the books I have everpublished and a longtime good friend and ally. Ithank Tad for once again having the confidence tosee this book through to the marketplace.

Thanks for my longtime colleagues and dear friends,graphic designers Roger Whitehouse, BenWhitehouse, and Saki Tanaka, for the inspireddesign of the cover and interior of this book.

Finally, thanks to all the readers of PND’s“Nonprofits by Design”—especially those whocontacted me to say that the column was providingthem with important resources and support. It is forthem that I created this book.

DK Holland

New York, N.Y.

ForewordIn one of my earliest meetings with Terence Riley, chief

curator of the architecture and design department, heinterrupted a presentation to inform me, “Here at theMuseum of Modern Art, we don’t use the word‘brand.’ We prefer the term ‘spirit.’” At first I foundhis statement a semantic matter that comes alongwith understanding your client’s language. Throughmany years of archival research and countless hoursof listening to the oral history of the Museum, I’vecome to see the wisdom of his words.

What can be found at the heart of all successfulnonprofits, regardless of size, is the motivationalforce of intention. Shared intention, otherwise knowas “the mission,” binds together dedicatedindividuals with a common desire to effect positivechange on the world around us. This spirit ofintention is the mark of a great company— nonprofitor otherwise—and it invigorates the entireorganization, from its leadership and staff to theproducts or services it delivers.

It did feel awkward using the now-banished term“brand” outside of the safety of the designdepartment. MoMA’s graphic designers have thebenefit and pleasure of working in a place steeped in

design history and populated by visually astutecolleagues. Yet our work, if it’s done well, shoulddisappear and not call attention to itself. It wastherefore no surprise when research showed a muchhigher public association with

Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Picasso’s LesDemoiselles d’Avignon than with the Museum’slogo or typographic style. Without losing sight ofour supporting role, we spent the next four yearsunderstanding the unique qualities of MoMA as itundertook the most ambitious building project in itshistory. Our branding process paralleled many of thesteps prescribed within these pages, contributing tothe smooth implementation of the Museum’s newvisual identity program.

When DK Holland first shared her online column ata resource site for nonprofits, I was certain it had thepotential to be a great book. As with any other trade,designers can dissect a concept into abstractionwhen talking amongst themselves. DK makes theseideas accessible, tangible, and entertaining. It givesme great pleasure to know that she is using her manyyears of experience within the design communityand directing it outwards. This publication bringstogether insights from some of the great visualcommunicators of our time, with DK as your friendand guide. Through these pages she will lead youthrough the entire process and show you the way toan authentic, successful, and sustainable brand—orwhatever you choose to call it.

Ed Pusz, DirectorDepartment of Graphic DesignThe Museum of Modern Art

BrandingforNonprofits:Developing Identity with Integrity

OneWhat’s That Branding Buzz I Hear? And WhyNonprofits Can’t Afford to Ignore It

Cowboys all know you can’t brand nothin’ till you tiethree of its legs together, slam it to the ground, andsedate it.– Bart Crosby, brand designer

Everything gets branded, one way or another—whetherit’s a consumer product, a movie star, a politicalcause, a religion . . . even a nonprofit organization.Branding can’t be avoided, and, in fact, it should beembraced— by all nonprofits. After all, it’s how youtell your story and it’s at the heart of all outreachefforts.

Everyone wants to get attention. But the mostorganized, consistently delivered brands are the onesthat people respond to. Why? Because they are thebrands that communicate clearly to theiraudiences—and in response, people understand,know, and trust these brands.

Think about the nonprofit organizations that havegained your respect and interest. Can you sum uptheir brand message in a few simple words?Probably. For example:

Public Broadcasting Service (www.pbs.org): ThePBS logo—a simple black-and-white treatment ofthree faces in profile—conveys the graphic messagethat PBS puts people ahead of profits. And whenyou tune in to PBS, it looks and feels different fromthe networks in its use of images, color, format,typography. It has to—or it wouldn’t be effectivelybranded.

Image 1. The PBS logo

American Red Cross (www.redcross.org): Anunadorned red cross against a field of white, the RedCross logo is one of the most recognizable marks inthe world. And the very qualities itconveys—neutrality, simplicity, anduniversality—are extremely important attributes ofthe organization’s overall brand strategy. As theorganization’s tag line says, “Together, we can savea life.” Simple, engaging, universal.

Image 2. The American Red Cross logo

In both cases, design and branding work asrespectful and effective partners. And, in both cases,the design is accessible, graphic, straightforward,memorable—a complement to the overall brandmessage of the organization.

The essential needs of the Red Cross included a logothat could alert people instantly—those in combat aswell as distress—to the presence of the organization.Steff Geissbuhler, partner in Chermayeff & Geismar(www.cgnyc.com), a New York City design firm thathas been among the most influential practitioners ofnonprofit identity design for nearly half a century,says, “The white Red Cross vehicles, flags,uniforms, and tents are extremely visible comparedto the camouflage and battle fatigues of variousarmies.” The logo, while exquisitely simple, is infact a bit more complex in its meaning. Geissbuhler,who is Swiss, observes, “After World War II,Switzerland, a neutral country, was an appropriatelocation in which to negotiate and establish amultinational agreement designed to protectprisoners of war, which became known as theGeneva Convention. So the Red Cross logo wasdesigned after the Swiss national symbol, but insteadof a white cross on a red field, a red cross wasplaced on a white field. The white background

represented hygiene and the red symbolized blood,and thus life.”

The current PBS identity was designed by C&Gpartner Tom Geismar. When C&G designs a brandstrategy, it doesn’t just design a logo: It produces amanual that lays out meticulous guidelines for theuse of various brand elements—logo, tag line,typefaces, formats, and color palette—and ensuresthe integrity of the system over time. “Eachnonprofit really needs someone in a position ofauthority who understands design because gooddesign establishes structure and meaning,” saysC&G partner Ivan Chermayeff, “while mediocredesign leaves the viewer detached and uninspired.”To make sure the brand strategy works inconjunction with the organization’s identity, itsadministration is often elevated to an important stafffunction, with the overall strategy directed by adesignated brand steward (typically, a seniorexecutive). The nuts and bolts of that strategy areimplemented on a day-to-day basis by staff andoutside consultants, including designers and othercommunications professionals. The brand “team,” inturn, is responsible for generating all thecommunications materials needed by theorganization—including its annual report, brochures,letterhead, signage, the Web site, and so on—in away that reinforces the brand.

In this book, I’ll demystify the branding and designprocesses for nonprofits large and small and showyou how you can use both to enhance theeffectiveness of your organization. I’ll talk to you

about how brands are defined, as well as how to findand work with good designers and otherprofessionals who understand branding and can helpyou create a brand strategy, within your budget, thatsupports the mission and identity of yourorganization. And, of course, I’ll give you someideas about where to find funding for all this.

This book is a handy reference full of case studies ofwell-branded nonprofits as well as practical, creativeapproaches to help you improve your brand and, inthe process, become a more focused and effectiveorganization.

Where Did This Branding Thing ComeFrom?

At its most fundamental level, branding is driven bythe human need to distinguish one thing fromanother. Think about all those old Westerns in whichcows wandered onto some other rancher’s range,causing all kinds of trouble: It was the rancher’sbrand that protected his herd—and his livelihood!On a more abstract, organizational level, the brandpromotes the identity and underlying values of aunique culture by communicating the messages,products, and services created by that culture. Forthe purposes of our discussion, “brand strategy” is aplan that employs a unique set of designtools—logo, color palette, typefaces, formats,images, and language— created for an organizationand applied in every communication vehicle thathelps convey the brand identity: annual reports,

letterhead, business cards, packaging, Web site,signage, and so on.

So brands are not just about logos (a typicalmisconception), even though the logo is often thekey element in the branding program. The brandgoes beyond tangible design elements to somethingmore abstract and far-reaching. As an expression ofthe core values of your organization, your brandcreates expectations and makes promises to youraudiences— whether they’re already captivated(staff, board members) or they’re people you wish toattract (constituents, funders, opinion shapers). Ifexecuted well, a brand strategy delivers on thosepromises in a clear, understandable way that satisfiesa need. In turn, brand loyalty—one of the keys toorganizational sustainability—is earned by theconsistent presentation of your brand and everythingthat your brand implies.

And Now, a Word from the AudienceThink of the brand as a play. And you are theaudience. You stay with the plot when it issomething you can relate to. You have empathy forthe characters you understand and respect. Youspread the word: This is a play to go see!Conversely, you walk out on a play that is confusingor ridiculous. And you tell all your friends not to gosee it. If the playwright opens with another play,depending on your previous experience, you will orwill not patronize it.

Similarly, a brand is talking to you, trying to gainyour trust and loyalty—to get you to come backagain and again. And if you, the audience, cannotrespect this brand, it is quite often because the brandhas failed to gain your understanding, andconfidence. This is a brand that will not succeed. It’sall about the audience.

The Branding MarkersThink of the things in your life that are branded—including yourself. All of these things exhibit, to agreater or lesser degree, aspects of the four brandingmarkers:

Reputation: How well is the brand known by itsaudiences?

Esteem: How highly do its audiences rate thebrand?

Relevance: How much do the brand’s audiencescare about what it does or stands for?

Differentiation: How different is the brand fromothers? Are other brands similar?

High marks in all four categories means the brand isprobably strong and successful. But if you doubt thatsuccess is tied to these markers, just consider yourown résumé: The higher you rank in these areas, themore impressive it will seem to potentialemployers— and conversely, the lower you rank, theless likely you are to succeed.

The nonprofit brand makes a promise to itsaudiences, which it usually incorporates into itsmission statement—“To Serve the MostVulnerable.” The American Red Cross promises toremain neutral in providing relief to victims ofdisaster and to help people prevent, prepare for, andrespond to emergencies in their communities. PBSpromises to remain distanced from the commercialarena and, in the process, to deliver the best inbroadcast news, entertainment, and education to itsaudiences.

Confident branding uses design to communicate amessage that attracts the audiences you want, amessage that creates confidence in your brand whiledifferentiating what you offer—your product orservice—from all others. Are you attracted to aproduct if you’re unclear about what it does?Perhaps. It might be packaged in a sexy wrapper. Orit might be novel enough to pique your curiosity.But if the branding is flat, fuzzy, or fallacious, itprobably won’t sustain your interest, gain yourtrust—or earn your loyalty. The same holds true fornonprofit organizations.

Unfortunately, the nonprofit world is chock-full offuzzy brands—mostly because nonprofitorganizations are too busy focusing on servicedelivery or fundraising to consider the core work ofbranding. (Ironically, solid branding could helptremendously in these areas, as you’ll see in theupcoming chapters.) Or, in the case of neworganizations, they jump the gun and rush to pick aname or design a logo and prepare outreach

materials, all the while neglecting the branding workthat is vital to creating a sustainable identity. Addinginsult to injury, they often do so without the benefitof guidance from a professional designer ormarketer, or even input from their board. The result,more often than not, is branding that falls short: Theorganization’s outreach materials don’t end upcommunicating a clear and consistent message, orworse, the organization’s story fails to resonate withits audiences, leaving the organization, if it managesto survive, struggling in catch-up mode.

It bears repeating: The benefits of an effective brandstrategy, though not always immediately apparent,are substantial and, in the final analysis, well worththe time and resources required to realize them.Among other things, a solid branding program can:

Communicate your organization’s valueproposition more efficiently and effectively.

Grow the size of your audiences (including boardmembers, clients, and potential funders and staff).

Motivate your audiences to spread the word foryou. And, of course, word of mouth is the best andcheapest form of advertising.

Inform your next steps in terms of marketing andprogramming.

But maybe you don’t know how to get started or aresimply overwhelmed by the whole concept ofbranding. Don’t worry. Help is on the way.

I’ve chosen two arts-related, New York City–basedorganizations to further explore the concept ofbranding—one a world-renowned cultural institutionand the other a small, smart nonprofit that usesphotography to explore the creativity of inner-citykids. Both have simple and effective brandidentities. And they have one other thing incommon: Art is the star of the show.

Make a Better Place: Design That Doesn’tDominate

Make a Better Place, a storefront nonprofit on NewYork City’s Lower East Side, has a big, importantmission—to help New York City’s public schoolkids express themselves through photography andcreative writing projects. In doing so, they help thesekids articulate a vision for change within theircommunities, as seen through their eyes.

Working with other nonprofit programs and the NewYork City Department of Education, Make a BetterPlace (or MABP, www.makeabetterplace.org) has,since 1994, helped many kids find their true voiceand become chroniclers of their young lives andtimes. The results are moving and powerful. MABPhas helped these kids advance their thinking. Andthe organization’s branding is effective and subtle.

The Orchard Street storefront home of MABP is inthe heart of the discount dry goods district ofManhattan. The sign on the building still says“Lolita Bras” (the prior tenant), but the bright andfresh photography visible through the plate-glass

windows beckons passersby into the MABP gallery/workspace.

Inside MABP, Elana Gutmann, cofounder anddirector of MABP, says, “We chose Steve Liska, ofLiska + Associates in Chicago, as our designer whenwe first started. Because he believes in photography,we knew he would honor the work of the kids andthat his design and branding would be almostinvisible. What kids see in our brochures isphotography by kids just likethemselves—communicating to them. And they seethat their work is reproduced beautifully. They getexcited because they see that they may be able tocreate work like this too, through MABP, and thattheir work may be published—and that alsomotivates them.”

Image 3. The Orchard Street storefront gallery and home ofMABP

MABP still uses the exhibit signage system thatLiska + Associates designed for them some yearsago. It’s simple, straightforward yet sophisticated,and confident in its use of color. The typography iselegant but understated. And it works just as welltoday as it did when Liska + Associates designed itbecause it’s classic. Steve Liska, who is on MABP’sboard and is acknowledged in the organization’spublications as a major sponsor, has always workedwith MABP on a 100 percent pro bono basis. But therelationship is totally professional. Says Gutmann,“Steve doesn’t just squeeze us in; he gives us thetime and care we need. He’s an angel— our angel.”

Image 4. Cover of MABP’s main brochure

Liska + Associates designed MABP’s mainbrochure. The main image used in MABP’s programmaterials is an extreme close-up of a wishing flower(dandelion). The photo, taken by Victor, age nine,who was separated from his mother, expresses hishope that they can be together again, perhaps livingin a house like those seen in the background. It’s abeautiful example of abstract thinking conveyedthrough imagery. Kids and teachers—two importantaudiences for MABP—see this and get the point thatit’s the kids’ ideas—reflected in their photographyand then elaborated on in their writing—thatmatters. Other audiences—funders and opinionshapers, for example—focus on two other things aswell: great quality (signifying respect for thestudents’ work) and professional execution. They arealso likely to note that the organization isresourceful and valued, as reflected by the fact thatthe brochure’s design was paid for by an Ideas ThatMatter grant from Sappi (www.sappi.com), aninternational paper company, a fact prominentlynoted in the publication.

The brochure is very successful, partly because thedesign is so visual. “We are an image-drivensociety,” adds Gutmann. “We need to be able tocommunicate in a language that we can allunderstand. Kids experience how the images theysee make them feel. It’s not just chalk and talk. Ourprocess engages multiple intelligences. Kids exploreand learn about community, resources, and liabilitiesthrough reflection on their own experiences,research, community outings, and interviews with

neighborhood residents. Later they are asked tocreate a variety of maps that may reflect physicaltopography, or kid-friendly environments, or areasof interest or danger. They learn to think abstractly,relating images to ideas. Within this active-learningenvironment, young people are able to demonstrateand communicate their understanding, theirworldview, and their individuality. In this way, eventhose who may not have previously succeeded intraditional academic settings are provided theopportunity to shine.” The new logo helps to conveythis spirit—the frame featured in the organization’sletterhead was developed when MABP shortened itsname, originally called To Make the World a BetterPlace. Steve Liska told Gutmann and cofounderDaniele Robbiani that it was time for them to have alogo.

Designers Tanya Quick and Fernando Munoz, whohad worked at Liska + Associates, were recruited.Gutmann and Robbiani articulated the mood andmessage they were trying to convey. Says Gutmann,“The concept of thinking of the possibilities—ofthinking ‘outside the box’—was a key value wewished to impart. The resulting logo has helped usexpand the notion of ‘frame’ to include ideas likepossibility and opportunity, without losing thereference to photography and the arts.”

Image 5. The new MABP logo

Design is important in everything MABP does.Precise color and typographic choices are crucialbecause each element must enhance the kids’photography while combining to create a clear,simple organizational branding statement thatdoesn’t overpower the work. It’s a challenge not toover-design, to pull off a simple design in an elegantway. But MABP manages to do just that on aconsistent basis across all media.

Web sites have become a major brandingopportunity for organizations of all sizes. And yetWeb design is just starting to reflect this fact—inpart because the technology, in terms of design, wasso limited for so long that designers simply weren’tinterested in the medium. As a result, most Websites were places where everything was simplydumped on the home page, leaving visitors with aconfusing impression of the organization. Now thatthe technology has improved and designers havemore options and tools at their disposal, Web sites

are starting to look more organized, strategic,interesting—and branded. The MABP Web site(www.makeabetterplace.org) consistently uses thedesign elements featured in the organization’soutreach materials, including logo, palette,typography, graphics, and images, all of whichreinforce and strengthen the MABP brand. But whileeach page of the site is simple yet distinctive, thekids’ photography is always the main focus.

Image 6. The MABP Web site

MABP has not made outreach a main priority. But ithas a good reputation and is held in high esteem inthe New York educational community: Built on awell-branded and firm foundation, it’s poised togrow, and as it does, it is positioned to furtherdevelop and exploit the design system it has had inplace since its inception. Nevertheless, its servicescould be imitated. The challenges for MABP goingforward, therefore, are to spread the word about

what it does, in a unique way, and convey the notionthat no one could do it better or smarter. Brandingand design will be key allies in that effort, becausethey are the prime ways that organizations candifferentiate themselves from their competitors.

Image 7. Elana Gutmann (center front) surrounded by thestaff of Make a Better Place

The Museum of Modern Art: Change AsOpportunity

The Museum of Modern Art (www.moma.org), orMoMA, as it’s affectionately known to art patronsaround the world, was founded in 1929 by threewomen with eight prints and one drawing; in thedecades since, it has grown to become arguably themost important museum of modern and

contemporary art in the world. In order to maintainits position, however, MoMA (which is also called“the Modern”) realized it needed to grow. Thus,when a building adjacent to its West 53rd StreetManhattan location became available in 1996,MoMA’s trustees saw it as a unique opportunity toexpand and improve its galleries—which hadbecome inadequate for the display of large-scalecontemporary art—while also enlarging itseducational facilities.

But the plan posed a dilemma: What to do withMoMA’s world-famous collections during the threeyears required to complete the expansion? And whatabout the MoMA design store and cinema, both ofwhich were important educational componentswithin the institution? Would the construction andattendant disruptions do more harm than good?Could MoMA weather three years of reducedvisibility and the potential loss of significantamounts of earned income? These were real andserious concerns. But, at the same time, the trusteesrealized that the chance to expand in crowdedmidtown Manhattan was a once-in-a-generationopportunity and, moreover, brought with it thepotential to not only significantly increase MoMA’sinfluence in the world of modern art, but alsostrengthen its brand.

And so the decision was made to purchase theadjacent property and close the museum to allow forthe proposed expansion. In the meantime, the 53rdStreet collections were moved and new exhibitionswere mounted in a temporary home in the borough

of Queens; the new location was called MoMAQNS. The film center and its activities were movedto a small cinema in Manhattan. MoMA officialsalso decided to address the potential loss of revenueby opening two new design stores (an important partof MoMA’s revenue stream)—one at the temporarylocation in Queens and a second in Manhattan’sgallery-rich Soho neighborhood—while keeping theoriginal store on West 53rd Street open during thereconstruction period.

Image 8. The MoMA logo sat prominently atop thewarehouse in Queens, MoMA’s temporary home from 2002until 2005, when it moved back to Manhattan. MoMA QNSfacade. Design: BaseDesign and Two Twelve Associates.Photo: 2002 Elizabeth Felicella. The Museum of ModernArt, New York

Branding—or re-branding—the institution, whichalready had a very distinct and focused identity,

would be critical to the success or failure of theplanned expansion of MoMA. Ed Pusz was thedriving force behind the branding of MoMA QNSand has been MoMA’s creative director since thecapital campaign to fund the expansion of the 53rdStreet location was launched in 1998. He says,“Prior to moving to Queens, we didn’t need muchbranding. We had our logo, designed by Chermayeff& Geismar in the 1960s, which was applied verystraightforwardly on signage, letterhead, products,and brochures. So MoMA QNS was the firstopportunity we had in a long time to say who we areand what we’re becoming.”

Image 9. The MoMA QNS entrance was big and bold, whichwas appropriate for its warehouse setting. Design:BaseDesign and Two Twelve Associates

The MoMA QNS logo (design system byBaseDesign) was a key component of the distinctiveand contemporary branded look when MoMA was inQueens. The simple typographic solutionincorporates the abbreviation for “Queens”commonly used in New York’s subways (QNS), andthe famous MoMA acronym is rendered in a bold,direct typeface, creating a striking shape. “In itssimplicity, the MoMA acronym transcendslanguage,” says Ruth Kaplan, the museum’s deputydirector for marketing and communications. “Wefind people recognize it merely by its shape.” Thebold simplicity of the logo allowed it to bemanipulated and rendered in three dimensionswithout diminishing its integrity.

Image 10. The MoMA QNS business card

Ruth Kaplan adds, “We conduct surveys of ourvisitors constantly. So we knew well in advance that

one big issue regarding our move would be theapprehension visitors had about traveling toQueens—about crossing the East River and notknowing what to expect once they were on the otherside. Interestingly, this was much more of an issuefor New Yorkers than it was for tourists. So theMoMA QNS branding was initially all about publictransportation, movement, and change.” MoMAcould have shown ambivalence toward therelocation from chic West 53rd Street to a rough,raw industrial section of an outer borough butinstead embraced the move to Queens withconfidence, literally shouting it from the rooftops.

Image 11. MoMA has long been famous for selling brandedproducts like this small notepad

The Queens connection went back to 1999, whenMoMA affiliated with P.S. 1, a very popular andsuccessful contemporary arts center based in Queenssince 1971. As part of the arrangement, the MoMA

design team revised the logo for P.S. 1(www.ps1.org) to incorporate the MoMA logo in anappropriately subordinate way, allowing the originalP.S. 1 logo to remain the dominant element in thenew design.

Image 12. The P.S. 1 incorporated the MoMA logo in anappropriately subordinate way. Auspiciously, the logos werein harmony prior to the merger. Design: 2X4, Inc.

It’s important to note that P.S. 1 officials had hiredoutside design consultants Lorraine Wilde andWilliam Drenttel to evaluate the P.S. 1 brand, whichled them to make these decisions. Meticulousplanning is valued highly by MoMA.

Suggesting childlike inquisitiveness, P.S. 1 is housedin a nineteenth-century school building (all NewYork City public schools are numbered and startwith “P.S.”) and is located in Queens close toneighborhoods like Long Island City and Astoria,and Fort Greene, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint inBrooklyn, all of which have become popular withartists in recent years.

Image 13. P.S. 1 is housed in a nineteenth-century schoolbuilding. Logo design: 2X4, Inc.

The results of the move to Queens, not surprisingly,were astounding for MoMA. “Matisse-Picasso,” thesecond major show at MoMA QNS in its secondyear, was a huge success and sold out regularly.Shuttle buses carried museum-goers from West 53rdStreet to MoMA QNS’s front door and also madethe hop to P.S. 1, just ten minutes away.

Image 14. The MoMA Web site. Design: Allegra Burnetteand the Department of Digital Media at the Museum ofModern Art

Cafés and gift shops at both MoMA venues providesustenance, branded mementos, and income for themuseum. The rebranding campaign also increasedinterest in the museum through its new locations.The unconventional and, in some cases, daringdecisions made by the MoMA team havemodernized the brand a bit, making it seem morerelevant to the times while enhancing its reputation

as the leading institution in the field ofcontemporary art. Part of that relevance is expressedin the presence that MoMA now has on the Web.

The MoMA Web site (www.moma.org) clearlycommunicates the attributes implicit in the MoMAbrand: simplicity, straightforwardness, honesty, andconservatism. With the current expansion—and theincreased number of MoMA-affiliatedoperations—the Web site became even moreimportant to the brand, weaving its manycomponents together in a way that suggests the sumis greater than the parts.

Image 15. MoMA moved back to Manhattan in 2005 right onschedule, closing down its temporary public exhibitionspace in Queens, retrofitting it for other purposes

The architecture of the new MoMA (designed byYoshio Taniguchi) surprised many: It is not the mostmodern-looking building in Manhattan. But that

reflects the MoMA brand brilliantly—MoMA’sabout the art, not the architecture.

MoMA’s main challenge going forward is tomaintain its relevance—and its dynamicidentity—now that it has returned to its 53rd Streetlocation with thunderous applause andrecord-breaking attendance. It’s exciting toanticipate what the MoMA design team will comeup with next—and that may be the greatestcompliment a brand can receive.

Image 16. The Museum of Modern Art, designed by YoshioTaniguchi. Entrance at 53rd Street. © 2004 Timothy Hursley

Image 17. The Museum of Modern Art’s Department ofGraphic Design in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller SculptureGarden at the Museum of Modern Art. Back row, left toright: Ingrid Chou, Kate Johnson, Bonnie Ralston, JungheeHahm, James Kuo. Front row, left to right: Ed Pusz, ElanCole, Melanie Malkin, Althea Penza, Burns Magruder, ClaireCorey. Photo: 2005 James Kuo

TwoAnatomy of a Design Brief: Start to Get YourNonprofit Brand in Focus

It’s human nature for people to identify with thecelebrities they see and read and hear about in themedia. In fact, they often develop loyalties tocelebrities based on what they know, or think theyknow, about the perceived values and belief systemsof those celebrities. Celebrities able to project animage that seems direct, consistent, admirable, andauthentic—think Hillary Clinton, Bono, or the DalaiLama—usually have a more loyal following thancelebrities who are perceived to be wishy-washy orphony. In the same sense, in order to be effective,branding has to have clarity and depth.

Just like the effective celebrity brand, yourorganization’s brand has to convey the key values ofyour organization—values rooted in its coreactivities—if you hope to develop a loyal following.And that’s why it’s important that you, your board,and your colleagues—the people who, day in andday out, work to make your nonprofit a success—areinvolved in and committed to the branding process,starting with the creation of a design brief.

As a distillation of your organization’s mission,values, and personality, the design brief is anessential tool that, with a little luck and a lot of hardwork, will lead to the development of a brand thateffectively conveys what your organization does andstands for.

There’s no question that the board has to sign off onthe organization’s branding. But first, the boardneeds to have a clear handle on the mission andvision of the organization in order to be able to givedirection.– Carolyn Patterson, President Emeritus ofGovernance Matters

Unfortunately, many nonprofits are too quick tohand the organization’s branding over to an outsideconsultant and assume a reactive rather thanproactive approach to the process. Worse than that,many consultants who work with nonprofits skip thedevelopment of a design brief altogether. How canconsultants possibly tell your story without you? Theanswer is they can’t—and trying to do so often leadsto unwelcome consequences, not the least of whichis the possibility that your organization will have tolive with an ineffective, half-baked brand.

While having a design brief is no guarantee that yournonprofit can avoid that fate, a thorough,well-constructed brief can go a long way towardproviding a solid foundation for the construction ofyour brand and will ensure that you and your outsideconsultants are on the same page at the start of theprocess.

You start by providing the creative team with theinformation they need to help you tell your story.

Outlining the Design BriefWhen you sit down to develop a design brief, besure to consider the following:

1. Profile: What does your organization do? And whydoes it matter? Be as succinct as possible and be sureto work your mission and values statements intoyour response.

2. Context:What is happening in the world today thatmakes your mission relevant and compelling to yourtarget audiences?

3. Positioning:What is your organization’s relationshipwith others that are similar in size and mission? Besure to include your competitors’ logos and Web siteURLs so that you can start to see how thoseorganizations fit into your universe, and vice versa.

4. Audiences: List your audiences, starting with yourprimary audience (e.g., constituents) and continuingthrough secondary and tertiary audiences (funders,board, etc). Now ask yourself the following: Whomare we trying to reach that we haven’t already? Whatdo our audiences value that we already provide, orcould provide? Do we have any research ordemographic information about our audiences thatwe can share with the creative team?

5. Brand personality: How would you describe yourorganization’s personality? How does the

community view your organization? Are youperceived favorably? Are you seen as active andinvolved, or as distant and aloof? Are you a youngorganization or well established? (If you don’t knowthe answers to these questions, you may have to dosome research.)

6. Current situation: What aspect(s) of your currentsituation precipitated the need for a new or revisedbrand strategy?

7. Budget: How much are you willing to spend? Yes,it’s hard to formulate a budget when you don’t knowwhat the solution is, but you should find a way togive the creative team an idea of how much you arewilling/able to invest in the process. For instance,tell the designers the size of your staff and howmuch you rely on volunteer efforts. If they can’tafford to work pro bono, they have to chargeaccording to what they must make on the projectwhile calculating a nonprofit discount into their fee,if appropriate.

8. Schedule/deadlines: What is the time frame for theproject? Are there deadlines that absolutely must bemet (e.g., the date of a specific event oranniversary)?

9. Design media: What kind of materials are you goingto need? A basic brochure? An annual report? AWeb site? Letterhead, cards, envelopes? Posters orsignage? A PowerPoint presentation or multimediapiece?

10. Technical/practical requirements: Are therespecific requirements that must be spelled out inadvance of the design process? For instance, is yourorganization required to use union labor? How aboutenvironmentally friendly resources such as recycledpaper or soy inks? Dual computer platforms fortemplates (Mac and PC)? You’ll want to make a notein the brief if that’s the case.

The Branding MarkersTo review, the four markers are reputation (Howwell known is your organization?); esteem (Howhighly thought of is your organization?); relevance(How important are your organization’s mission andactivities to the concerns of your target audiences?);and differentiation (Are there other organizations outthere that do what your organization does? Is yourorganization distinct from those other organizationsin the minds of your target audiences?).

The branding markers should be included in everynonprofit organization’s toolkit. To see why, draw asimple L-shaped chart, with the four markersarrayed along the vertical axis and the numbers 1 to10 spaced along the horizontal axis. Now askyourself: How valued is your organization by youraudience? If you have reason to believe that 50percent of the audience knows of your organization,put an X above the 5 next to “reputation.” If yourorganization is totally unique and therefore has nocompetition (good for you!), give yourself a 10 next

to “differentiation,” and so on until you’ve gradedall four markers.

Identifying your weaker markers lets you know whatyou need to work on, while the stronger ones tellyou what you can count on. Strong brands can haveweak markers, but some are of more concern thanothers. For instance, if your brand is unique and wellrespected but irrelevant to your primary audience,you have a major problem. If, on the other hand,your brand is highly relevant and well respected butnot particularly well known, you still have aproblem, but it’s one that can more easily berectified.

That’s why it’s important for the creative team toknow at the beginning of the design process justwhat your brand strengths and weaknesses are—sothat the team can play to your strengths whileminimizing your weaknesses.

Branding by CommitteeNow that you’re familiar with the basic elements ofthe design brief, the next step is to make sure thatyour organization’s executive director and seniorstaff—working with outside consultants as needed—are involved in developing the brief. And once thebrief has been completed, present it to your boardfor review.

Carolyn Patterson, president emeritus of GovernanceMatters, says, “There’s no question that the boardhas to sign off on the organization’s branding. But

first, the board needs to have a clear handle on themission and vision of the organization in order to beable to give direction.”

Now, you may be thinking that your board membersare either uninterested in or incapable of thinkingabout design issues and branding strategies. Inwhich case, I’d suggest that when it comes to issuesof design and branding, board members can only beeffective if they understand these issues in context.And that’s one important purpose of the design brief.Let me tell you a story.

Beth Fredrick, vice president of communications anddevelopment at the Alan Guttmacher Institute inNew York City, and two of her colleagues visitedme a while back with a problem: Most of theInstitute’s publications (of which there are many)looked nothing alike. As Fredrick noted, “Eachpublication targets a different audience and serves adifferent purpose. But on the other hand, no one eversees all of them together. Is there a better way tounify them and promote an image for the Institute?”

She was right. Although her organization’spublications derived from the same institutionalculture, some were bold and modern in appearance,while others were quite subdued and scholarly—andthere wasn’t any connection between the differentlooks and designs. Without a unifying theme, thepublications tended to blur the unique attributes ofthe Guttmacher Institute and, in terms of branding,cancel each other out. What Beth and her colleaguesneeded, I suggested, was an institutional dialog that

included the mission statement and focused ondeveloping a design brief to use as a springboard fora coherent brand strategy.

Image 18. The essential roles of the branding team

Beth told me that 1) she and her colleagues wereabout to welcome a new brand-savvy CEO into thefold and this was an ideal opportunity to start talkingabout the brand, 2) the process should involve seniorstaff and the board, and 3) the brief should includethe purpose of each publication and a description ofhow it related to the overall brand. The latter wouldserve to focus all the stakeholders, including the

board and senior staff, on the task at hand. As Bethlater observed, “The tough part is where thedirective comes from. Everyone involved with yourorganization needs a branding mentality; otherwiseit’s a real challenge to use design in strategic andeffective ways. That directive comes from the top.”

Beth understood that every organization, regardlessof size, has to grapple with its own brandingconundrums sooner or later. Nonprofits that are ableto provide a design brief to their creative teams andbring key staff and board members into the processhave a better chance of getting on the rightroad—the road to an effective brand—thanorganizations that try to get there without a map orthe participation of key stakeholders.

There are exceptions, of course, and the fact thatsome organizations succeed in branding themselveseffectively without a design brief or buy-in from theboard should not be taken as an argument foradopting the by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach tobranding. As often as not, their success isattributable to the special talents of one or twopeople and more than a little luck. With that in mind,here’s a tiny nonprofit that has been able to leveragethe mighty talents of its founders into a strong andeffective brand.

PUPS: Sniffing Out the BrandFort Greene Park Users and Pets Society (PUPS), avolunteer-run membership organization in the FortGreene neighborhood of Brooklyn, is so new and

small that it still hasn’t received its determinationletter from the IRS. It has a tiny board and not muchfunding. Yet it has gotten off to a beautiful start,branding-wise.

In terms of expressing its core values andimplementing its brand strategy, its strengthsinclude:

Image 19. The PUPS logo shows a paw print under a tree,representing the twin concerns of the organization: the dogsand the park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn

The PUPS mission statement is straightforward andestablishes the unique positioning of theorganization: “We are responsible dog owners whobelieve that in order to enjoy the park’s beautifulgrounds and many resources, we must clean up afterour dogs, keep our dogs under control, and preventour dogs from harming the park’s landscape.”

The organization’s audiences are easily defined. Itsprimary audience, numbering in the hundreds, isanyone who walks his or her dog(s) in Fort GreenePark. Secondary audiences include: New York CityParks Department officials and employees, residentsof Fort Greene who use the park but don’t havedogs, and neighborhood associations.

The organization regularly surveys its members andincorporates many of the comments/ideas generatedby those surveys into its activities and materials tomake sure it remains relevant and responsive to itsmembers while aware of the needs of the otheraudiences as well.

The acronym form of the organization’s name,PUPS, is short, clever, relevant, and easy toremember—all qualities that reinforce the brand.Plus it has a touch of whimsy, which is also entirelyappropriate, since having fun is one of the keyvalues espoused by the organization.

Image 20. The covers of the official PUPS calendars reflectthe core values of the PUPS brand—the love and caring fordogs and Fort Greene Park

The organization has no competition, so it’s highlydifferentiated in the minds of its target audiences.

The PUPS Web site (www.fortgreenepups.org) isbright, well designed, and chock-full of valuableresources for members. Even better, the organizationpresents clearly defined short- and long-term goalsright on the site and informs visitors to the site whena goal has been reached. Brightly colored links drawyour eye to the organization’s many activities.

The organization has good marketing instincts. Itsproducts—T-shirts and a calendar—resonate withthe organization’s target audiences and reinforce itsbrand while generating revenue. People are neverfeatured—only implied— in the calendar, and rarely

on the Web site. This keeps the focus on the pups.People rave about this calendar—it’s a hot seller.One member sent a copy to a friend in New Jersey,who clamored for more, saying, “You actually knowthese dogs?” as if they were celebrities!

Image 21. From left: The 2005 board of PUPS: NancyPeterson, Secretary (with Charley and Tim), Amy Hecht,Vice President (with Bingo and Carly), and Kath Hansen,President (with Cameron). The humans are all wearingPUPS T-shirts designed by Hecht. Photo: 2005 MichelleFornof

Surprise, surprise! Up until recently, PUPS was runby just two people—a graphic designer named AmyHecht and Kath Hansen, a marketing professional(with a lot of support from Amy’s accounting-savvyhusband, Maurice van Swaaij). Together, Hecht andHansen developed the PUPS brand, including itsmission/values statements, logo, Web site, and

income-generating products. But it’s preciselybecause PUPS is small, coupled with the fact thatHecht and Hansen are design/ marketingprofessionals, that the organization was able todevelop a strong brand in a cost-effective mannerwithout benefit of a written design brief: It was all intheir very professional heads.

Image 22. The PUPS logo is rendered in black andwhite—but in a sophisticated way—on the PUPS Web site(www.fortgreenepups.org), next to an array of brightlycolored links. Web site design: Amy Hecht, Brown StoneStudio

Thanks in part to its effective branding, PUPSmembers “get” the organization and show up inlarge numbers for events. And because they’re ableto describe what it does in simple,easy-to-understand language, they also tend to beexcellent word-of-mouth promoters of its value tothe community. Recently, when Hecht and Hansenrealized they needed to expand the organization’s

leadership ranks, they put out a call for others to getinvolved, and were pleasantly surprised whendozens of members (including excellent design andphotography professionals) volunteered. And withall sorts of new plans on the PUPS drawing board,Hecht, Hansen, and their colleagues are already atwork on a formal design brief that will be used toguide the organization’s future expansion.

So now you too should be on your way todeveloping a design brief, to getting your CEO andsenior managers to think about branding issues, andto securing the best wishes of your board.

ThreeIt Takes a Village to Raise a Brand: The Rolesand Responsibilities of the Branding Team

Building consensus is essential to the success of thebranding process.

In the last chapter, I talked about the importance ofconducting research at the beginning of the designprocess. I outlined what goes into a design brief, andtalked about getting everyone onto the samebranding page. By now, I’m sure you’re wonderingwho is responsible for pulling all this together.

Early on in the branding process, an individual (ortwo) may stand out as having the necessaryauthority, instincts, and drive to develop the brand.That person (or group of people) must come fromwithin your organization. It could be your executivedirector or another high-level staff person and/orboard member. But regardless of who it is, thisperson (or group of people) should possess thefollowing:

Visual/verbal acuity

A facility for abstract thinking

An organized but flexible management style

The ability to work effectively as part of a group

The respect of his or her peers

Once this individual (or group) is chosen, he or sheshould be designated the brand steward(s). Thebrand steward’s job is to take the raw informationgathered in the initial research phase (see theprevious chapter for a more complete description ofthat process) and, from it, assemble the formaldesign brief. While all design briefs are different, thegood ones manage to provide context for the brand,clarify the need for a new or revamped brand to theteam and to the designer, set forth goals for thebranding process, and rally the troops around theeffort.

This last point cannot be overstated: Buildingconsensus is essential to the success of the brandingprocess. Everyone with a stake in the brand—yourboard members, staff, funders, constituents,consultants, opinion-shapers—should feel that his orher views and concerns are captured in the designbrief. The reason is simple: It facilitates buy-in andenhances the credibility of the process, resulting in aricher, more potent brand. Thus, the firstresponsibility of good brand stewardship is to makesure that the final design brief is inclusive and getsthe ball rolling in the right direction.

The Long and Short of It

As I’ve mentioned, every design brief is uniquelystructured, and their lengths vary wildly. TheMuseum of Modern Art (MoMA) prepared severalbriefs for its expansion, and although the strategy itsettled on was bold and courageous (and its briefswere far from brief), the process it engaged in is agood model for any nonprofit considering a majorbrand overhaul.

Ed Pusz, director of design at MoMA and one of itsbrand stewards, recalls the museum’s efforts tocreate a design brief informed by consensus. “Weheld a series of debates about the future of themuseum. The brief we used for architects was basedlargely on these discussions. And we’ve writtenseveral briefs since then for other parts of thestrategy. The brief is an invaluable tool for thedesign process. It’s so easy for people to get caughtup in what they like and don’t like. But when youhave a brief, you can always refer back to the ideasthat were agreed to in it.”

One thing the brief should not do is to dictate thedesign of the organization’s visual identity. Instead,it should relate informative facts and substantiatedopinions about the organization’s current identityand/or ideas about the overall identity. For instance,MoMA’s brief included a six-page executivesummary that outlined the museum’s history, itsplace within the global arts community, its missionand commitment to that mission, the goals for itsexpansion, and, in brutally honest language, thechallenges it faced going forward. The goal was, andshould be, to get everything out on the table and

agreed to in writing. Because design ultimatelyinvolves making a lot of subjective decisions(regarding color, typography, form, etc.), the designbrief helps to protect against irrationality creepinginto and possibly ruining the process. If you’re ableto point back to something that was stated in thebrief, you have a better chance of short-circuiting theperson who says, “We can’t use red. I really hatered.” As Pusz notes, “It only takes one person toderail the branding process. The brief keeps the trainon the tracks.” (For examples of MoMA’s currentbranding strategy, refer back to chapter 1.)

Of course, not every nonprofit organization willwant or have the resources to create a detaileddesign brief with a six-page executive summary. Inmany cases, a free-ranging conversation involvingthe various stake-holders and using informationgleaned from the initial research phase may beenough. But however you decide to approach it, adecision should be made early on about how muchunity is required to keep the process movingforward. Which audiences need to buy into the brandstrategy? The staff? The board? Your funders? Theanswer to this question should tell you what it willtake to secure consensus.

Image 23. Bart Crosby

Image 24. The AIGA branding manual

The Ultimate Design Challenge: Designingfor Designers

Bart Crosby at Bart Crosby Associates(www.crosbyassociates.com), an AIGA fellow and arevered brand graphic designer, developed the AIGAbrand a few years ago—a mammoth and dauntingchallenge, since the AIGA, with forty-six chaptersand 15,000 members, is the established nationalorganization for graphic designers.

Crosby was chosen to lead the branding processbecause of his evenhanded dedication to theorganization’s principles and his excellent reputationas a brand designer. One of his first steps was todevelop “Branding the AIGA,” a simply designeddocument that laid out the situation and explainedwhat branding was all about and why it wasimportant for the AIGA to be branded. (Seeappendix B) This was circulated to theorganization’s entire membership, including severalaccomplished graphic designers who had beenselected to consult with him as he developed thebrand.

Once the re-branding strategy was complete, Crosbyproduced a branding manual to show how to applythe AIGA logo in a branded yet flexible way. Notethat the new logotype is neatly contained in a fixedposition inside a box. The manual is titled,appropriately, “Thinking Inside the Box.” It was alsodistributed to the entire membership and to anyoneworking on any projects that involved creatingbranded materials for the AIGA.

“Branding the AIGA” functioned somewhat like abrief. It started with an explanation of branding thatincluded an extensive section called “Is Our LogoOur Brand?” His conclusion: Yes and no. The AIGAlogo was an important component of theorganization’s brand because, as Crosby put it, itwas the “identifier.” In the case of AIGA, it’s a wayto identify a product— and they have many—astheirs. For instance, each publication is produced bya different designer and together they reflect the fullspectrum of the AIGA’s design roster and talent.The AIGA logo is applied to each one, and as suchbecomes the common element that ties them alltogether—i.e., the brand identifier.

You have to look closely at these pages fromCrosby’s brand manual to see the genius behind hissystem. It’s subtle. The AIGA logotype (originallydesigned in the 1960s by the legendary designerPaul Rand) was modified by Crosby. By placing thelogo inside a box, the logo allows for greaterversatility in application. If you look closely, youcan see a number of differently sized logos, inmultiple relationships, on the page. The texture andcolor of the box can change, and it can even be puton a jaunty angle when appropriate. Without the boxdevice, the logo floated in space, leading to designproblems in many situations and weakening thelogo’s readability significantly. Because manydifferent designers create posters, signage, andpublications for the organization, each in his or herstyle, the flexibility provided by the device is criticalto the logo’s usefulness. Crosby’s manual serves to

both inform and empower both the organization andthe individual designers who will put the brand intouse.

Image 25. A page from the AIGA brand manual designed byBart Crosby

The fact that Crosby, in his brief, spent a significantamount of time educating graphic designers on thesubject of branding is also something to considerwhen preparing yours. If nothing else, it is areminder that designers are not universally wellversed in this area, and is something to considerwhen you get to the point of interviewing designers,

many of whom will say they are involved inbranding but do little more than design logos.

Crosby also included a section in the brief called“How Do We Do It?” which spoke to all AIGAmembers as potential branding partners—not just asdesigners, but as writers, creators of products andservices, editors, proofreaders—and held them“personally responsible for ensuring that theattributes of the organization are embodied in everyeffort.” Then he pointed out that this could not beachieved through the production of a guide ormanual—it required a deeper understanding of thebrand by all participants.

The 800-Pound Albatross

There is one more aspect of branding that is crucialto consider at this juncture: naming. Does yourorganization have the correct name? Has your namebeen converted into an acronym that makes senseand is useful? Do you have a name that has beenreduced to a meaningless “initialism”—anabbreviation formed only from the initial letter ofconstituent words and pronounced as the individualletters—e.g., ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)or IBM (for International Business Machines)? Forthe vast number of established organizations,naming is a done deal. Some of you, I’m sure, areabsolutely horrified at the very idea of reconsideringyour name. That’s understandable. But you aren’tdoing yourself any favors by ignoring it if it’s a bigproblem. An out-of-date, inappropriate, or just plain

clunky name can be like an 800-pound albatrossaround your organization’s neck.

Because they usually start out small and with limitedresources, nonprofits often name themselves inhaste without any professional help. Again, there is areason: They’re focused on a cause, not on amarketing scheme. But their organization may haveto live with the detrimental effects of a bad namingdecision for the rest of its life (or until they and theircolleagues bite the bullet and change the name,whichever comes first). Don’t make that mistake.Turn the situation around before it’s too late.

When founded in 1914, AIGA stood for AmericanInstitute of Graphic Arts. AIGA no longer uses the fullname because the term graphic arts no longerrelates to the core membership. Yet AIGA feels thereis too much equity in its name to change it so itremains simply AIGA—a rather meaninglessinitialism—to anyone at the periphery of the designprofession.

I suggest that you conduct a modest amount ofresearch if there is any question at all about themeaning and/or value of your organization’s name.To start, make a short list of individuals you trust whoalso represent your various audiences and ask them,individually and privately, the following:

What does the organization’s name mean toyou? Parse the words if that helps.

Is the name confusing or otherwise hinderingyour mission?

If you use an acronym or initialism in yourcollateral materials, is its meaning clear and

unambiguous, or does it confuse or otherwiseharm the brand?

Do you have a tagline? If so, does it clarifyyour mission and serve to motivate yourconstituents, or is its meaning fuzzy or offbase?The answer may be, as with the AIGA, that the namemust stay, but you will have come to the conclusionthe right way—through methodical research.

In the first chapter, I told the story of an organizationcalled Make a Better Place, which was originallycalled To Make the World a Better Place. Afterseveral years of answering the phone that way (aform of torture), the founders decided to shorten thename, and the payoff was almost immediate. Peoplecould remember the new name, the directors weren’ttongue-tied every time they had to talk about theorganization, and they got a shorter initialism out of itthat they could actually use internally and inconversation. (Just try to work “TMWBP” into aconversation!) Although this was not ideal (sinceMABP is not a word), it was a logical compromise:To Make the World a Better Place was too wellknown at this point to change to a completely newname.

Know Your NomenclatureAs part of the branding process, the brand team anddesigner will create a vocabulary to describe yourorganization and its programs and activities. This iscalled “nomenclature,” and in addition to yourorganization’s name, it includes taglines, acronyms,

titles, and phrases that are particular to yourorganization; they are a reflection of your cause andyour culture.

As part of its recent re-branding, for example, AIGAdecided to create programs and publications thatfeatured one or two short words. Thus, theassociation’s business publication was relaunchedas Gain: AIGA Journal of Designing Business, itsannual was renamed 365: AIGA Year in Design, andthe association’s online publication was called Voice:AIGA Journal of Design, in addition to conferencescalled Gain and Move. This use of one word createsbrand continuity. An organization with a long,complicated name will usually create a shorterversion of the name, either an acronym—apronounceable word such as PUPS (short for ParkUsers and Pets Society) or MADD (Mothers AgainstDrunk Driving) formed from the initial letters of theconstituent words—or an initialism. Quite often,these shorter versions become the name mostcommonly used when referring to an organization.

There is a hybrid—the initialism that creates a newword, like NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)or UNICEF (United Nations International Children’sFund). The bigger nonprofit organizations (or NPOs)are not hard to remember, but initialisms of smallerNPOs can be mind-boggling. Without a doubt, theGuinness World Record for initialisms goes toTDCTJHTBIPCU—The Design Conference That JustHappens to Be in Park City, Utah—an annual eventthat has been held for more than twenty years.Obviously the initialism here is a parody and,because of that, it works. However, since initialisms,in general, are just a convenience thatcommunicates nothing, they can take over and the

branding can run amuck. Know any organizationsusing initialisms that don’t even tell you what theystand for? Maddening. Either they assume youknow, or what it stands for is no longer what theystand for. Either way, the initials are not adding tothe branding effort.

Naming is complicated and should be approachedperspicaciously. Most organizations—large,established organizations at that—have talked to meabout the frustration of dealing with their names. Inone case, the organization’s acronym meant exactlywhat the organization was working against, while inanother instance, the organization had been namedin 1960 for an area of town that no longer existed. Athird’s name is very close to that of another, largerorganization based in the same city. All wererelatively successful regardless, but they also knewthat their names were holding them back.Unfortunately, of these three organizations, twounderstandably did not relish the idea of re-brandingtheir organizations with a new name, and to this dayneither has taken any action to change. The third, afar younger organization, successfully made thechange.

Okay, But When Do We Get to SeeSomething?

When the brand steward(s) is confident he or she hascreated the best design brief he or she can, and it hasbeen approved, it’s time to circulate it to designersand others who may be called upon to help yourorganization in the design development phase. Ican’t stress strongly enough how the brief paves the

way to a creative process that is infused withenthusiasm and confidence, and helps ensure apositive outcome.

“Good communication is intentional,” notes AaronHurst, founder and president of the TaprootFoundation (www.taprootfoundation.org), anonprofit organization with offices in San Franciscoand New York that pairs qualified nonprofits withvolunteer designers. “In a successful design project,you need to develop a thoughtful brief thatarticulates a focused and commonly held set of goalsfor the project that can be used by the design team tokeep its efforts headed in the right direction. Withoutsuch a brief, there is a risk that the effort will fail.”And since success is your ultimate goal, rememberthat, no matter how impatient others get, it’s goodfor you to take the time you need in this phase to getit right.

FourGetting the Team Ready to Birth the Brand

In the last chapter, I suggested that it’s essential to honorthe evolution of the design process. Skip a sequenceand the process can drive right off a cliff. That’swhy it’s important, before you get started, to makesure the members of your design team are familiarwith the various stages of—and roles they’ll beexpected to play in—the process.

Phase One: Research and OrientationThere is no single answer to the question “Whoshould be on the branding team?” For mostorganizations, the primary consideration is theavailability of resources. If money is tight and youalready have two or three people on staff or on yourboard with the vision, talent, and tools needed todevelop a robust brand, then that’s how many peopleyou should have on your team. Some organizationsmay not be so lucky; as a rule, people tend to belimited in their design expertise and often havesomewhat sketchy views about design and whatconstitutes an effective brand. Besides, when itcomes to something as important as your brand,which has to speak to multiple audiences with

different needs and expectations, it’s healthy to havea range of personalities, abilities, sensibilities andviewpoints represented on the team—as long as theindividuals in question are educated about branding(i.e., they’ve read this book) and can get along.

I don’t know a lot about design, but I know what Ilike.– Anonymous

In my experience, the most effective branding teamshave around five to seven members. Notcoincidentally, there happen to be five distinct roleson the team (see the diagram in chapter 2). They are:

Brand leader

Brand steward(s)

Board representative

Writer

Graphic designer

The brand leader, usually your CEO or executivedirector, is the articulator and champion of yourorganization’s vision and values. He or she monitorsthe branding process to make sure the brand strategyremains true to the core vision and values.

The brand steward(s), usually a ranking member ofyour management team, makes sure that allapplications of the brand are executed well andkeeps the brand strategy on target on a day-to-daybasis. During the development phase, the steward

also calls the meetings, sets the agenda, and keepsthe design process on track.

The board representative makes sure the concerns ofthe board are accurately reflected in the brandstrategy and reports back to the board as progress ismade. In exceptional circumstances (e.g., when noboard member is able and/or willing to serve on thebranding team), this function may be filled by thebrand leader. I recommend, however, that yourecruit someone with branding expertise to yourboard.

Whether a professional or staff person who writeswell, the writer’s job is to help develop the brandusing words and concepts that complement the lookand feel, or “trade dress” (typography, color palette,imagery, logo, etc.), created by the designer. Tradedress refers to the constants that define the brandidentity. The words and images must work togetherto create a cohesive “voice” for your brand, and thatvoice has to be authentic and have depth in order forthe brand to resonate. In my experience, it is oftendifficult for an outside person to pull this off unlesshe or she has had a long relationship with theorganization in question. Chapter 10 talks aboutdeveloping staff to take on the writing function, andyou may want to jump ahead at this point.

With the exception of the brand leader, the graphicdesigner is the most critical person on the brandingteam: It’s his or her job to bring the emotional (i.e.,visual) component of the brand to life. Whethersomeone on staff or an outside consultant, the

designer has to “get it”; if he or she doesn’t, yourdesign process is in trouble—and no amount ofdiscussion is likely to save it. If you do decide tohire an outside design consultant, you may choose toassemble the rest of the team first so that every teammember can be involved in the decision. Doing sowill boost morale by showing the team it has controlof the process, and help ensure that the team hasconfidence in the designer you choose (andconfidence is highly contagious).

Style and StrategyBefore you choose a designer, you may want tospend some time—alone and as agroup—developing an awareness of design stylesand brand strategies in the broadest sense. You canstart by talking about the brands you love or hate,focusing on why they work or miss the mark. To getan idea of the kind of work that’s being done, youmight also want to look at graphic design annualssuch as those published by Communication Arts(www.commarts.com), the premier publication in thegraphic design field; PRINT magazine(www.printmag.com), publisher of the RegionalDesign Annual; AIGA (www.aiga.org), the largestorganization for graphic design professionals in theUnited States; and Graphis (www.graphis.com), animportant international design publication. Most ofthese publications are available at libraries, goodnewsstands, and bookstores, or through their Websites; AIGA and Communications Arts even offersearchable databases of designers on their sites.

Remember, if you see a designer whose workappeals to you, be sure to share your discovery withother members of the team so that all members havean opportunity to develop a keener awareness ofdesign, as well as each other’s likes and dislikes.

Image 26. PRINT magazine Web site

Image 27. Graphis magazine Web site

Image 28. AIGA Web site design: Flat Inc.

Image 29. Communication Arts magazine Web site

The Brand AuditThe next step is to conduct an internal brand audit.The audit should include an accounting of all the“tools” used to build your brand: brochures,letterhead, program literature, newsletters, annualreports, Web pages, marketing materials, signage,uniforms—anything related to your organization’s

current, as well as future, visual identity. Make achart and note how successful each of these has beenin promoting your brand. Be sure to write down thepurpose of the piece, its importance, and its priorityin terms of the organizational scheme of things.Don’t worry if, during the audit, you discover thatyou have three brochures where one would sufficeor marketing materials that work at cross-purposeswith your fundraising appeals. The purpose of theaudit is to expose exactly these kinds ofredundancies and inconsistencies, while “mapping”all current applications of your brand and generatingideas for the design process that is about to unfold.

Last, but not least, determine which organizationsyou compete against, as well as other organizationsin your universe, and divide the list among membersof the team. Have them research the organizationson their list, identifying brand elements that work orfall flat. Make sure you consider a representativesampling of branded materials—logo treatments,advertisements, Web pages, etc.—for eachorganization, and be sure to include some physicalobjects—annual reports, business cards, brochures,and so on. Pay particular attention to how otherorganizations have solved branding problems youmay be facing, as well as problems that seem to defysolution. And don’t forget to see if you can identifythe “promise”—the fundamental message—inherentin each brand. Knowledge of how these otherorganizations have resolved their identity issues willhelp you do better—to differentiate yours fromtheirs.

After you’ve completed your research, compare yournotes with those of other members of the team and,for each organization, ask yourselves the following:

Is the brand’s “voice” convincing? Consistent?

Is the brand true to the organization’s vision andvalues?

Can you articulate the “promise” inherent in eachbrand?

Is the brand trying to appeal to a primary audience?If so, who is it?

This is one of those rare occasions when whatmatters is what you can casually observe: If youdon’t “get” what a brand is trying to convey just bylooking at it, then the chances are good that thebrand or its strategy is flawed.

After you’ve gone through this process for a numberof organizations, take a careful look at your ownbrand, compare it to the others, and ask yourselvesthe following:

What is our brand promise?

Does it appeal to our primary audience?

Does our current identity undervalue our brand?

Does our current identity undermine our brand?

What are we doing well/poorly in terms ofbranding?

How do we want to position our brand so that it’smore effective?

Design is planning. All of these exercises willprepare you and your branding teammates toactively participate in the birth of your brand. Asdesigner Bart Crosby says, “The brand is a livingthing.” It’s up to the branding team to develop abrand with a heartbeat. But the brand also has tohave sufficient depth and breadth to allow it to growand adapt to changing circumstances. Andcircumstances will change— that’s about the onlything you can count on.

FiveSpotlight on Designers: What They Do andHow They Do It

In the previous chapter, I talked about the various rolesmembers of the branding team play and I stressedthe importance that discernment plays in the successor failure of any design project. In this chapter, I’lldemystify the role of the designer in the brandingprocess and walk you through the steps required tofind a designer whose sensibility and methodologyare likely to be a good fit for your organization.

The majority of good independent graphic designerswork on a fairly broad range of projects; they tend,in that sense, to be generalists with agile minds andabundant creativity. If asked to work on the sameold stuff day after day, they grow bored andfrustrated. Why should that matter to you? Becausethe good news is that good graphic designers thriveon the kind of interesting communication challengesand diverse messages that typify the nonprofitsector.

You noticed I qualified my statements, right? I saidgood designers, because unlike plumbers, lawyers,or even the person who cuts your hair, graphicdesigners don’t need to be certified in order to hang

out a shingle. Consequently, there are vast numbersof quasi-professional designers out there.

Complicating matters, designers, like the rest of us,tend to have strengths and weaknesses: A great Website designer may be a lousy brand designer, and theaward-winning designer of annual reports may nothave a clue how to design a decent ad. Then thereare the designers who, although they say they doeverything, may not do anything well.

Your challenge is to find a designer who is inspired,intelligent, and responsive to your needs. And to dothat, you and your branding team have to know whatyou want and how to articulate it. (For help in doingjust that, see chapters 2 and 3.) The following aresome guidelines for finding the designer who is justright for you.

What to Look for When Reviewing theDesigner’s Portfolio

If the designer says, “We terminated the relationshipwith that client,” or “The client wanted this. I thoughtit was the wrong approach. Yet, this was the designthat was used,” this could mean a lack of leadershipor management skills on the designer’s part.

There’s no way around it: To find a designprofessional you feel comfortable with and whosework you like, you’re going to have to interview alot of designers and be able to evaluate the workthey show you. But how do you, a non-designer,

assess a design professional’s portfolio? Here aresome basic questions to keep in mind:

Is the work in the portfolio consistently strong andorganized in a way that’s logical and speaks to yourneeds?

Is there a design concept behind the work, or is thework merely decorative? You don’t need decoration;you need design.

Does the work need to be explained in order to beunderstood? The work should speak for itself.

How much of the work was actually produced andhow much is merely prototyped? Prototypes aren’tproof that a designer can actually produce what he orshe has designed. When work has been takenthrough the printing or manufacturing process andstill looks great, you know you’re talking to a pro.

How much of the work relates to yourorganization’s style? Is the portfolio just right—or isthe balance off? Is it too serious or too whimsical,too modern or too classical? A good designer will hitthe target for you stylistically.

The designer should show you examples of the kindsof materials—annual reports, Web pages, bookjackets, logos—you’re looking for help with. Notthat you’ll always know whether the examples areeffective. Design is subjective, and what works andwhat doesn’t is often a mystery even to anaccomplished designer. What looks good to you may

have been totally inappropriate and a flop for theactual client.

Here are some questions you might consider askingevery designer you interview:

How did your client define the design problem?Did the client provide a design brief? If not, how didyou determine the objectives of the project?

How do you present design concepts to your client?Do you show a tight, comprehensive presentation ofone idea or loose sketches of several ideas?

How did this particular design solution addressyour client’s problem?

How many applications did you create for thedesign program? May we see the whole program?

Who acted as project manager—you or your client?

Is the client currently using the designsuccessfully?

The idea is to get insights into the designer’sapproach and working relationships with his or herclients. If the designer says, “We terminated therelationship with that client,” or “The client wantedthis. I didn’t. I thought it was the wrong approach.Yet this was the design that was used,” this couldmean a lack of leadership or management skills onthe designer’s part. Besides helping you todetermine whether the designer has talent, theportfolio review process is also an opportunity foryou to learn about a designer’s modus operandi.

Some designers insist on presenting only a singlesolution to a client—the right one. Others prefer toshare their thinking in sketch form and proceedcollaboratively from there, coming up withadditional solutions based on a dialogue with theclient. Either process may yield good results, butyou need to figure out what you’re comfortable with,and that includes deciding how much you need, andwant, to be involved in the process.

But regardless of your level of participation, it’sabsolutely essential that you and your designercommunicate; that’s the key to establishing a goodrapport. And that’s the only way to succeed.

Selecting a Project ManagerAaron Hurst, president of Taproot Foundation(www.taprootfoundation.org), organizescommunications projects on a purely pro bono basisfor select nonprofits in San Francisco and NewYork. “It’s tough to judge designers by theirportfolio. There are often several ‘authors’ in anyproject, making it hard to see what the designers arecapable of by viewing their book,” he notes. “So weoften ask other professionals to recommend goodgraphic designers. It’s not uncommon for us to findthe project manager first, since they have links to thebetter graphic designers.”

The best thing about working with nonprofits is thatwhether it’s a museum, a school, or a performingarts organization, generally there is more “content”

with which to get engaged. That makes all thedifference.– Michael Bierut, designer and partner at Pentagram

For all its projects, Taproot provides a pro bonomanager who serves as the intermediary between thebranding team and the client and is responsible fordelivering the finished product on time, on budget,and on target. In other situations, the role of projectmanager may be filled by the designer or by amember of his or her staff, or by someone on theclient’s staff—a not-uncommon practice when theclient is already providing other key players on theproject who are not under the direct supervision ofthe designer.

So which is it? Will someone on your staff take onthe role of project manager, or are you expecting thedesigner to fill that role? If you want the designer tobe the project manager, be sure to evaluate yourdesign candidates’ managerial skills and acumen,not just their design talent. And don’t forget tofigure this added cost into his or her final design fee.

Other ConsiderationsLook for an indication of substantial designeducation on the designer’s résumé. But be awarethat it’s only one factor, and education provides noguarantee that the designer has good designinstincts. I’ve worked with amazingly talenteddesigners who had virtually no formal designtraining. And I’ve met plenty of lousy designers withimpressive degrees. The point is, really good design

is often inspired, not learned. That said, designersare less likely to work in an idiosyncratic orspontaneous way and are more likely to follow aformal process if they have a design schoolbackground. So bring it up.

The size of a design firm is another consideration.Big graphic design firms or advertising agencieswith in-house designers often have more resourcesto allocate to pro bono or low-fee nonprofit workthan independent designers. In many ways, however,you get what you pay for, so be sure to find out fromany designer under consideration exactly who willbe working on the project and in what capacity. Thelast thing you want is to have your project delegatedto a junior designer whose work falls short of yourexpectations.

Image 30. This brochure was created in 1984, during theearly years of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave

festival, at a time when various cutting-edge designagencies with distinctly different points of view would becommissioned to take on the institution’s marketingmaterials. Design: Doublespace. © 1984 Brooklyn Academyof Music

The Exception That Proves the RuleThe Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is animportant center of international avant-garde andclassic theater, dance, and music. But in the 1980s, ithad become best known for its very edgy Next Wavefestival. This was a problem because “avant-garde”and “classical” are diametrically opposed conceptsand the Philharmonic was becoming eclipsed. Andwhat complicated BAM’s identity further was themyriad of design approaches that the promotion tookfor BAM— none of which helped build a cohesiveidentity.

Image 31.The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) logo. Design:Pentagram. © 1995 Brooklyn Academy of Music

Pentagram was hired to design the BAM 1995 NextWave brochure. Designer Michael Bierut’s solution,much to the delight of BAM, made a big impression

in a small cover space by lopping off the type. Thechopped type also suggested “emerging talent.” Boldstripes became practical devices to divideinformation in various marketing applications. Thisconcept, the main element of which is the typeface,grew on BAM’s creative management as appealingto both modern and classic audiences and has sinceevolved to become an integral part of theinstitution’s brand identity.

Image 32. Branded BAMcafé paper cup. Design: JasonRing, BAM (in-house). © Joanne Savio

BAM’s identity (which is not logo-centric and, infact, rarely uses its logo) is that the type—which isalways News Gothic—is bigger than the space inwhich it exists, so that some of the letters are always“offstage.” This is risky business because it meansthe creative director is challenged to constantlycreate something distinctive each and every time anew application of the identity is developed. PlusNews Gothic is a $99 typeface that anyone maypurchase so the design has to be unique enough tosay “This is BAM.” Sometimes the designer fails,

sometimes the results are absolutely brilliant. Butthen, that’s show biz.

There are exceptions to the rule (i.e., of cutting offthe type), including the twirling BAM kiosk near theBAM Opera House. But BAM is about breakingrules and taking risks. And it really is wonderful tohave an illuminated twirling kiosk on FlatbushAvenue in Downtown Brooklyn.

Image 33. The twirling BAM kiosk on Flatbush Avenue,Brooklyn. Marquee design: Pentagram. Animation: ClaraCornelius, BAM (in-house). Photo: James Shanks. © 2001Brooklyn Academy of Music

Interestingly, some firms seem to do their best workfor nonprofits. With offices in London, Berlin,Austin, San Francisco, and New York, Pentagram

(www.pentagram.com) is arguably the largest andmost prestigious of the multinational graphic designfirms. The New York office has created memorablebrand identities for a number of local nonprofitorganizations, including BAM (www.bam.org) andthe Public Theatre (www.publictheatre.org). MichaelBierut, a partner in New York, says that almosttwo-thirds of his clients are nonprofits, representingmainly cultural and educational concerns, somelarge and well funded, like New York University(www.nyu.edu), and others small with modestbudgets, like the Museum of Sex. Regardless of sizeor status, however, each client gets the sametreatment. Says Bierut, “The best thing aboutworking with nonprofits is that whether it’s amuseum, a school, or a performing arts organization,generally there is more ‘content’ with which to getengaged. That makes all the difference.”

Image 34.This large sign thanking donors hangs alongside smallerglass plaques that identify individual donors and patrons.Creative Direction and Design: Michael Bierut, Pentagram.Photo: Jason Ring. © Brooklyn Academy of Music

Steve Liska, president of Liska + Associates, whosecurrent clients include Make a Better Place (seechapter 1), Hubbard Street Dance(www.hubbardstreetdance.org), the Racine ArtMuseum (www.ramart.org), and the Brain ResearchFoundation (www.brainresearchfdn.org), is alsoattracted to nonprofit work. According to Liska,about 15 percent to 20 percent of his work is fornonprofits, and a small amount of that is done probono. “We don’t view nonprofits as charity, but wedo view them as usually needing branding andcommunication design help more than anyone,” hesays. “They don’t have the kind of media exposurethat for-profits often do—so they need to be smarterand more focused. I think they chose us because wewant to solve their problem to the best of our ability.Building a brand is always collaborative, and theprocess is no different for a nonprofit than it is for afor-profit client.”

Image 35. The BAM 1995 Next Wave brochure, designedby Pentagram. Design: Michael Bierut, Pentagram. Photo:Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. © 1995 Brooklyn Academy ofMusic

The Liska + Associates portfolio includes all thebranding for Hubbard Street, a Chicago-based dancecompany. This is a re-branding for Hubbard. Liska +Associates first branded it more than twenty yearsago. Besides clean and powerful graphics, Liskaapplies lots of exceptional photography to its designwork, and Hubbard Street’s branding is a primeexample of that.

What to Look for in a ProposalIn addition to a designer’s portfolio and personality,before you make up your mind, you’ll need to readthe designer’s proposal. So once you’ve narrowed

the field of candidates to three or five, you shouldprovide each with a design brief (see chapter 2).They, in turn, provide you with a written proposalbased on the brief, usually within ten days. Theproposal is important—for you and for the designeryou ultimately hire.

Image 36. BAM 20th Next Wave Festival Postcard. Design:Eric J. Olson, BAM (in-house). Photo: Jose LuizPederneiras. © 2001 Brooklyn Academy of Music

Although design proposals run the gamut, fromundesigned two-page estimates submitted via e-mailto multi-sectioned extravaganzas sent via FedEx, agood proposal should contain a description of thedesign process. Most designers follow a four- orfive-phase process:

Image 37. The large-scale application of the lobby kiosk forthe Spring 2002 season directed at walk-in traffic andpatrons. Kiosk Design: Pentagram. Creative Direction andDesign (posters): Eric J. Olson, Clara Cornelius, BAM(in-house). Photo: Courtesy of Brooklyn Academy of Music.© 2002 Brooklyn Academy of Music

Phase 1: Orientation (any background informationor research is obtained)

Phase 2: Design exploration (preliminary designsolutions that address the project’s objectives aredeveloped)

Phase 3: Refinement (when adjustments are madeto the design as required by the client)

Phase 4: Prepress production (the project is madeready for the printer/Web site host/ signagemanufacturer, etc.)

Phase 5: Printing or manufacturing (the project istaken to completion)

Look at these key components before making upyour mind about which designer to retain:

Points during the process when you will be allowedto approve/amend/reject the work in progress

Time frames for each phase of the project

What you, as the client, are expected to provide(i.e., copy, visuals, etc)

Cost (i.e., the designer’s fee plus an estimate ofexpenses)

Terms and conditions

Biographies of the key players on the designer’steam

References (usually provided only upon request)

List of relevant clients

Portfolio of relevant work

A well-crafted proposal serves many functions: Itreveals how the designers present themselves onpaper; it provides a snapshot, for comparison, ofhow each of the designers sees the projectprogressing, as well as the roles they see you and

themselves playing in the process; and it anticipatesoutcomes for each phase of the project. It also makesit easier for you and the designer to discuss problemsup front, where they can be negotiated withoutbloodshed and/or needless expense. Best of all, itenables you to compare all of the designers as“apples to apples”—or “Macintosh to Macintosh,”as the case may be.

Image 38. Harvey Lichtenstein was the man whotransformed BAM into what it is today. At BAM, he isreferred to simply and affectionately as “Harvey,” and so

that’s how the theater got its name. Design: Pentagram.Photo: Elena Olivo. © 2000 Brooklyn Academy of Music

For all these reasons, I would be wary of short orincomplete proposals, since it may mean thedesigner has not thought through the way he or shewants to work with you. I would also be concernedabout proposals that are not well designed. Think ofthe proposal as an extension of the designer’sportfolio. If it’s sloppy, thrown together, orunimaginative, you should ask yourself why youwould want to work with a designer who isn’t eventending to his or her own brand!

The design process is anything but routine. It’s bothunpredictable and exciting. In that sense, designersare constantly challenged to create something new.

Image 39. Paula Scher, one of the Pentagram partners,designed the branding and many of the promotional posters

for the Public Theatre in New York, including this one forBring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk. Scher is a mastertypographer, and her style is extremely distinctive. Butbecause branding systems require a lot of flexibility in orderto remain effective over time, relying on the unique talentsof one person can be a risky proposition. It’s hard toimagine the Public Theatre asking some other designer tocreate in the same way as Scher—basically, to “do” Scher.Mimicry, while clearly the sincerest form of flattery, would benothing to aspire to, from the perspectives of both thetheater and the designer. So once Scher is no longeraround, Public Theatre will have a challenge—to find a newdesigner to carry on who is different but as powerful anddistinctive as Scher in style and approach.

Terms and IssuesThere are a fair number of boilerplate terms in thetypical design proposal, and only a few—the dealbreakers—usually get the client’s attention andrequire negotiation:

Markups: A carrying charge, usually 17.65 to 25percent, for expenses incurred by the designer on theclient’s behalf

Kill fee: The fee, agreed upon in advance, receivedby the designer should the project be terminated atany point. The way the kill fee is calculated shouldbe spelled out in the terms. Generally, the designershould be compensated for work done prior totermination.

Rights transfer: While the designer generallytransfers the copyright to the client for thecompleted brand identity when payment is made in

full, he or she usually retains the rights to unfinishedwork or work not used.

Credit: When appropriate, the designer generallywishes to be acknowledged in print for the work heor she has done. Such credit usually appears as avery small, inconspicuous line of type somewhereon the piece and, when the work is exhibited (indesign contests, for instance), also in the exhibitionprogram.

Image 40. Logo design: Steve Liska, Liska + Associates,Chicago, completed in 2003

In addition to copyright, the main legal and ethicalissues of concern to designers are:

Work on speculation: A designer should not beasked to create work without an agreement, onpaper, that he or she will be paid and/or that theclient, barring unforeseen circumstances, isintending to take the work to completion. This is aparticularly thorny topic when it comes to pro bonowork. If the designer is not being paid market rates,then the designer’s only tangible compensation is tosee his or her work realized, uncompromised.

Image 41. Banner for Hubbard Dance. Design: CaroleMasse, Liska + Associates, Chicago, completed in 2005. ArtDirection: Kim Fry

Plagiarism: A designer should never be asked toadapt and/or modify the work of another designerwithout that designer’s knowledge.

Work for hire: The independent contractor/designer should not be asked to give up his or herrights of authorship. Work for hire is a loophole(usually applicable to employees) in the copyrightlaw, which, if agreed to in a contract, makes thecreator all but invisible. An “all rights transfer,” onthe other hand, does not negate the creator’sexistence.

The Pricing and Ethical Guidelines (PEGs)published by the Graphic Artists Guild

(www.gag.org) is the main industry tool forunderstanding perproject pricing, legal and ethicalissues, and contractual terms and agreements; youshould probably have a copy on hand if you’ll beworking with designers on a regular basis.

At the end of the day, most designers and clients arelooking to create a simpatico relationship with theirclients, one that rewards creativity and honest effortwith appropriate compensation. The PEGs helpclarify some of the issues relevant to that end.

Each side has to get what it needs for therelationship to thrive. Compensation, however, maynot just be monetary and may also be defined by thedesigner to include:

Satisfaction in seeing a project through to itssuccessful conclusion

Creative freedom

Respect

The knowledge that your work makes a difference

Simply by having read this book, you are helping toensure that no matter how much (or little) youultimately pay your designer, he or she is likely to berewarded with other, less tangible (and often, moremeaningful) forms of compensation.

Image 42.Poster for Hubbard Dance. Design: Carole Masse, Liska +Associates, Chicago, completed in 2005. Art Direction: KimFry

SixThe Design Process: Taking It in Phases

The branding work we did made an enormousdifference in our emerging public image.– Elyse Barbell Rudolph, executive director of theLiterary Assistance Center, New York

In chapter 4, I suggested that it’s essential to honor theevolution of the design process. Skip a sequence andthe process can fall off a cliff. That’s why it’simportant, before you get started, to make sure themembers of your design team are familiar with thevarious stages of, and roles they’ll be expected toplay in, the process.

Phase One: Research and OrientationThe initial phase begins after you have determinedthe members of the team and settled on a graphicdesigner. “But wait,” I can hear you saying withsome exasperation, “We already conducted ourresearch. And isn’t our design brief orientationenough?” The reality is, the designers will need toorient themselves regardless, but the fact that you’veprepared a detailed brief should speed things alongand save you money.

But while the brief may have served you well to thispoint, its existence is no guarantee that the designteam you’ve chosen is ready to be fully engaged inthe process. In fact, this is the moment when theteam— and especially the designer—becomesimmersed in the culture and values of yourorganization. For instance, it’s a good time for thedesigner to rummage through your archives, wherehe or she may come upon that long-lost color paletteor typeface that truly captures the essence of yourorganization. It’s also a good time to go over withthe designers the documents audit, includingorganizational materials (brochures, annual reports,letterhead) you’ve produced in recent years, notingthe relative importance of each piece, any commonlanguage and brand elements they share, andwhether individual pieces were considered successesor failures.

The Great Leap Forward

Image 43. The former Literacy Assistance Center logo

The Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) logo hadseveral fatal flaws—not the least of which was that itwasn’t memorable. In fact, even those close to theorganization couldn’t remember what it looked likewhen I interviewed them. The typography was weak,and because the use of the logo was predicated onthe size of the LAC initialism, it had to be huge inorder to be legible, which meant the name, when itwas spelled out underneath, had to be tiny. Eventhough the organization had only recently adoptedthe logo, when faced with the results of a brandsurvey, Elyse Barbell Rudolph, executive director ofthe Literacy Assistance Center, agreed with me thatchange was necessary. She says, “The brandingwork we did made an enormous difference in ouremerging public image. As the center that supportsone of the country’s largest and strongest adultliteracy networks, we have always enjoyed anexcellent reputation in a rather small circle ofcolleague literacy organizations. Branding enabled agreat leap forward in the quality of our publiccommunications in print and online, so that we nowfind ourselves capturing the attention of peopleoutside our field, particularly the media andgovernment agencies and foundations generally notassociated with literacy development. In the past fewmonths, for instance, I have had several calls fromreporters who were working on stories about theimpact of immigration in New York, and this is partlya result of our work with the New York TimesCompany Foundation and the Mayor’s Office ofImmigrant Affairs—all due at least in part to thestrength of our image having gone beyond ournarrow field and out to a broader audience.”

This is also the time for your designer to becomefamiliar with other organizations in your corner ofthe nonprofit universe—competitors as well as thosethat can provide useful models in terms of successfulbranding systems. You can bet that when UnitedParcel Service re-branded itself recently, it paidclose attention to the successful re-branding effortthat Federal Express initiated a few years ago. Whileboth UPS and FedEx changed their logos to besimpler and easier to read, they also realized thatcolor was a key element of their branding systemsand retained their brand equity: purple and orange inthe case of FedEx, brown and golden yellow in thecase of UPS, the color schemes that people hadcome to associate with each company. When yourebrand, you’ll want to consider retaining any equityin your brand identity (if there is any) whiledifferentiating it from your competitors. In order topull that off, you’ll need to develop an awareness ofyour organization’s brand landscape.

After your designer and branding team havecompleted their research, the next step is to get themembers of the team oriented. Orientation meansidentifying your organization’s position vis-à-vis itscompetitors, partners, and the larger world:

Are you a leader or an up-and-comer in your field?

What makes your organization and its offeringsunique or vital?

What makes your organization and its workrelevant to its main constituency?

Is its mission as relevant today as it was when theorganization was founded?

Where do you expect the organization to be in fiveyears? In ten?

Image 44. Working with the design firm Whitehouse &Company, we surveyed the visual universe that LAC was apart of. As with most of the nonprofit sector, researchrevealed that that world was filled with weak brands. Thegood news: This made the job at hand a lot easier.

Your entire team needs to know the answers to thesequestions before you can proceed confidently to thedesign phase. Revisit your design brief in light ofthis additional work and, if necessary, challenge and/or modify the brief to ensure that it reflects the mostcurrent, accurate, and inspired picture of yourorganization (see chapter 2).

The Elevator Pitch

As you review the brief one final time with yourbranding team and your designer, develop a succinctpositioning statement that sums up what yourorganization is all about. All the better if it can besaid in one or two memorable lines—not only will ithelp you down the road with the development of atagline, but it may also become the “elevator pitch”that you and your board members can use atappropriate moments, whether it’s a cocktail partychock-full of potential donors or a chance encounterwith an individual who would be a great addition toyour board (see chapter 10 for more on the elevatorpitch).

This is also the right time—and probably the lastgood opportunity—for everyone on the design teamto speak his or her mind; introducing newinformation to the process after this stage oftencreates problems. New information can be almostanything, from “I forgot to mention that we’reopening an office in India next year and the taglinehas to work in Hindi,” to “I neglected to mentionthat we can’t use a cross or flame as part of ouridentity.” Believe me, I’ve heard both.

Flushing out this kind of critical information at thisjuncture can save you time and money in the longrun, while failure to do so inevitably will result in ademoralized and frustrated branding team.Remember, silence equals approval—so if you don’tspeak your mind, consider yourself guilty of“underminding” the process.

Identifying Brand EquityAssuming it’s not a startup, your organizationprobably has built up brand equity that it will wantto preserve. Equity, in this context, means theelements of your branding that audiences readilyidentify with. The brand team at FedEx knew thatpeople recognized and identified with the purple andorange in the company logo, but felt no such affinityfor the name “Federal Express” because, amongother things, it contained the word “federal,” whichhad ambiguous connotations.

How will you and your team know when it’s time tomove on to the next phase of the process? First andprobably most importantly, the designers willindicate that they have the tools and informationthey need to get started. But before you move on, besure to summarize, on paper, all the observationsand decisions the team has agreed on. Once that hasbeen done, you can move on to phase two.

Phase Two: Design DevelopmentEach designer has his or her own way of proceedingin this phase. In general, the designer will take allthe information and decisions arrived at in phase oneand, after a week or two, will return with sketches ofseveral ideas for marks or “logos.” Although “logo”(short for “logotype”) once meant a text-only markwith a specific, customized typeface, it has nowtaken on a secondary definition, meaning simply an“identifying symbol,” and is used interchangeablywith “mark.” The mark is positioned on a design

continuum—from simple to complex, obvious toobscure, figurative to abstract. To avoid focusing onthe logo in isolation, which can lead to moredemands being placed on it than it can carry, theseideas are often shown in the larger brandedcontext—for instance, logos applied to a Web sitehome page, T-shirt, and/or letterhead. Addingelements such as copy, illustration, and color makesit easier for you to understand how the logo interactswith these components, and the possibilities of thelarger brand identity start to emerge. This will helpyou avoid taking the wrong direction.

Expressions of the brand should be presented as justthat—ideas to be discussed, developed, or discarded.This way, each team member can feel comfortablerevealing his or her views before a commitment ismade to the overall concept.

Phases of Design: LAC Case Study

The Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) is theorganization that teaches teachers how to teachliteracy in New York. Once the initial research wascompleted, I recommended several design firms toLAC; we chose to work with Whitehouse &Company. Together we surveyed the visual universethat LAC was a part of. As with most of the nonprofitsector, research revealed that that world was filledwith weak brands. The good news: This made thejob at hand a lot easier.

Image 45. Black-and-white sketches for the new LAC brand

Black-and-white sketches were presented to LACand me by Whitehouse & Company with thepreamble that “no idea is too dumb to bepresented”— an approach that encourages opendiscussion from the entire team. Using theagreed-upon key words and phrases from theresearch phase (“dynamic,” “professional,”“innovative,” “providing leadership”), we eventuallychose several ideas for further development. My roleat this stage is to help guide the discussion.

The second Whitehouse presentation, which I hadart directed, included three of the ideas initiallypresented as sketches. Whitehouse & Companythen developed them with me, and we showed themin color and in context—on the organization’sletterhead—to LAC.

Image 46. The second presentation of logos by Whitehouse& Company was narrowed down to three logos

A totally different idea emerged from the secondpresentation to LAC, during which LAC talked aboutthe primary importance of LAC as a resource huband the ripple effect created in the larger community.The new idea, which was something of a departurefor the team and the field, was embracedunanimously.

Image 48. The new LAC logo

Next, a broad color palette was developed and eachof the applications was designed and shown in adifferent color—blue for the letterhead, rust-orangefor the business card, brown for the mailing label,and blue-green for the envelope. The idea was tohighlight the diversity of the population of New YorkCity.

Image 49. The new LAC stationery system

Whitehouse & Company applied the new LAC logoto a small black-and-white ad as well as to a mockupof LAC’s Web home page. The photo on the site is ofa young immigrant who spoke little English until shemet and worked with one of the teachers trained byLAC. It was one of six photographs by MarianGoldman for LAC’s annual report, which highlightedthe idea that LAC is a community resource and isengaged in the important work of helping people withlow or inadequate literacy skills to become moreproductive citizens. (The young woman in the photois now in the process of getting a college degree.)

Image 50. The new LAC brand identity works well whenapplied to a small black-and-white print ad as well as theWeb home page

Throughout the brand development process, Iencouraged LAC’s design team to model visualliteracy by adopting a simple, unclutteredstyle—particularly on their Web site(www.lacnyc.org)—and clean, straightforwardgraphics in all of their branded materials.

Making the Process InclusiveThe success of any branding program depends onbuy-in—on how well everyone understands thebrand strategy and whether they are willing to “getwith the program.” It’s even more important in thetypically nonhierarchical nonprofit setting to makesure that everyone is brought along as the designprocess unfolds.

So while it’s to be expected that different designerswill have their own style of presenting the work, Irecommend including an educational component inthe design process in order to nurture the feeling ofinclusiveness. For instance, when working with aclient, nonprofit or otherwise, Roger Whitehousestarts by discussing the brand identities ofwell-known heavyweights like IBM, Citicorp, theAmerican Red Cross, or CBS. Each logo is exploredin depth by both the branding team and the designerduring the presentation. Before you know it, peoplestart to relax (and defensive attitudes start todissipate) as they begin to realize they share many ofthe same attitudes and opinions.

Image 47. The staff of Whitehouse & Company. Left toright: Ben Whitehouse, Helga Whitehouse, RogerWhitehouse, and Saki Tanaka

This kind of session is often followed by a briefrefresher—a review of the design brief that focuseson the particular components that define the

nonprofit’s identity, including the tagline,positioning statement, keywords, and elevator pitch.

Next, design ideas are presented as broad-strokeconcepts—as points of departure that allow teammembers to jump in and have their say. Somedesigners may be horrified at this approach,especially if it’s made to sound as if control of theprocess is being taken away from them. But what’sbrilliant about this tactic is that, if the designer’swork is good (i.e., he or she has presented a range ofsolid ideas effectively) and the design team isworking in earnest, it helps to further build the teamspirit and promote buy-in. Unhelpful, emotion-basedcomments such as “I don’t like red” or “I’m notcomfortable with that typeface” are replaced byvaluable insights such as “Red doesn’t support theconcept because it’s too cautionary for our messageof conflict resolution” or “This typeface is toomodern for us; our organization needs to look moretraditional because that reflects our missionstatement.”

Here are some key questions to consider whileyou’re engaged in the design presentation phase:

How valid is the concept for our organization?

How powerful is the concept? Will our primaryaudiences connect to it on an emotional level?

How original is the concept? Can we “own” thisconcept or is it too generic?

Is the concept clear and focused or is it ambiguous?Can it be interpreted in more ways than one? If so,does it support our cause or undermine it?

Is the concept versatile or rigid? Does it have“legs”— in other words, is it flexible enough to beused in a variety of ways that build a brand withdepth?

Can the logo be reduced or enlarged and stillmaintain its integrity? Can it be used in black andwhite and remain legible?

If I’ve given the impression that the process is in anyway predictable, I’ve misled you. There are noformulas for arriving at a new brand identity—partlybecause most truly great identities break the mold orare somewhat unconventional.

By the end of the presentation, it should be clearwhich ideas work and which don’t, and that’shelpful for the designer as well as the team. What’smore, remain open because sometimes totally newideas will emerge from the discussion. As long asthere is no expectation that a logo will be selectedduring the first meeting, the designer should be ableto go away and come back, refinements or new ideasin hand, to a very positive, engaged, and informedcommittee.

Usually at this second presentation, team membersbegin to realize that their input has made adifference and, once the brand leader has given thenod to an identity, they can feel satisfied that the

process has been inclusive and unified. Then, withany luck, there is the magical moment where it allclicks and the new identity is embraced. Says RogerWhitehouse, “The client representatives seethemselves as important members of the design teamand have entered into the process as genuinecollaborators. In a sense, we never have a situationwhere the client chooses anything; instead, we allarrive at the same conclusions together.”

If I’ve given the impression that the process is in anyway predictable, I’ve misled you. There are noformulas for arriving at a new brand identity—partly because most truly great identities break themold or are somewhat unconventional. But if it ain’tpredictable, or even particularly easy, it is the mostexciting kind of journey to be on—especially if youare prepared to venture off the road from time totime in hopes of ending up at an even better placethan you could have imagined before you set out.

Designing a Branding Tool—Right Now!

How many e-mails do you get a day that fail toinclude a thoughtful and informative signature? Howoften do you get different e-mail signoffs from thesame organization?

Let’s face it, nonprofit e-mails are often too casualand unprofessional. A well-crafted signature, incontrast, shows the recipient of your message thatyou are accessible and organized. So consider thefollowing components when creating the signature

that’s appended to the end of e-mails from you, thestaff, or the board:

Name:

Title:

Organization name:

Tagline (optional):

Mailing address:

Phone number:

Fax number:

E-mail address:

Web site URL:

Upcoming events or any other relevant notice:Typeface, spacing, and color are other importantconsiderations and should be consistently appliedthroughout the organization. I use Arial because it’ssimple, clean, and a resident font on mostcomputers, which means I can be pretty sure it willtranslate well in the e-mails I send out.

SevenFinding the Sweet Spot: Arriving at a NewBrand Identity That Everyone Can Embrace

In the previous chapter, I talked about how the initialdesign presentation may be used as a springboard fordialogue: A range of rough solutions may be shownto the design team as a way of stimulating discussionamong team members. This can result in one or twoideas that the team wants to see developed further.But in some situations, a completely new idea mayemerge that is even better than the designer’s initialtreatments. The important thing to remember is thatyou shouldn’t expect the initial presentation to resultin the perfect brand identity for your organization.And, in the worst-case scenario, it’s back to thedrawing board!

But how do you know when you’ve hit the “sweetspot” and found that unique visual expression ofyour brand-to-be, the one that will resonate with thegreatest number of people? Because decisions in thenonprofit workplace are usually made by consensus,in some ways the task for a nonprofit is simplified:What any one member of the design team loves isirrelevant unless everybody else is able to “get on

board” with it. Buy-in is essential to successfulbranding.

When it works as it’s supposed to, consensualdecision-making can lead to a stronger brandidentity. Because the team, formed of individualswith different perspectives, represents the range ofaudiences you need to communicate with, when youdo come up with an idea that speaks to most, if notall, members of the team, you can be reasonably sureyou’ve found something that will appeal to a broadrange of people.

Whatever you do, resist the temptation to share thedesign presentation with people in the office whoaren’t members of the design team. Doing so oftensignals a process that has gone off track and is at riskof failure, and it rarely results in useful feedback forthe designer. Here’s a rule of thumb I share with allmy clients: The designer should be included whenany aspect of the design presentation is beingdiscussed. That’s partly because while everyone isasked to look at the same thing, each personinvariably sees it differently, and in many cases thedesigner is the only one who, for purposes ofbranding, sees it accurately. It’s also partly to keepthe project on a sound footing; opinions comingfrom left field can muddy the process.

Seeing with Our Brains“Visual” thinkers (a category into which manypeople fit, including, of course, most designers)often make the mistake of thinking that others can

see what they see. But because we “see” with ourbrains, not our eyes, the meaning of any image ordesign is subject to a spectrum of interpretations.While the visual thinker often sees things that aremerely suggested (for example, a face or the shapeof an animal in a cloud), the nonvisual thinker maytend to be more literal (i.e., a cloud is merely acollection of watery particles suspended in theatmosphere).

To better illustrate this phenomenon, take a look atsome familiar logos:

BP’s “sunflower” logo is a very positive, organicsymbol. The sun is a clean source of energy foralmost every form of life. BP, which is activelyengaged in developing alternative sources of energy,has changed its name in its advertising from “BritishPetroleum” to “Beyond Petroleum”—its tagline is“An Energy Company Going Beyond.” Of the majorenergy companies in the United States (ExxonMobil,BP, Royal Dutch/Shell, and ChevronTexaco), whoselogo stands out as forward-looking and distinctive?BP’s. Consumers tend to gravitate to brands thatpromote a positive future, and BP’s branding reflectsa unique selling proposition that gives it a distinctadvantage over its rivals.

Image 51. Do you know why British Petroleum (BP)’s newlogo resembles a sunflower?

The original Federal Express identity, developed byFred Smith, the company’s founder and chairman,needed to evolve. Because the company name wasspelled out, the original Federal Express logo waslong and placed on an angle (to suggest speed andliftoff). Its colors were blue-purple and red. The newbrand identity developed by Landor Associatesrecognized the equity in the colors (adjusting andexpanding the color palette) but found the angle asproblematic. FedEx didn’t want to lose the sense ofmovement, however, and so Landor made sure to

include an arrow between the last two letters. Of thedozen executives in the room, Smith was the onlyone to see the arrow.

Image 52. Can you find the arrow in the FedEx logo?

General Electric’s logo first appeared sometime inthe 1890s, when home appliances were GE’s mainfocus. Later, “We Bring Good Things to Light”became the company’s motto—an homage to thebrilliant innovations of the company’s founder,Thomas Edison. Today, GE’s business reaches farbeyond electric appliances; It’s about aviation,automotive fleet lending, off-site storage, andbroadcast media. In keeping with thatdiversification, the company’s tagline has changedto “Imagination at Work,” yet the GE logo remainsstatic, promoting a somewhat antiquated look.

Image 53. Did you realize that the GE logo is theabstraction of an electric stove burner?

Recently I went through a presentation with one ofmy clients, Sisters of Charity of New York, atwo-hundred-year-old congregation with aninspiring and courageous history. But the sisters whorun the community are aging—as are many seniorexecutives and leaders in the nonprofit sectortoday—and my research showed the congregationneeded to reinvent itself in order to remain vibrant.There were approximately a dozen people in the firstpresentation, including the two design-firmprincipals who had been asked to design a new logofor the congregation, Craig Bernhardt and JaniceFudyma of Bernhardt Fudyma Design Group. By theend of the meeting, the sisters present at the meetingwere happy about three of the treatments that hadbeen presented—one featuring overtly religious

imagery, the second an elegant but fairly radicalabstraction, and the third somewhere in themiddle—but were unable to choose one over theothers.

Two weeks later, we re-presented to a larger groupthat included two sisters who had been unable toattend the previous meeting. Something wasdifferent this time: There was more enthusiasm forall three logo treatments than we had heard duringthe first presentation, even though most of thosepresent were seeing everything for the second time.Then one of the sisters who had not been at the firstmeeting began, in a soft voice, to explain what shesaw in the most radical design: A hopeful future andGod in the heavens. Amazingly, she also saw a crosswhere there was only the most vague suggestion of across (clearly, she was a visual thinker!), and theothers saw it as soon as she pointed it out.

Image 54. Craig Bernhardt and Janice Fudyma, principalsof Bernhardt Fudyma Design Group

It was one of those moments when everything gels.For Sisters of Charity, success in the future willdepend on their ability to attract people from allcultures, faiths, and walks of life to theirwork—Muslims and Jews, as well as atheists. Giventhat reality, I suggested that it was perhaps better notto incorporate overt religious symbolism into theirnew brand identity. The sisters in the roomunderstood that, even if only intuitively, and theyknew they were on the fence and needed someonefrom within the group, not a hired consultant, to helpthem get moving away from what they had alwaysknown and toward something new—and energizing.

Image 55. The new Sisters of Charity of New York businesscard

The atmosphere in the room was electric: Peoplebegan to respond to the abstract design in a moreconfident way. Soon, new ways to apply it began toflow from those present and quickly a consensusemerged. Any anxiety members of the design teamhad felt previously disappeared and they wereunified in their decision.

Image 56. The new Sisters of Charity Web site features aphotograph for each category; when you roll over the imagewith the cursor, it turns from sepia to full color to indicatewhich category you are entering. The tagline we developedis used here as a headline: “Living Lives of Love.” It is anapt distillation of the charisma of their congregation:humility, simplicity, and charity.

Back in my office, some key lessons became clear.First, if you have someone in your organization whohas visual acuity and is a team player, do whateveryou can to get them involved in the design process.

Second, I was reminded that simplicity is almostalways better than complexity. When I run across acomplex, convoluted logo, I imagine someone on thelogo committee saying to the designer, “Can you fit[pick a symbol] in there?” I call it the “kitchen sink”approach to design, and it often comes from a place

of insecurity. The logo doesn’t have to doeverything; it is the identifier and it has to do just afew things really well.

There is often a moment in the design process whensomeone with the respect of the team has to explainthat a camel is a horse designed by committee. If themeaning of a symbol is not readily apparent, it maybe best to stay with an abstraction or opt instead foran unembellished logotype (i.e., a modified typetreatment of your organization’s name).

Finally, never forget that, in the largest sense,branding is largely emotionally driven. Yourobjective is to hit the sweet spot—to find thecombination of color, type, and design that feelsright to you and your colleagues and that willresonate with your stakeholders and audiences,charging you up and helping you push to the nextlevel.

Phase Three: Refining the DesignYou’ve wrapped up phases one (research andorientation) and two (design development) of thedesign process, and now the designer is ready to goaway and, based on your feedback, refine theselected logo.

This part of the process is like a funnel, a kind ofnarrowing down: You want your new identity to beas close to an exact representation of yourorganization as possible. Your job is to predict theuses of that identity (keep your documents audit

close by) and to make sure your designer is veryclear about what the identity needs to do. Anysurprises should be pleasant ones.

When the designer is finally ready to return with thefinished treatment, the presentation will be a bitdifferent. The designer will probably want to showthe logo in color and in various sizes, as well asapplied to your letterhead and other applicationsincluding, perhaps, your Web site home page. Anychanges at this point should be minor. With a littleluck, your new brand identity will start to look real!

This is also the point in the process when you needto examine and revise language that is integral to thebrand. In the excitement that comes with a newvisual identity, it’s sometimes easy to underestimatethe degree to which language creates and reinforcesaudiences’ perception of an organization. In fact, thecopywriting function is usually an afterthought innonprofit organizations. Don’t make that mistake.Language, like design, is an important expression ofthe culture and character of your organization. If youcan’t afford to have a dedicated copywriter on staff,be sure that the people who create copy for you doso according to carefully thought-out guidelines—preferably guidelines that have been put in writing.For instance, do you present your organization asplainspoken or does it prefer a more authoritativetone? How do you want your audiences, internal aswell as external, to refer to the organization? Howare your values and your brand personalityexpressed in copy? How do you refer to the peoplewho work for or with you (i.e., staff, volunteers)?

These are all things you should discuss, design briefin hand, with members of the branding team.Remember, everything works to support or defeatthe brand (see chapter 10).

The Importance of Visual ImageryAlthough they try, most nonprofits fall short when itcomes to using photography (and illustration) toexpand and enrich their brands. Partly this is theresult of poor planning: An event is scheduled, andeveryone is so busy organizing it that, when the timecomes, they forget to document it. Or the need maynot be pending—until eight months later, when it’stime to produce the annual report and staff is leftscrambling for good images.

It’s also partly due to a lack of imagination: Photosof “talking heads,” tonsils on full display, can bedeadly dull. On the other hand, if the photographercan capture a candid expression, create a speciallighting effect, or imbue the image with a distinctpoint of view, that same moment may come alive.

The point is, don’t leave the visual imageryassociated with your brand to chance; it will onlyweaken the brand and hog-tie the designer. Instead,photography (and illustration) can and should beused, with all the collective forethought you canmuster, to express the unique character of yourorganization and to differentiate it from itscompetitors and peers. Your designer can help withthis. He or she should be able to establish broadguidelines for the use of imagery in your materials

and be able to hook you up with photographers (andillustrators) capable of producingprofessional-quality work (see chapter 10 for moreon this).

In talking with photographers, remember to be clearabout your goals and requirements. A communitydevelopment organization may want a photographerwho excels at street scenes filled with movement,while a health care organization may need aphotographer who takes powerful studio portraits. Ineither case, the photographer’s portfolio shouldreflect his or her ability to produce the workrequired. I can’t emphasize this enough: Lots ofideas that sound great can fall flat when realized,while some that sound outlandish or even foolishend up being just the ticket.

As you develop your organization’s visual andwritten vocabulary, it will become clear that what youomit is as important as what you include.

Regardless of the choices you make, try to beconsistent in the application of imagery to yourbranded materials. Remember, every decision youmake has an impact on the overall effectiveness ofyour brand. As you start to develop yourorganization’s visual and written vocabulary, it willbecome clear that what you don’t do is as importantas what you, in fact, do. This is when the brandstarts to come alive. And once you perfect yourstroke, you’ll hit that sweet spot each and everytime.

The Great ABC Logo Bake-Off

Back in the 1980s, I was part of the small, youngdesign firm of Ross Culbert Holland & Lavery. Wefound ourselves competing against goliath LandorAssociates, the international brand design giant, toredesign the identity of the American BroadcastingCorporation (ABC). Landor had committed itself toone idea—an exclamation point.

Our firms presented back-to-back to the logocommittee, which was made up of a dozen high-levelABC executives. Roone Arledge, then president ofABC News, killed Landor’s presentation with a fewwell-chosen words: “I can’t use that on the air for theassassination of a president.”

Of course, they didn’t choose either of our ideaseither. Both picked up on the “American” in AmericanBroadcast Corporation: One was an eagle (“NBCalready has a bird”) and the other a star (“Toogeneric. We can’t own it.”). Unable to decide how toproceed, the committee stayed with the original PaulRand–designed logo, a circle with the lowercase“abc,” which some ABC higher-ups had dubbed “themeatball.” It is still the logo you see on air today.

The point is, neither Landor nor our firm had beengiven the opportunity to bring the committee along inits thinking. The only time we met the keydecision-makers was the day of the big presentation,and I imagine that most of those on the committeehad never thought about, much less been taskedwith, choosing a corporate identity. To make mattersworse, there was no time built into the process toallow the committee to thoroughly consider the ideaspresented to it.

Ultimately, eighteen design firms were asked to helpcreate a new identity for the network (plus designstudents from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, whowere asked to submit logo ideas for free), yet itended up with nothing, wasted massive amounts ofmoney and time (six months), and demoralized a lotof people. All of which earned the project a dubioushonorific in the design world—“The Great ABC LogoBake-Off.”

EightThe Devil’s in the Details: From Inspiration toImplementation

Once your new brand identity has been approved, you’llwant to unveil it to your stakeholders (staff, board,and important volunteers). Take a moment tocelebrate. But be aware that this is not a time to sitback and relax; the next stage of the process can be aminefield.

Your brand presentation should show your newidentity in application—that is, applied to letterhead,brochures, Web pages, and so on—so thatstakeholders don’t focus too much on the logo,which is only one (albeit important) aspect of yourbrand. As you present the various elements of yournew identity, be sure to repeat the keywords thatinformed the development of the brand; talk aboutthe process. Reinforce the role the communityplayed in developing the new look. Share anyfeedback that led you to a solution to a particularproblem. Make it clear that the process wasinclusive, not unilateral. It’s important to get asmany people as possible on board with the newidentity. And nothing encourages buy-in like givingcredit where credit is due: Target the people who can

aid in the successful implementation of the brand (orbring it crashing to the floor) and speak to themone-on-one. Remember, each person has thepotential to be your ally—or your nemesis.

Next Steps: Cleaning Up the MessOnce the applause has died down, it’s time to turnyour attention to the mixed communicationsmessages that have been holding your organizationback. Before they go through the re-brandingprocess, most nonprofits’ collateral materialsresemble a messy closet: brochures and letterheadare poorly designed and uneven in their productionvalues and/or use of imagery and typography; Websites tend to be a hodgepodge of content andsensibilities. Even if one or two of the pieces lookgood, the overall impression conveyed is one ofconfusion and disorganization. Absent a consistentvoice, it’s almost impossible to identify a unifyingmessage.

There’s a reason for this: Because nonprofits rarelyhave adequate resources to apply to their identitysystems, identity tends to be an afterthought—and itusually shows. It’s almost as if the saying, “you canhave it good, cheap, or fast—you can get two out ofthree, which two do you want?” was coined for thenonprofit sector. Unfortunately, nonprofits that findthemselves in a time or funding crunch usually optfor the cheap-and-fast approach to communications.But unless the brand identity is supposed to lookdown and dirty (in which case maybe it’s a brilliant

strategy), this kind of approach usually derails eventhe best-intentioned attempts to brand. Don’tdespair. I firmly believe that good design does nothave to be expensive, and that the best brand identityis almost always a clear and simple one, regardlessof the resources available. It all hinges on solidresearch and getting a good designer on board.

Many nonprofits, especially newer ones, rely on thekindness of strangers—or the connections of boardmembers—when developing their logo andcollateral materials. Branding is often not even anoption. In these types of situations, it’s not unusualfor lots of people to get involved and for no one totruly take charge. Then, years later, after theorganization has become a big success in spite of itschaotic, disjointed messaging, the board and/orexecutive director, having come to the realizationthat the organization can no longer go on this way,seeks professional help. Typically, someonesuggests a documents audit. When the “closet” isopened, out topples a mess—a mess that you’reexpected to clean up. Then the idea of branding mayenter the conversation.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Organizations thatstart out the right way, with a good solid plan andthe branding team to back it up, invariably savethemselves time and money and are able to havegreater impact, much faster. That most nonprofitsdon’t seem to start out with a firm grasp of theirbrand identity and the discipline to execute it is aconundrum.

Don’t make the same mistake. If you’ve beenfollowing my process, your organization is well onits way to developing an effective identity, one thatyour branding team and stakeholders are happy withand that you can start to apply to the materials onyour documents audit list.

But How to Proceed?How do you implement the brand? Keep twoobjectives in mind when thinking about how toproceed: 1) Be inspired—make each piece shine,create a documents system that has continuity,depth, and breadth; and 2) Be pragmatic—make sureto maximize the impact and utility of each and everypiece created.

If you’re the executive director and/or brand leader,you almost certainly will deal with staff and boardmembers who are anxious to see where this processleads. Each one of them is likely to have a differentmindset with respect to the organization anddifferent attitudes about the process, and each onewill bring some degree of creativity, skill, andability to the table. In addition, many of them arelikely to have been responsible for acommunications piece that is going to be tossed.Don’t be surprised if most gratefully accept the newbrand, wanting the best for the organization, while afew do what they can (often unwittingly) to sabotagethe process. If your nonprofit is relativelynonhierarchical in structure, as most are, then it’syour job to make sure everybody’s voice is heard.

Of course, experienced designers deal with this kindof tension all the time, understanding that, for manypeople, subjective opinions trump objective facts.And they know that since we “hear” with our brains,not with our ears, it’s not unusual for people to takein information selectively and then interpret thatinformation in a way that may not be useful. As JaneZusi, associate creative director at KlemtnerAdvertising, a division of Saatchi & SaatchiHealthcare, says, “We’ve all had clients ruin ourideas at one time or another, Frankensteining thingstogether.”

InterventionsIf a project shows symptoms of derailing, start withthe following:

Keep disgruntled staff and/or board membersfocused on the concrete goals and objectives of thenew brand strategy.

Remind them that the brand is not a personalstatement.

Keep repeating the keywords that were used todefine the brand identity.

Make sure the brand leader and brand steward rolesare understood and observed by all.

Accept feedback in a way that leaves the channelsof communication open.

Summarize feedback for the brand leader; the brandleader should be the ultimate decision maker, whilelistening carefully to the larger group.

You want to tap into, not discourage, the collectivewisdom of the group. But even though yours may bea nonhierarchical organization, that doesn’t meanit’s a democracy. Each person needs to be reminded(gently) to focus on his or her specific role and givefeedback appropriately. Anyone who doesn’t have arole in the process should be encouraged to make hisor her views known to the person in charge. Thatperson, in turn, will decide what to do with thefeedback. At no point, however, should feedback begiven—or solicited—outside the structure createdfor that purpose. The more it is, the more likely theprocess will degenerate into mob rule.

A Case Study: Re-Branding Aish HaTorahRecently, Aish HaTorah (“Fire of the Torah”), alarge international membership organization thatpromotes the Jewish faith to young people, came tothe realization that, in terms of its communicationsmessages and vehicles, it had a very messy closetindeed. Over the years, each of the organization’seight branches had gotten into the habit ofdeveloping its own collateral materials, with somebranches doing a better job than others. The resultwas a weak, almost nonexistent brand for theorganization—and a lot of frustration for itsexecutives.

At some point along the way, the organization’sNew York branch found an angel: Lynn Altman,brand expert and head of Viverito + BrandmakerExpress.

Because she works primarily with largecorporations, Altman, who describes herself as a“not-very-practicing Jew,” decided to take on the jobof re-branding the New York branch on a pro bonobasis, figuring that if “I volunteer my personal timeand skills by teaching karate to disabled adults, whynot donate my professional time and skills byhelping a nonprofit with its branding needs?”

Altman first identified college students, singles, andyoung married couples as Aish HaTorah’s primaryaudiences. In doing so, she also realized that thosegroups were less receptive to an obviously “Jewish”brand than their parents or grandparents might havebeen. Her solution to the problem was to create abrand identity for the organization that eschewedobvious Jewish iconography (e.g., the Star of Davidor Hebrew letterforms). Instead, it relied on subtle“cues” and a series of humorous taglines (forinstance, “All of the Fun; None of the Guilt”) tosignal Aish’s upbeat, sophisticated attitude andstrong connection to the Jewish faith.

The new branding system, which was designed bythe Bernhardt Fudyma Design Group of New York,provided a variety of approaches (depending on theaudience) that could be applied to business cards,letterhead, brochures, and all sorts of othermaterials. It also called for the organization to

shorten its name to Aish, which had already beenused informally by several of the organization’sbranches.

Realizing that brand and message continuity wasimportant to maintain across the organization, Aish’sleaders convened executives from its eight branchesto compare their collateral materials. After somediscussion, they decided that the system developedby Altman and the Bernhardt Fudyma Design Groupfor the New York branch was the most effective andagreed to adapt it across the organization.

The brand guidelines developed for Aish (seeappendix A for the entire guidelines) describe andillustrate how the organization should apply its newidentity to its collateral materials: what typefacefamilies to use; the concept behind the color palette;how imagery should be used; how copy should bewritten to tie in to the concept; and so on. And whilemany different application examples are included,they all express the brand by sharing the samehumorous sensibility and are presented in a way thatillustrates the depth and breadth that can be achievedwithin a robust, consistently branded identity.Though you may not need to go to these lengths tocreate your brand guidelines, you should strive toaccomplish the same thing.

A useful exercise: Think about how the brandsyou’re familiar with have evolved over the years.Compare ads in old issues of your favoritemagazines with the way those same products orconcerns are presented today. What has changed?

What has remained the same? More often than not,you’ll notice that while the look of the most durablebrands may evolve and change over time, theorganization’s core message almost always remainsthe same.

Image 57. Aish’s untidy closet. Below, everything has beenredesigned and rewritten to reflect the new Aish brand

Image 58. Aish’s extreme makeover. See appendix A forthe complete Aish branding guide

NineThe Big Switcheroo: Implementing Your NewBrand

So, you have a new logo, letterhead, and relatedmaterials. Congratulations! You’re ready to unveilyour new brand to the world. Or are you? It’s reallya matter of logistics. And a big part of the decisionrests on how the change will be perceived by yourboard members, supporters, and constituents. Thepiecemeal approach could look sloppy if the changeis dramatic. But if the change is subtle, why not justwait till you need to replace letterhead? At any rate,you need a thoughtful plan. Here’s a case in point.

Organizing for ChangeBack in the early 1960s, the Swedish governmentreleased the results of a series of studies thatdemonstrated that driving on the right side of theroad increases motorists’ field of vision and, ineffect, overall traffic safety. After extensive nationaldebate on the issue, the Swedish government madethe decision to switch the country’s motorists fromdriving on the left side of the road to driving on theright. But it didn’t implement the change until 1967,

and when it did, it chose 6 A.M. (rush hour!) on aclear, crisp morning to make its big switch. Why didit take so long for the Swedes to implement thechange? And why did they decide to implement it allat once—and during rush hour, no less?

For starters, the Swedish government had examinedeverything that might be affected by the change.And it realized, for one thing, that they needed newbuses with doors that opened on the right. Afterfurther study, the government decided it would takea few years to get everything in place to make thetransition. At the same time, the government alsoconsidered various strategies for introducing thechange and finally decided that the surest way to getmotorists’ attention and safely reorient largenumbers of people to what, was after all, a drasticshift in their driving habits, was to do it during rushhour. A perfectly reasonable assumption.

Image 59. One morning at rush hour, Swedish authoritiesdecided to make everyone drive on the right-hand side ofthe road

The results: there weren’t many accidents as a resultof the change, but a few people had a difficult timemaking the switch, particularly the elderly. Thosewho couldn’t cope at all simply stopped driving.

Sweden’s experience provides us with a richmetaphor for nonprofits that are at that stage of there-branding process where they need to consider thetiming of the switch to their new brand identity. Inother words, when should you make the switch?After the printer delivers your new letterhead?Maybe. But what do you do with the old brochuresthat have yet to be replaced? Include a copy withevery letter that goes out on the new letterhead? Orwill that look unprofessional or confusing? Whatabout your Web site? Has it been redesigned toreflect your new brand identity? And just imaginethe potential for confusion if your new identityinvolves a renaming of the organization as well as afresh, new identity.

Recently, the New York City–based Alliance forNonprofit Governance adopted a new brand identityof its own. This almost 100 percent volunteerorganization works to raise the standards ofgovernance among nonprofit organizations,particularly in New York, and has a diversemembership that ranges from consultants,academics, lawyers, and accountants to funders anda wide range of nonprofit practitioners. It is also anorganization that takes its role as a model of goodgovernance very seriously. As part of its re-brandingeffort, the marketing and branding committee (one I

sit on) decided to recommend changing its name toGovernance Matters.

Image 60. The original Alliance for Nonprofit Governancelogo

The organization, which is only a few years old,decided to make the change after it realized that,thanks to the length of its name, it was foreverdoomed to be known as ANG—a meaninglessinitialism that some members pronounced as“A-N-G” and others shortened to “ang,” as in“bang.” In contrast, the phrase “governance matters”had been used in several of the organization’sprograms since its founding and, as organizationvice chair Anne Green recalls, “perfectly capturedthe motivation of all those who labored in thoseearly days to get ANG off the ground.”

Of course, the new name had to be approved by thefull board, which strongly backed an inclusiveprocess as a way of securing buy-in from all boardmembers. To accomplish that, the presentation of thenew identity was preceded by a one-on-onediscussion of the new name, giving board members achance to air their concerns privately. As a result,the presentation to the full board was a virtual fait

accompli, and any tension that might have beencreated by a sudden unveiling of the new name wasreplaced by almost universal enthusiasm for thechange at the board level.

What to Do When Complications AriseNot all of the ramifications of a new brand identityare directly related to design or marketing concerns.Also, it’s important early in the process to try toidentify all possible snags to minimize the fuss andexpense required to address them. For example, oneANG board member with a solid grasp of theorganization’s bylaws recognized that theorganization’s name change could only be ratifiedby a clear majority of its entire membership. Amongother things, that meant the ANG board would haveto wait for the organization’s annual meeting toratify the new name. But then ANG’s pro bonoattorneys pointed out that New York State does notrequire a majority of the entire membership to voteon corporate changes and recommended that theboard amend the organization’s bylaws, inaccordance with state law, to allow two-thirds of themembership present to vote on corporate changes inthe future. The board agreed, and the members alsovoted to change the bylaws accordingly at the annualmeeting.

Image 61. The new name is a play on words and providesmany opportunities to express the two meanings, each ofwhich works for different situations

Image 62. Notepads were handed out at the ANG annualmeeting announcing the day of the name change

In preparation for the annual meeting, ANG sent anotice to its members explaining the rationale for the

name change, including the fact that a trademarksearch had revealed that the name was available inthe nonprofit category, should the organizationchoose to protect the name, and that both the domainnames governancematters.org andgovernancematters.net had been secured. Themailing encouraged them to send their feedback. Aswith the board, it’s important to give the membersearly notice of any actions and therefore give them achance to absorb dramatic and/or important changesin an organization’s identity.

Image 63. Governance Matters’ e-newsletter, designed byBernhardt Fudyma, is used for announcements and newsfor the organization. Images were gathered from themember organizations (in this case, the EnvironmentalDefense Fund).

The vote on the name change was taken at theannual meeting on February 1 (it passedunanimously), following a PowerPoint presentationof the new identity system. We announced that the

marketing committee would be rolling out the newGovernance Matters brand, “Swedish style,” on May1, after the Web site, letterhead, and collateralmaterials had been redesigned to reflect theorganization’s new identity (see appendix D). As afinal touch, at the meeting’s close, all memberspresent were given Governance Matters notepads ina wrapper that said, “Do not use until May 1.” Thiswas followed by the celebratory cutting of a cakedecorated with the new logo and the donning ofT-shirts (of course, with the new logo) by all boardmembers.

Image 64. The home page for the Governance Matters Website also uses a rotation of images from memberorganizations as a way to express the effect of goodgovernance

A New Vocabulary: Words and Visuals

The branding committee of ANG also took a long,hard look at the copy that was featured on theorganization’s Web site and in its key brochures.Prior to the formation of the committee, most of thatcopy had been written by various individuals or “bycommittee.” In other words, the organization had nosystematic way of approaching the written word.This, I’d hazard a guess, is fairly typical in thenonprofit sector. But in creating a marketing andbranding strategy for ANG, this too had to change,and we hired a professional copywriter to develop atone and approach for the organization’s keycommunications pieces—including frequently askedquestions (FAQs), the body copy for its mainbrochure, and the main copy for the Web site.

ANG had used almost no visuals on its Web site,brochure, or other collateral materials. So thebranding committee started to identify opportunitieswhere visuals (charts, maps, graphs, photographs)would help clarify what the organization was allabout. This is an area that the organization willcontinue to develop as it reinvents itself asGovernance Matters.

Brand identities are living, breathing things, and assuch, they require lots of love and attention.– Bart Crosby, brand designer

The Gestation PeriodBetween the time ANG realized it would probablybe making this monumental change and the approvalof the new name by the membership (about eight

months; the renaming process itself took about fourmonths), the organization applied for and receivedfive grants that were applied to the brand identity,redesign of its Web site, and other collateralmaterials. A year prior to that, a committee of sixwas formed to tackle the re-branding effort, so,altogether, the entire process took almost two years.That might sound like a long haul, especiallyconsidering that the effort was staffed almostexclusively by volunteers, but what kept the teamfrom getting stalled, sidetracked, or otherwise turnedaround was a clear, engaging process and thegumption to stick with it.

Your Big SwitchDo you have the equivalent of Swedish buses tochange before launching your new brand? Is there anaspect of your re-branding effort that will requireextra time to change? What about otherrepercussions? Do you have board members who arewedded to the old brand and way of doing things?What about other stakeholders and audiences? Doyou know how they will react to your new brand? Ifyou haven’t thought about it, now is the time to start.

As designer Bart Crosby says, “Brand identities areliving, breathing things, and as such, they requirelots of love and attention.” Recently, a client of minepresented its new and stunningly handsome identityto its entire body of constituents, several hundredpeople. Each person was asked to write down his orher initial impressions. Even though the new identity

was presented by the organization’s president andgenerally well received, of the seventy people whochose to submit comments, roughly fifteen hadsomething negative to say. It was a shock to see howdifferently these people viewed the identity. Mostloved the color palette, but a few hated it; manyresponded to the abstract design as if it were aRorschach and read all manner of things into it—most were positive, a few were negative. I imaginethat, as with Rorschach tests, this reflected theobserver’s personal worldview.

That’s the way a lot of brand presentations go, but inmost situations, no one has the presence of mind toask for candid, anonymous comments from those inattendance. The reality is that not everyone is goingto understand the choices you made for your newbrand identity, and not everyone is going to agreewith your decisions. In fact, similar to whathappened in Sweden on that clear, crisp morningsome forty years ago, some people will simply stopdriving. That’s okay. If you’ve done your homeworkand laid the groundwork, most people will embraceyour new brand and happily make the switch—andwill be better off for it.

TenStorytelling and the Brand: A Thousand Words. . . and Loads of Pictures

There are ways to improve your own writing skillsthat will make the task of creating copy easier, willmake you a more critical reader, and, in the process,enrich your life as well.

Once an organization has established its new identity,the ongoing task of the branding team is to makesure that that the brand is nurtured—that it remainsfresh, effective, and on message as the brand storyevolves. And when you get right down to it, wordsand images are the two main tools at your disposalto tell your story.

Places where you will tell your story include:

Advertising (print, radio, and broadcast)

Annual reports

Business cards

Grant proposals

Electronic or printed newsletters

Event flyers and invitations

Packaging

Press releases and kits

Posters

Program brochures

Public speaking engagements

Signage

Reports

Thank-you notes

Web sites

But DK, you ask, who’s going to do all this writingand take all these pictures? Who is going to tell thestory?

For small nonprofits, the easy answer is that it’s ashared responsibility. And often there is no choice.But writing by committee, like design by committee,means no author crafts an inspiring vision—or takesblame when the vision goes awry.

And the biggest problem with this approach is thatcommittee writing almost always ends up diluting orconfusing the brand message. How many times haveyou puzzled over an organization’s message afterreading its brochure or flyer copy? Writing bycommittee, I guarantee it! The same is true ofimages. If the photos and visuals applied to a branddon’t convey a distinct point of view, you can be

certain that the brand will seem fuzzy, conflicted, orgeneric.

In situations where writing by committee isunavoidable, identify the writer(s) whose style bestfits the tone that you want to achieve, and thensupport that person in developing the main copy. It’sa good idea to keep your designer (whether pro bonoor paid) involved in this process, as he or she willusually be the person with the most brandexperience. Once the tone is established, otherwriters can step in and help out with the moreancillary needs of the brand.

Your designer can identify appropriate andinnovative ways to express ideas by combiningwords and images, and can guide you in thatprocess. That’s what designers do. And often, theprocess of design starts with copy that expresses anidea that then becomes the springboard for an adcampaign or brochure or poster design.

Beyond that, there are ways to improve your ownwriting skills that will make the task of creatingcopy easier, will make you a more critical reader,and, in the process, enrich your life as well.

Copywriting 101Since the ability to write well is a necessary skill inmost nonprofit workplaces, it makes sense to askpotential members of your brand team to submitwriting samples if they are likely to produce copy

for any of the projects on the laundry list at thebeginning of this chapter.

For those whose writing skills could use somepolishing, here are a few tips that will get them up tospeed.

Create an outline. Before you sit down to write,review your organization’s mission and valuesstatements and create a list of essential words, ideas,and phrases that you want to incorporate into yourcopy. Consult your design brief for ideas as well.Then make an outline that prioritizes the messagesyou’d like to convey. Only when you have thosethings in hand are you ready to begin writing.

Learn to tell a story. People have an easier timeunderstanding stories, since they use concreteimagery and a story is usually about people;therefore, they can see themselves in the situation.Quite often copy is abstract and doesn’t lead thereader to become engaged. A good story paints apicture that makes a clear and compelling point andthus leaves us with a lasting, motivational message.

Find a comfortable style. Often the way a personwrites is far different from his or her speaking voice.Often people stiffen up or “bland out” when theywrite. That’s unfortunate, because an authentic stylecan be easier to read and is often livelier. Whilemaking sure you are honoring the agreed-upon style,the keywords, and the values of your brand, developa writing style that can be easily digested andappreciated by your audiences.

Pay attention to style and tone. The style and tone ofanything you write should reflect the values inherentin your brand. If your organization is creative andnonhierarchical, the style and tone of your writtenmaterials should reflect that fact. Conversely, if yourorganization is more traditional and buttoned-down,you don’t want to become too informal in tone inyour copy. Your team needs to agree on the styleyou want to achieve before any writing starts.

Look it up. It’s hard to use a word correctly if youaren’t certain what it means. Get in the habit oflooking up words when you’re not clear on theirdefinition. By becoming more confident in your useof words, you will be much more likely to develop awriting (and speaking) style that is natural, notforced.

Here are a few other tips:

Be consistent in your use of tense

Use the active (not passive) voice

Be succinct; eliminate redundancies andirrelevancies

Edit ruthlessly—cut, cut, cut!

Most of all, remember what you stand for—theessence of your brand.

It doesn’t hurt to keep a copy of William Strunk Jr.and E.B. White’s The Elements of Style, currently inits fourth edition, within arm’s reach. This short,wonderfully written style guide delves into the

mysteries of composition and, through the use ofdozens of examples, answers some of the naggingquestions we all have about grammar andpunctuation. Toward the back of the book, you’llfind a list of twenty or so pointers on how to developyour own style—great advice even for seasonedwriters!

When to Hire a ProSo you’ve given copywriting the old college try, andthe results are still less than scintillating. Don’t bedisheartened. There will be occasions, even for smallnonprofits, when a professional writer is the bestoption. Recently, for example, I worked with agroup of volunteers (i.e., as part of the brandingteam) that had been tasked with writing promotionalcopy for the nonprofit with which they wereaffiliated. But with the deadline looming and no oneable to devote the time needed to come up with copythat was compelling, we decided the best option wasto hire a professional. Once the writer establishedthe tone and style, we would take it from there todevelop the rest.

So, over the next week, we determined our budgetfor writing, interviewed four writers (each submittedwriting samples and an estimated fee), and finallychose someone who was a global thinker and whocould create copy fast and efficiently. BarbaraKrasne, principal of KrasnePlows, executivemanagement consultants, says, “So often, a hiringdecision is based only on who you know or who is

recommended, not the quality of the candidate’swork. Make sure that you review writing samplescarefully, focusing on the text itself. That way youcan make sure that the copywriter fits your needs.Don’t get distracted by the layout or design. It is notrelevant. Then check references thoroughly todetermine if that person’s work is stylisticallycompatible with your own internal processes.”

We provided the chosen writer with clear guidelinesand selected examples of what we had done before.(Don’t use the kitchen sink, “Let’s give themeverything we have ever done and let them wadethrough it” approach, since that invites speculationand interpretation.)

Also, we made one person the liaison with thewriter. Everyone read the copy as it was submitted,then commented to the liaison, who distilled thecomments, decided what the corrections should be,and communicated all that to the writer.

Nonprofits have a notoriously high rate of revisionbecause so many people are involved in the process.This drives the cost of the writing up, makes for achaotic process, and, ultimately, sours therelationship with the writer.

Stephanie Fritsch, president of Stephanie FritschCommunications in Montclair, New Jersey, says,“Where experienced writers excel is in their abilityto hone information and strike the right balance.Provide lots of detail without becoming dry. Speakto several audiences with one clear voice. Keep itfresh and lively without becoming promotional. Or

express emotions without making it a painful read. Aprofessional tends to work from the readers’perspective, and that can make a big difference inhow engaging and effective your materials are.”

Creating a Visual “Voice”What many nonprofits don’t realize is that visualsare just as important as words in expressing anorganization’s brand. I have worked with nonprofitsthat used no images—no photography, charts,illustrations, or maps—in their collateral materials,not a one! And after a few meetings with theexecutives of those organizations, the reason becamepainfully obvious— they were blind! They had noconcept of the importance of imagery in theirmaterials, and had no visual thinkers on staff. Howcould they tell their story in a compelling waywithout the support of visuals?

Every brand leader should be aware of the visualacuity of the members of the branding team. (Seechapter 4 for more about branding teams.) Sincenonvisual thinkers may have a harder timeunderstanding visual concepts, it may be difficult forthem to appreciate the contribution a visual “voice”can make to furthering the organization’s message.

An investment that helps solve this problem is adigital camera and staff members trained to use itproperly. This is because, in order to tell your story,many events should be documented with an image.For example, a new staff member comes on boardand you want to put his or her shining face on your

Web site; or you just redesigned the office receptionarea and you want to show it off; or your new boardchair addresses the membership and you need apicture to go with the excerpt of his or her speech inthe newsletter. These are all expressions of yourbrand. And with your digital camera at the ready,you will have them to use when you need them.

Digital photography is increasingly more affordableand fast. It’s also easier to use than conventionalphotography—both in printed materials and on theWeb—simply because it is already digitalized; noscanning of images is required. It’s also morereliable because you see instantly whether or not youhave the shot you need. No waiting for film todevelop. Other things you need to know about inorder to take effective shots include cropping,composition, and lighting. While trial and error isoften the best teacher, there is no shortage ofdownloadable step-by-step tutorials online (e.g.,digital photography for dummies). So make thesmall investment, and then have the camera chargedup and ready to use, and you’ll get the shots youneed.

In addition to these quick shots, you will want toconsider other sources of imagery. Whether hiring aprofessional or buying stock, images can take thefollowing forms:

Photography

Illustration

Charts

Maps

For many nonprofits, taking photographs is reservedfor portraits of key staff, board members, andimportant events. In the case of the latter, theseneedn’t be boring shots of talking heads or groups ofattendees chatting over a chicken lunch. Instead,they should be treated as opportunities to trulyexpress your brand. Be creative!

Image 65. The ASMP Web site

But if there is no one on staff able to take on thistask, how do you find a good photographer? Oneway is through your local chapter of ASMP, theAmerican Society of Media Photographers. The

national ASMP Web site (www.asmp.org) also has afeature called “Find a Photographer” that enablesvisitors to the site to search for professionalphotographers by city, state, or country, as well asspecialty. Or you may look through the source bookslike Workbook (www.workbook.com) or Showcase(www.showcase.com). Source books are the mainways to find photographers or illustrators at thispoint. They publish the work of creatives who havepaid to have their work included in the publication(and/or on a Web site). All contact information isprovided, and many photographers or illustratorspick up their own phones.

Image 66. The Workbook Web site

Workbook has been the largest of these books forsome years now and contains the widest range ofstyle among top talent. On the downside, mostsourcebooks do not jury the work between theircovers (or on their affiliated Web sites), making itdifficult for the novice or nonvisual thinker todiscern good work from bad, derivative versusoriginal.

For those who are likely to feel more comfortablewith work that has been evaluated by others,Communication Arts magazine(www.commarts.com) publishes illustration andphotography annuals. All work included has beenselected using the jury process.

Image 67. The Showcase Web site

Working with any creative person can be a uniqueexperience, so it’s hard to make generalities. That’swhy it’s important to compare several portfoliosbefore deciding on one. Pick a good photographer orillustrator who is both a good listener andsympathetic to your cause. You should tell theperson what you are going for—both in concept andin practical application—but be aware that you aresimply providing a guideline.

A good photographer (or any creator, for that matter)should improve on your idea by seeing opportunities

where you cannot. Photographer Marian Goldmansays, “My attitude is the same for all my work. Justbecause I may be shooting for a nonprofit andgetting less money, that doesn’t mean that I willhold back any of my skills or energy needed to do agood job. Occasionally, you need alternatives,though, if the concept costs too much extra money.For example, when DK Holland and I worked on theLiteracy Assistance Center annual report, theoriginal idea was to create portraits of each of thefive people profiled in their homes to add a bit oftheir environment to the picture. This would havecost a lot of extra money in transportation alone, sowe decided to do it all in my studio and add a littlesomething from everyone’s life to the shot, whichworked out beautifully. We were able to get greatexpressions from all of the subjects, and everyonehad a fun time being in the studio.”

Pricing depends on how busy the photographer is,what equipment is required for the assignment, thetime needed for scouting locations, assistants, and/orstudio time. To better understand what you’d begetting for your money, you should ask for arationalization of the fee that’s quoted to you.

Fees are usually based on rights granted.Photographers (and illustrators) are keenly aware ofthe rights they are entitled to under the copyright law(typically much more so than designers or writers),and base their fees on granting rights—usually“one-time use” or “all rights.” Obviously, if thephotograph (or illustration) is of your board chair,the photographer or illustrator is not going to expect

to be able to resell that image to anyone but you. Ifyour agreement is for use in your annual report,don’t automatically think you can also use themonline without an agreement.

When your budget or time constraints won’t allowyou to hire a professional, stock photo agencies suchas Corbis (http://pro.corbis.com) and Getty (http://creative.gettyimages.com) offer dozens of categoriesand tens of thousands of stock photographic orillustration images. FotoSearch.com takes advantageof the ability to search many sources to provide youwith seemingly limitless options for imagery.

Although frequently overlooked, original illustrationis often just the right solution for establishing amood or conveying an abstract concept that can’t bephotographed easily (or inexpensively). Andprofessional illustrators are also happy to createcharts or maps— although more complex maps arelikely to require the talents of a cartographer.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but arethey the right words?

You Have to Know Your Story to Tell ItThe brand is never static. You have to recognizehow your story is changing, to discuss the shift sothat you can make a conscious and strategic changein the brand to accommodate. To do thisintelligently, you need agreement on how the story isevolving. For instance, in chapter 1, I talked aboutMoMA’s and Make a Better Place’s adjustments to

changes. In both cases, the way they told their storychanged as they evolved. Their ability to tell theirchanging stories well kept their audiences engaged,rather than confused and, therefore, disinterested.

But in order to do any of this, you need to knowyour story to begin with. The bare bones of the storymay include how your organization started, whostarted it, who it serves, how it is proceeding totackle its issues, and why it’s important that it exists.

Reinventing the Elevator PitchThe “elevator pitch,” as traditionally understood, is acanned statement that describes your story—the“who, what, why, where, and how” of yourorganization—in the space of a short elevator ride.But the traditional elevator pitch is a less-than-usefulconcept for nonprofits. The implication is thatsomeone of interest to you is unexpectedly stuck inan elevator with you—a short-term captive. But inreality, most people don’t want to be pitched to (and,after all, nonprofits are not selling vacuum cleanersdoor to door), and no one is truly captive. Your storywill only stick if a real connection has been madeonce the elevator door opens. But the real point of anelevator pitch is about maximizing time inunexpected situations and, because of that, you doneed to synthesize your organization’s message.Keeping all this in mind, turn “elevator pitch” into“elevator conversation,” and you’ll establish theconnection with the other person because he or sheis engaged (i.e., not being “pitched”).

One way to do that is to create a short, provocativeanswer to the inevitable question, “What’s yourorganization about?” You might respond by usingjust a half-dozen keywords or phrases that sum upyour organization in a natural, inspiring, orprovocative way. If the person’s eyes light up,follow with something like, “Do you know______?” [Fill in the blank with a short phrase thatdescribes your primary audience or focus.] If theperson answers, “Yes, I do!,” this is a furtheropening to respond, to ask and take more questions,to have a discussion. Continue with the dialogue(and avoid switching to a monologue). But if theperson doesn’t respond at all, find another way toengage or consider that there may be no reason tocontinue the discussion anyhow. In which case, saveyour breath for another person. By the time theelevator opens, if you have been successful, you’vegotten across the four or five key points about yourorganization in a memorable way and a relationshiphas been formed. Your story has been told. Cardshave been exchanged. “May I call you?” has beenasked and answered. That’s what brandingis—effective communication through a commonlanguage. And because you get instant response,telling your story verbally is a great test to see howothers respond, so you can finetune before it worksits way onto your Web site, or your annual report.

As the story evolves, the constants of the brand arethe name, tagline, typography, logo, and colorpalette. The brand steward’s ongoing role is to makesure the current strategy stays on track; the brand

leader’s role is to keep his or her finger on the pulseof the brand, to alert the brand team that the story ischanging, even in subtle ways, and to actaccordingly.

Do You Need to Trademark?

How do you decide whether you need to registeryour name, tagline, or program titles as trademarks?The trademark law enforced by the United StatesPatent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov) isdesigned to protect the consumer—and, in effect, thecreator as well—against confusion in themarketplace. These protections are extended tononprofit organizations involved in commerce (goodsor services) of some kind (i.e., conferences,programs, publications, products, and so on).

As soon as you provide goods or services (and notuntil then), you automatically have a common lawtrademark. You don’t have to register at all. But youdo need to consider registering your trademark if youare concerned about possible confusion. Forinstance, with trademark protection, you have theright to tell another entity (who’s using the samename in the same marketplace) to stop using thename, thus eliminating the confusion.

When it comes to protection, it’s often a matter ofwho got there first. And you can register a trademarkfor only a few hundred dollars. You can fill out theforms yourself but Lori Lesser, an intellectualproperty partner with Simpson Thacher & BartlettLLP, says, “The law requires organizations toperform a ‘clearance search’ before using any newtrademark, to ensure that the same trademark or a

confusingly similar one is not already being used bysomeone else. To be safe, such a search shouldinclude prior registered and unregistered trademarks.It is prudent to involve a lawyer in the process for tworeasons. First, a layperson is unlikely to know all theresources to consult for such a search. Second,while a layperson can spot a prior trademark that isan exact match to its new proposed mark, it takeslegal judgment to assess a prior mark that is notexactly the same, but may be ‘confusingly similar’ tothe new mark, and therefore a problem. Consulting alawyer at the outset will help organizations avoidspending time and money to develop atrademark—such as by buying domain names, hiringa design firm, or creating letterhead—and finding outlater that it must be changed.”

That being said, there are many examples of similaror identical common law trademarks that coexistwithout resorting to legal action.

Is there someone on your board who knows this areaof the law? That person would be a great resource ifyou decide you need trademark protection. Law firmsoften provide a certain amount of pro bono work andmay handle trademark filings for you if your nonprofitis small. At any rate, it’s important to have a lawyerinvolved, as this is an area of law that is fairlycomplex.

ElevenLooking Inside the Funder’s Mind: The Board,the Staff, and Branding

Your grant has been rejected. Did it have anything to dowith the way you presented your organization (i.e.,your ineffective brand identity)? That’s entirelypossible! Grantmakers look long and hard at anorganization while deciding whether or not to fundit; effective branding is, in the broadest sense, a partof that decision.

Recently, Governance Matters, which you readabout in chapter 9, developed a tool called the“Nonprofit Governance Indicator Guide: A Funders’Matrix,” which asks and answers key questions thathelp clarify funders’ concerns regarding the rolegovernance plays in creating a sustainable androbust organization. The answers are written in thevoice of the nonprofit. This insightful interactivetool is for both funders and nonprofits.

Many of the questions and answers in this tool relateto brand development in the broadest sense and aretied together with the important role that the boardand staff play in the development of theorganization’s identity. With Governance Matterslooking on, I rewrote a large part of the Funders’

Matrix (maintaining the Q&A format) interpretingeach question and answer so that it relates moredirectly to branding.

Unlike nonprofits, big business has made a biginvestment in branding; for-profits have many of thesame branding challenges as nonprofits, just in adifferent way.

I also illustrated some of the questions and answerswith for-profit examples. Why for-profits? Unlikenonprofits, big business has made a big investmentin branding; for-profits have many of the samebranding challenges as nonprofits, just in a differentway. Plus some for-profits have nonprofit arms. Themain difference is that for-profits tend to be betterequipped to tackle their branding issues. They knowsolid branding can help them expand, and so they goabout branding more aggressively andprofessionally, whereas nonprofits (which oftenhave tight budgets and depend on volunteer help)may not make growth a top priority. Thiscircumstance poses a conundrum for thenonprofit—to be successful, the nonprofit cannotstagnate, yet it lacks the resources and wherewithalto expand.

Grantmakers’ Question: What structures do themembers of your staff use to ensure thatconstituents’ needs are understood and addressed?

DK’s Interpretation: What research have you done tohave an accurate, up-to-date understanding of youraudiences? What foundation did you build so that your

brand is talking to the people you wish to reach? Is theboard aware of how the organization is perceived and isthat perception in line with the desired brand identity? Isgoodwill seen as a factor?

DK’s Answer: We interviewed and studiedrepresentative samplings from all audiences prior tobranding. When we developed our new Web site/branded materials, we tested them with eachaudience. Our staff, board, and consultants representa range of points of view.

One of the biggest errors in judgment nonprofitsmake is thinking they are the audience—that theyhave an innate understanding of their audience.Extensive and ongoing surveying is the only way tounderstand profoundly whom the organization isserving, and to understand how the organization isperceived.

It is through a range of opinions that true andmeaningful innovation may be cultivated. Forinstance, Apple Computer’s board reflects adiversity of thinking: On board are Mickey Drexler,Al Gore, and Steve Jobs. Currently Mickey Drexleris the chairman of J.Crew and he was the marketinggenius who put Gap on the fast track. Former VicePresident Al Gore is also on the board; his interest intechnology and, specifically, the Internet is, ofcourse, famous. Apple’s CEO is Steve Jobs (he’salso CEO of Pixar, the very high-profile, effectivelybranded computer/entertainment company), who isthe originator of the Apple brand. These are threestrong personalities with very developed opinions,

yet none of them would make the mistake ofsecond-guessing their audience. And they all have akeen understanding of the value of goodwill—thebasis of brand loyalty. All these values get conveyedto the staff, who, of course, are the ultimateimplementers of the organization’s mission.

The point is that your board (and staff) shouldinclude strong personalities with developed opinionsthat are informed by accurate, up-to-date research.The brand is a living, breathing thing that can’t growwithout the right kind of fuel!

Grantmakers’ Question: How do you evaluatethe effectiveness and efficiency of your programsand operations?

DK’s Interpretation: How do you know you’rehaving the desired impact? How do you know youspend your resources wisely?

DK’s Answer: As a nonprofit, our first priority iseffective delivery of services in an efficient way thatmaximizes the use of scarce resources. Our regularannual evaluation of programs and operationsdetermines how successful this has been. The sameprinciple is applied to our organization’s image.Efficiency comes from a high return resulting fromour branded, response-driven materials, includingour Web site. Effectiveness is rated by reactions toour image-driven materials and Web site.

Our staff gathers feedback on our materials (andWeb site), which they synthesize and supply to theboard.

High efficiency and effectiveness are the result ofmaking a substantial investment in a sound plan—including fundraising materials. A typical rationalefor not investing adequately is the expense. Here’s atypical nonprofit conundrum: If we have surplusfunds, shouldn’t it go into programming, notfundraising? While no one wishes to break the bank,here’s a truism: The most expensive fundraising toolis the one that doesn’t work. Which would youchoose: to spend $50,000 to raise $1,000,000 or$5,000 to raise $10,000? Invest wisely.

One efficient approach is to develop a campaigndesigned to accomplish several things at one time(i.e., promote a program but also fundraise).Whatever you do, consider how you will be able toevaluate the success of the approach so you canreplicate and build on it.

Grantmakers’ Question: Does the board approvean annual fundraising plan?

DK’s Interpretation: Does the board know what ittakes to plan for fundraising? Has it acknowledgedthe need for the creation of comprehensivelybranded materials that can also be used infundraising? Does the board (and staff) appreciatethe value that good branding and design play infundraising?

DK’s Answer: The board upholds a high standardfor the organization: Web site/materials are up todate, comprehensive, transparent, and consistentwith our mission and our image, both of whichsupport our fundraising plan.

Our staff creates a powerful, well-designed packet ofmaterials about our programs for each grantproposal. Our Web site has taken into account thefact that funders will scrutinize it.

Frequently, both the board and the staff look atfundraising materials, such as the annual report, toonarrowly. Fundraising is an opportunity to go wellbeyond raising funds: to develop enthusiasm andcommitment to the organization with many differentaudiences, and to develop a clear, credibleperception of the organization. This, in turn, raisesmuch more than just funds. Well-branded materialsare key to that goal.

Board members also leave the planning to staff orconsultants. But silence equals approval, so if theeffort fails, the responsibility should be shared.

Grantmakers’ Question: Is the board playing anappropriate role in the current stage of theorganization’s life cycle?

DK’s Interpretation: How is your board involvedin articulating the brand? In promoting growth? Isyour brand positioned to grow as it evolves?

DK’s Answer: The board is up to speed aboutbranding and signs off on all major brand-relateddecisions. Our branding materials, including ourWeb site, are authoritative, differentiated, and clearbecause there are professional designers, writers,photographers, and/or marketers involved with eachcomponent.

Apple Computer’s concern for branding seemsobvious; they sell brand-driven products. ButApple’s understanding of branding goes muchfurther than any one product: Apple’s canny sense oftheir audiences and their competition has allowedthem to become uniquely identified with computertechnology and entertainment—making it possiblefor Apple to expand from the beige Macintoshdesktop computers of the 1980s to the nouveaudesign of the iMacs to white iBooks to the sleeknessof iPods of today (and beyond!). The broad, strongfamily feeling in product design and promotiongives you the sense that you will always know anApple when you see one.

Image 68.Apple’s iPod

How did they do this? Apple hired brand-savvy staffand consultants, listened to marketing, andinternalized their lessons. The principle is the samefor nonprofits—if the board and staff understandhow to use branding with confidence, they can steerthe organization to evolve in exciting ways becausethe organization is communicating transparently andintelligently as it travels through its life cycle.Otherwise, the cycle can become a circle.

Grantmakers’ Question: How do boardmembers engage their networks to support theorganization’s mission?

DK’s Interpretation: What branded materials(including your Web site) might board members useto articulate the purposes of the organization to theirnetworks, in order to dialogue with and recruitothers?

DK’s Answer: Our board actively uses ourmaterials; it was integrally involved in directing ourmaterials and Web site by providing informedfeedback and approval at all stages.

We have a board-approved “elevator conversation”that each board and key staff member uses to engagecolleagues, strategic partners, and funders in casualconversation about our organization.

Image 69. The Target image is not what you would expectfrom a discount store. That’s a large part of why its brandingworks. It’s unique

Whether at an important meeting or in casualconversation, board members need support in orderto engage others—the kind of support that comeswith well-designed, well-written, solidly brandedmaterials. All board members need to understandand have confidence in the message of theorganization. This seems so obvious! Yet fuzzybranding is the norm in the nonprofit world. Eyesglaze over when board members struggle to explainthe mission. And the ripple effect starts from theboard. Benjamin Warnke, president of WarnkeCommunity Consulting in New York, warns,“Nonprofits will not get anywhere if they can’t learnto clearly say what it is they do.” An elevatorconversation is more gentle and reasonable than anelevator pitch (since a conversation is much morecollaborative than a pitch anyhow— andcollaboration is a concept which is part of mostnonprofit cultures).

Clear communication builds trust. Did you knowthat you can access the Target interactive annualreport from their Web site (www.target.com)? And ifyou scroll down to the bottom of the home page,you’ll see a bar with links to community, diversity(including employees and suppliers), literature,investors, as well as to the Target Foundation, whichfunds arts and social service programs. Access tothis information not only makes clear to everyonewhat and who Target is, but it builds goodwill

(which is highly valued), making it clear why Targetis loved by so many across economic andsociological lines.

This clarity comes from the Target board (whichincludes top executives from major popular brands:Pepsi, UPS, Xerox, General Mills, and Orange) andis very attractive to strategic partners and investors.Is your board composition effective?

Image 70. The Target dog is part of what makes thebranding fun and familiar

Lee Green, longtime director of corporate identityand design at IBM, says the board mix must includecommunicators. He says, “If branding is seen as ahighly strategic opportunity or problem area, itwould be wise to consider adding experiencedprofessionals to the board who are in a good positionto speak to that need.”

Governance Matters for Grantmakers adds, “Ourboard members can accurately identify opportunitiesto raise the organization’s profile in the community.. . . It has a public relations strategy thatcommunicates its message and also attracts supportin the community and/or field. Board members candescribe the mission and key programs accuratelyand demonstrate understanding of their competitiveadvantages and developmental needs.”

Grantmakers’ Question: Do the organization’sprograms reflect its structure and functions?

DK’s Interpretation: Are the programs consistentwith the organization’s mission? Do the materialsand Web site look and feel like they accuratelyreflect your organization?

DK’s Answer: Everything that goes out isdeveloped and scrutinized to meet the test of brandeffectiveness. We have a brand strategy and a brandsteward to keep us on track.

Everything from printed and Web materials, officefurnishings, and the way our receptionist answersthe phone to the way our staff responds to ourconstituency is a reflection of our organization’sbrand.

Image 71. BP is taking a leadership role in the energyarena— a winning approach for customers

You can always tell when an organization has astrong structure for branding. And that means abrand steward has been empowered by the board toput on the brakes if the train is headed off a cliff orabout to take an unscheduled detour. Rememberwhen BP used to be called British Petroleum? It wasa programmatic decision to expand beyond fossilfuel to solar and wind energy. But it was a brandingdecision to change British Petroleum to BeyondPetroleum, and they walk the walk. Some BP gasstations now have solar energy panels on theirislands, and their logo is an ornate sunflower ingreen and yellow. The uncharted alternative energycommitment is a risky and brave stance for anenergy company to take, but it’s one that has

thoroughly differentiated BP from all others:Everything either works to build the brand or todefeat it.

Grantmakers’ Question: Does the board activelysupport efforts to form strategic alliances tomaximize client benefit?

DK’s Interpretation: How does your brandidentity stack up when compared to theorganizations you wish to be associated with? Doyou consider the branding of those you align yourorganization with?

DK’s Answer: Our strategic partners are aharmonious part of our strong foundation. Ourwell-designed, state-of-the-art brand differentiates uswhile highlighting our relevance. We areconsistently branded. Our audiences know who weare and why they should care!

It’s easy enough to view the home page of thoseorganizations that you would like to make a strategicalliance with. Then compare to your site.(Obviously, this is a bit simplistic—anorganization’s branding cannot be judged by its Website alone—but this is a practical way to makecomparisons.) Ask yourself how your organization’sbranding stacks up against theirs. Now look at thesites of your current strategic partners. How do theylook next to your organization’s? You are known bythe company you keep!

To recap:

The board is key to sound branding.

Understanding and implementing a solid brandingprogram is essential to funding.

Getting good, brand-savvy staff and professionalsinvolved in your organization is of paramountimportance to branding and funding.

Funding Branding for Nonprofits

I asked Donna Panton, funding consultant tononprofits and president of Rillbrook Consulting, Inc.,an organization development consulting firm in NewYork City, to answer some direct questions about thefunding of branding for nonprofits.

Q: If they see it as such an important factor inthe sustainability of the nonprofit, why don’tfunders fund branding?

A: They will fund branding, but not when it isapproached as cosmetics. Tie it into education,and the funder will understand that you arereaching out to your constituency. The recastingof an organization goes much deeper than thedesign of a logo and, in that context, brandingcan become a program enhancement, if yournew persona and message improve the servicesyou provide.

Q: If an organization is re-branding in order tobolster itself, is that fundable?

A: Play to your strengths, not to your weaknesses.You won’t get funding if you are running fromsomething. You have to approach branding in apositive way. If you’re redirecting the branding ofthe organization, point to the future, not the past.

Q: Who funds branding?

A: The Foundation Center database is perhaps thebest source for leads to funders. It’s availableonline for a small fee and in many publiclibraries, and at the Foundation Centers in NewYork, San Francisco, Atlanta, Cleveland, andWashington for free. To find out who might fundbranding, use keywords like “outreach,” “publicrelations,” “publications,” “conferences,”“education,” “technical assistance,” “expansion,”“capacity-building,” or “sustainable” in the searchfunction.

Q: Who funds printing of materials? Who fundsconsultants?

A: Corporations and corporate foundations havebeen known to fund printing. Ideas That Matter isthe annual grant awarded by Sappi(www.sappi.com), which funds prepress, printing,and paper, but not consultants’ fees.

If funders you have a solid relationship with reallylike what you’re doing, they might be able to dipinto discretionary funds. This could includefunding of planners, designers, photographers,and other consultants. It’s really vital thatorganizations develop and maintain a goodrelationship with their funders. They are then

more inclined to listen to your more innovativeideas.

Q: Does the culture of the organization affectfunding?

A: The culture of an organization is palpable withinits walls. That culture is also perceptible to thepublic through the organization’s marketingmaterials, including its Web site and grantproposals. If you offer a competent, welcoming,compassionate environment with effectiveprograms, then your materials should reflect that,and you hope that your funders will feel assuredthat money given to you will be well spent.

TwelveOn the Evolution of Branding: You’ve ComeSuch a Long, Long Way, Baby!

It’s shortsighted to think that branding developed in theearly days of industrialization, with the start ofpackaged, mass-produced products. Yet this is whatmany people think. And as a result, branding isassociated with commercialization—and this is avery narrow view to take, to say the least.

The public also tends to think that brandingmanipulates, and that attitude breeds animosity andmistrust within the marketplace. And, althoughbranding is neutral, indeed, this can be true, sinceeven the earliest consumer products used hiddenpersuasion— their agendas ranging from angelic todownright sinister:

Quakers were thought to be extraordinarily honestbusinessmen, so the concept of the religion ofQuakerism was used to convey product integrity.Customers flocked to brands like Quaker Oats,Quaker Sugar, and Quaker Oil. (The logo included aman in a flat black hat, which inevitably identifiedthe company as Quaker.)

Harley Procter’s religious furor inspired him toname his new white soap “Ivory.” Ivory Snow washis spokesperson; “99 44/100 percent pure” was hismotto. In fact, America’s most popular soap wasnamed from the pulpit, after Psalm 45:8: “All thygarments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, out ofthe ivory palaces whereby they have made theeglad.”

With so many horrendous examples of brandmanipulation in the public eye, it’s not hard tounderstand why some people think branding is evil.

Coca-Cola was developed as a nerve tonic by anAtlanta druggist who, blatantly ignoring theaddictive powers of the coca leaf, called it an“invigorator of the brain.”

Early ads for the highly addictive Camel cigarettesstated that you could “Smoke as many as you want.They never get on your nerves.” And, of course,RJR Tobacco famously went on to use the overtlysexual imagery of Joe Camel to ensnare the mostsusceptible of future smokers—teenage boys. Thegeneral condemnation of the tobacco industry’s JoeCamel caused Joe’s demise.

A lawsuit was filed against McDonald’s, on behalfof two children in New York, which accused thecompany of misleading kids about the nutritionalvalue of their burgers and fries. The case is onappeal. It shows the fine line between savvyconsumers who are wary of being manipulated for

profit and those out to make money from thisignorance. The lawsuit motivated people to filecopycat lawsuits and inspired a critically acclaimedindependent film called Super Size Me, wherein thedirector/producer/star ate only McDonald’s food fora month to ascertain its detrimental effects, whichwere many, some very serious.

With so many horrendous examples of brandmanipulation in the public eye, it’s not hard tounderstand why some people think branding isdownright evil; that it promotes decadence andindulgence; that branding is, in and of itself,emblematic of the degeneration of society.

Of course, in the early days, “branding” was not aterm—marketing, advertising, or corporate identitywere the monikers used. Branding is a relatively newidea in that sense, and it combines all of the aboveand more. But because branding is often identifiedwith filthy lucre and abuse of power, people oftenhave a negative response to the word itself. Theymay substitute “spirit” or “style” or some other wordfor branding to eradicate the stigma. My opinion: itis still branding no matter what you call it.

But branding is simply a tool—and the tendency tobrand is inherent in us all, for better or for worse.For every example of manipulative branding, youcan find thousands that are straightforward. The RedCross, ACLU, Campbell Soup, Johnson & Johnson,Amnesty International, Heinz, Ben & Jerry’s, theWorld Wildlife Fund, Neutrogena, the NationalGeographic Society, HBO, Memorial

Sloan-Kettering, Silk Soy products, Oprah, and JetBlue are just a few of the respected names that relyon branding to make it clear what they offer us, howthey enrich, ease, or protect our lives.

As Princeton ethicist and philosopher KwameAnthony Appiah puts it, “Humans areidentity-bearing and identity-creatingcreatures.…It’s something we make up. We have tolearn to manage it.” Identity (or branding) in thebroadest sense is a confirmation of who we are. It’sa way of establishing individuality. Branding is thesystematic way we establish identity for ourselves.And it has always been this way.

Humanity Brands!The dawn of man: The first tribe was not branded,the second tribe was. In order for the second tribe todistinguish itself from the first, it needed to branditself. And as soon as the second tribe branded, thefirst one probably did as well. And it’s been that wayever since, especially in America where thecompetitive advantage is hard won, highly valued.

One of the earliest symbols designed by humans wasthe wheel of life—what we call the swastika. Thissymbol is found in many places in the world,notably in India and in the earliest artifacts of thepeople we ironically call Indians—the first peoplesof our land. What fallacious branding! AmerigoVespucci did not discover America and Columbusdid not discover India when he landed here, yet werefer to the people who were here first as American

Indians. And, of course, the swastika was famouslyexploited in the twentieth century in Nazi Germany.From that time on, this very powerful and positiveicon has been associated with evil, at least in theWestern mind. And so when young Prince Harry ofGreat Britain wore a Nazi armband to a party inBritain, he was admonished as thoughtless andcallous. To wear an armband with a swastika (from aSanskrit word, svatika, meaning well-being, goodfortune, luck) in India, however, would, if anything,get you a nod and the salutation “namestae ji,”because the swastika is a positive symbol in that partof the world and remains ubiquitous there.

Image 72. Goods carrier from Rajasthan, India, displays agood luck sign, shoe, and devil as protection. Photographby DK Holland

In the East, where religion and magical thinking arepowerful, pervasive, interlocked forces, symbols are

meant to protect and alert people. India’s peoples areblessed with seemingly boundless creativity, oftenused to express their complex and imaginativethinking. Goods carriers, the buses that haul peopleand cargo across the treacherous roads of India andother countries of the region, are adorned withsymbols of protection: devils, shoes, wheels of life,birds, lions. The drivers feel these symbols keep thetrucks safe as they speed along on rocky, potholed,two-lane highways and negotiate hairpin turns in themountainous areas (they don’t use turnsignals—they honk instead). And because the trucksmust be taxed as they travel through differentregions of India, the design of each fleet of trucks isunique to its district—a practical use of branding.

Image 73. A goods carrier with the wheel of life on itswindshield. Photograph by DK Holland

Image 74. A reminder to the drivers behind that their Hinduwives are waiting for them, so they should drive carefully!Photograph by DK Holland

Brilliant color is a large element in the brand identityof India. That’s because many of its religions ascribespecific values to each color in the spectrum: If youare Hindu, on certain days you wear blue, and onothers you must never wear white. Nothing is left tochance. Since many of the religions of India havesimilar beliefs—Sikhs, Janes, Hindus, Muslims, andBuddhists—each has its own distinctive (branded)dress and color identity to distinguish people by ageand gender. And so an extraordinary amount ofintense color and colorful symbols dot the landscapeas you travel around the country.

When Beauty Does the Bidding of EvilMany of the tools Hitler exploited co-opted beauty.Wagner’s music and the posters and architecture ofthe Third Reich were powerful, majestic—andattractive. Beauty attracts.

Hitler co-opted the swastika for his logo. He chosethe colors for their meaning—black (revolution),white (national purity), and red (society). He wrotein Mein Kampfthat “For the future it was unbearableto lack an emblem that had the character of a symbolof the movement and that as such could be put up inopposition to the communists.” He added, “The newflag had to be as much a symbol of our own fight as,on the other hand, it had to have an effect as great asthat of a poster. . . . In hundreds of thousands ofcases, an effective emblem can give the first impetusfor the interest in the movement.” As abhorrent as

Nazi Germany was, the beauty and power of thebranding of the Third Reich was and is undeniable.

War BrandsAnother use of branding is seen in the uniforms ofthe military. From the beginning of man, warringfactions each had a uniform clearly designed todifferentiate its troops from its enemy’s, to scare offits foes, to show off its machismo, and to keep itssoldiers from being killed (or, if killed, allowing fortheir bodies to be found).

And the same is true today: Opposing guerrillaarmies in America’s inner cities—the Bloods andCrips— identify themselves by using red or blueclothing, respectively. How ironically American!They wear bandanas, create unique graffiti in theircommunities, and tag themselves with tattoos (i.e.,logos) to differentiate themselves and their gangsfrom the others. Would there be a Bloods if therewere no Crips?

They play off each other. And, like mirror images,they both chose bandanas, tattoos, and graffiti torepresent their brands. And, in turn, this brandingprovides a sense of community for these inner-citykids, misguided though it may be.

Image 75. A married Tibetan woman in chupa and apron.Photograph by DK Holland

Religion as Brand

Tibetan Buddhism is a brand in distress, itsconstituents largely in exile struggling to retain theiridentity, community, and unique belief system.

Their colors are saffron-orange and red; theirspiritual leader is the Dalai Lama. His teachings andthe Tibetan Buddhist belief system all modelsimplicity, compassion, and inward peace. This istheir brand.

Tibetan girls are branded by one simple and verybeautiful dress, a chupa. They wear no other stylesof clothing. When they marry, they simply add anapron. The lack of choice limits distractions for theTibetan (a very joyful extroverted people), keepingthe focus on the community, inner spirit, not theworldly self.

When China forced the Dalai Lama to flee hishomeland in 1959, India invited His Holiness tocreate Tibet in Exile, in Dharamsala, on the side of amountain at the foothills of the Himalayas. TheNorbulingka Institute was established nearby andhouses a complex including temple, nunnery, andmonastery—a spiritual community and touristattraction. It also has a café with authentic Tibetancuisine and a shop where high-quality classicTibetan crafts are made and sold all over the worldto help preserve the culture of Tibet. A unique colorpalette and a variety of symbols are part of thebranding that distinguishes Tibetan arts and craftsfrom those of the other cultures of the region.

Confusing the world image of Tibetan Buddhism isthe co-option of Tibet by China, which has

repopulated Lhasa with Chinese Buddhists loyal tothe Chinese government and proclaimed a ChinesePanchen Lama as their spiritual leader. | They havealso “re-branded” the Tibetan experience byrecreating pseudo-authentic and elaboratelyproduced staging of the ancient dance rituals ofTibet.

Most, if not all, religions are branded. The CatholicChurch has embraced branding such as the cross, thenuns’ habits, and priests’ vestments—the amice, alb,cincture, maniple, stole, chasuble, tunicle, dalmatic,cope, buskins, mitre, gallium, succinctorium, andfanon. The rituals, cathedrals, and pope himself arepart of the brand. In fact, the Holy See has one of themost magnificent, visually attractive, andsophisticated Web sites on the Internet, whichincludes virtual visits to the Vatican and a mass ledwithin its walls by the pope, a beautiful andpowerful spiritual ritual. Many products come fromVatican City— rosaries, bed sheets, even luggagemedals, including a St. Anthony relic medal thatcontains “a small piece of linen touched to thesaint’s uncorrupted tongue,” recently at auction oneBay.

Image 76. A hand-painted building at the NorbulingkaInstitute, near Dharamsala, India. Photograph by DKHolland

Image 77. The Web site for the Vatican

America the Branded

Image 78. America the Branded

Image 79. What impression does this Web site leave youwith?

America is a state of mind, and people from all overthe world strive to become part of that mindset. It’sone of the largest, most complex brands: the flag—red, white, and blue; the name itself—the UnitedStates of America; the architecture of the capital; thesongs, monuments, and its folklore; the melting pot;the can-do attitude. They all reinforce the bigpromises of freedom, happiness, diversity, andrespect for the individual: Everything talked about in

the Constitution is part of the brand. Sub-brands likeCalifornia, Texas, and New York reinforce thebigness and boldness of the place.

If America were to eliminate immigration forpolitical refugees, for instance, the brand promise of“liberty and justice for all” would lose integrity andtherefore meaning. If the Constitution—the U.S.A.’s“mission statement”—were compromised, the brandwould erode. How well America keeps its brandpromise (through the management of itsgovernment, corporations, institutions, etc.) defeatsor builds its brand.

President George W. Bush, MBA, decided tore-brand the United States in an effort to change theincreasingly negative view of America existingbeyond its borders. Charlotte Beers, celebrated asthe “Queen of Branding” among the public relationscognoscenti, was named Undersecretary of State forPublic Diplomacy and Public Affairs three shortweeks after 9/11. Her job was explaining and sellingthe Bush administration’s foreign policy, especiallythe war on terrorism. “Why do they hate us?” wasrephrased, in adspeak, as “How do we reposition thebrand?”

To help win market shares from the jihads, Beers,the former chairwoman of the advertising agency, J.Walter Thompson Worldwide, received a $520million congressional appropriation to focus on“disaffected populations,” especially in the MiddleEast and South Asia. As Beers testified, “a poorperception of the U.S. leads to unrest, and unrest has

proven to be a threat to our national andinternational security.” She added that with theU.S.A. brand, as with any great brand, “Theleverageable asset is the emotional underpinning ofthe brand— or what people believe, what they think,how they feel when they use it.”

But this contrived idea was met with great mistrust.Plus it was seen as manipulative to put anadvertising executive in a government position.Beers’s tenure was cut short. She resigned less thantwo years later.

Coming to UnityWith branding comes a lot of intangible benefits.Early warriors must have felt unstoppable when theycamouflaged themselves by putting on war paint andbreastplates, dancing in unison as they went off towar. And that sameness or anonymity and volumecommunicated a sense of threatening power thathelped them take on their enemies. (The sameclearly would not have been true had they slipped ontutus and colored their lips pink.)

So in that sense, branding becomes a tool forcreating unity of purpose. What does communicationmean, after all, but community, common, unity?

Tibetan Buddhists, neo-Nazis, the Crips and theBloods, Catholics, and Americans share commonground in that each is striving to express a commonpoint of view—to communicate to a community and,often, to coalesce a diverse group.

Branding has been a language of persuasion, usingclichés and conceits for good and for bad ever sinceman first walked the Earth. Some of the examplesI’ve included in this chapter were conscious attemptsto brand. Some were naturally occurring identitieswhere branding happened automatically, just as antsinstinctively create an anthill.

Not only is branding necessary, but it is happeningwhether you have taken charge of it or not. And ifyou have competition or opposition, surely theyhave access to branding as well. Branding, identity,style, marketing—whatever you want to call it—isthere to be taken advantage of by everyone,including nonprofits, especially nonprofits.

So just do it! You. I’m talking to you!

BrandingResourcesHere are more useful tools to help you develop and

nurture your nonprofit brand.

Appendix A: The Aish branding guidelines willshow you the depth of a brand system, and how tocoordinate it in a range of applications withoutbecoming boring or redundant.

Appendix B: “Branding the AIGA” is a documentthat shows how one organization tackled the issue ofgetting and keeping its membership engaged in theprocess of branding.

Appendix C: BAM Graphic Standards Guide

Appendix D: The Governance Matters preliminarypresentation presented to its membership forratification.

The Brand Glossary contains all the words andphrases you will need to know in order tocommunicate about branding.

Additional resources may be found on my Web site,www.dkholland.com.

Appendix AAish Branding Guide—“Guidelines Without theGuilt”

Author: Lynn Altman,Viverito + AltmanBrandmaker Express.Design: BernhardtFudyma DesignGroup

ResourcesThe Quark templates (for Mac platforms

only)

Templates:Aish_palmcard_50/50.qxt

Aish_palmcard_1/3-2/3.qxtAish_palmcard_all-type.qxt

Aish_postcard_50/50.qxtAish_postcard_1/3-2/3.qxt

Aish_postcard_all-type.qxt

Aish_folded_flyer_50/50.qxtAish_folded_flye r_1/3-2/3.qxt

Aish_flat_flyer_50/50.qxtAish_flat_flyer_1/3-2/3.qxt

33

Contact the following people with any questions orfor guidance in the production of all advertising,direct mail or other promotion materials.

Shayna Goldsmith Adam Jacobs313 West 83rd Street 313 West 83rd StreetNew York, NY 10024 New York, NY 10024212-579-1388 ext.33 212-579-1388 ext.25sgoldsmith@aish.com ajacobs@aish.com

Rabbi Elazar Grunberger Talia Edgar8149 Delmar Boulevard 7717 Gannon #2ESt Louis, MO 63130 St Louis, MO 63130314-862-2474 314-725-2663egrunberger@aish.com tedgar@aish.com

ImagesReasonably priced stock photographs areavailable form various sources. Some stockphotography houses even offer collections ofimages on disc (‘royalty-free’ only) as well assingle images.

Please note that if you purchase a‘rights-managed’ image you will ONLY be able to

use the image in the single piece that you havebought those rights to use it in. And you can onlyuse it one time. Any other usage of that image willrequire that you obtain additional rights for thatimage with the company that you purchased itfrom. Please consult with the company whenpurchasing the image to learn about the rights youare buying as each company is different.

However, most stock image companies do have‘royalty-free’ images that they sell. What does thismean? It means that when you purchase a‘royalty-free’ image you can use it as often as youlike on as many pieces as you like without havingto pay additional fees. Again, please consult withthe company when purchasing the image to learnabout the rights you are buying as each companyis different.

Some stock companies to check out (these are afew of many):www.gettyone.comwww.veer.comwww.masterfile.comwww.corbis.comwww.photonica.comwww.nonstock.comwww.agefotostock.com

FontThe Profile font can be purchased online atwww.fontfont.com with Mac and PC versionsavailable. Make sure you purchase the correctversion as the PC fonts will not work on Macs and

vice-versa. For pricing and policies please reviewcompany website.

IntroductionContents

The Brand Attributes 3Page Architecture 4

Imagery 5Typeface 6

Color Palette 7The Headline Structure and Tone 9

The Look-and-Feel 10Flyers 12

Postcards and Palmcards 13The ‘Learning Cafe’ 14

Invitations 15Advertising 18

The Signature/Address 19

Before and After Examples 20

Resources 33

2

As Aish’s membership, branches and offeringscontinue to grow and our communication efforts

increase, it is important to maintain a clearlyfocused identity and “personality” in our variousadvertising, direct mail and announcementvehicles. By adhering to a visually cohesive set ofgraphic and copy guidelines we will present aconsistent imprimatur that will not only increaserecognition of our name and offerings, but also,over time, will become synonymous with ourreputation for providing entertaining, interestingand meaningful programs for the Jewishcommunity.

The identity system outlined on the followingpages introduces the overall brand attributes andexplains their characteristics, interrelationshipsand applications. It is based on a clean, open andminimalist page layout and a distinctive voice.Although the elements on the page areconsistently organized, there is ample creativeelbow room to allow the creation of all manner ofAish communications.

These guideline structured in four sections:– In the first section, the five key brand attributes

are introduced, with examples of the visualcharacteristics and discussion of the desiredtone and “attitude” for headlines and copy.

– Then, in the second section, everything is puttogether in various combinations to show howmaterials of all kinds can be produced.

– The third section is a brief description oflogovariations and which ones to use in differentprinting situations.

– And finally, a sampling of “makeovers” that usesactual Aish materials and shows how theywould/could look if they had been designedwithin the new branding guidelines.

These guidelines provide the neededspecifications to enable the many Aish personnelresponsible for the creation of our communicationsto apply the proper formatting, style and “attitude”to all of the materials that we produce in the future.

Brand attributesThe five major building blocks of Aish’s

new identity are:

The underlying grid/page architecture.The characteristics/handling of imagery.

The Profile font.The color palette(s).Headline/Copy tone.

These attributes are explained in moredepth on the following pages, and, as you

will see, although they are well defined,they all have options that provide the

flexibility needed to accommodate differenttypes of components, structures, varying

content and amounts of copy, differentstyles of imagery and varying printing

requirements.

Even with this high degree of flexibility, ifapplied properly, the various combinationsof these attributes will result in a consistent

“look-and-feel” for all manner of Aishcommunications.

*Rectangular and silhouette image styles areused exclusively with specific page

architectures. More detailed specifications aboutimagery usage appear on page 5.

3

TypefaceProfile Light Profile RegularProfile Light Italic Profile Regular Italic

Profile Medium Profile BoldProfile Medium Italic Profile Bold Italic

Copy Tone(See page 9)

Page architectureMost single page items (flyers, bulletinboard announcements, postcards* and

palmcards) are composed in a landscapeorientation.

The two optional page configurations, bothdivide the page on the horizontal axis, one

at the mid-point, the other into a 1/3 - 2/3proportion. Each configuration has different

possibilities for the application of imageryand background colors:

When using the mid-point (50/50) axis, theleft half of the page always contains a

rectangular image, with the right halffeaturing the headline and all other

message copy** When using the 1/3 - 2/3axis, a silhouette image is always used.

The image also spans the line between thetwo portions of the page to some degree.This configuration can be used with either

size field on the left or right, with acompletely white background, or with a

color field in either one of the two fields.***

Also note that all flyer/mailer typecomponent templates have been designed

with an intentional, consistent, 1/4-inchwhite border so that they can be

reproduced on most conventional laserprinters that don’t print to the edge of the

page. If you are printing any item with aprofessional printer, you can “bleed” the

images and color fields if desired.

*Text only postcards are held vertically for thefront. (See page 12 for details)

4

50/50 Configuration

**The right half of a 50/50 configuration can retaina white background, or apply a color to that field.1/3 - 2/3 Configuration

***When using a color in either field, the edge ofthat color field automatically delineates the 1/3 -2/3 proportion. However, when using a totallywhite background, the proportion must be ndicatedwith a rule (see rule specs on page 10).

ImageryAgain, depending on the page

configuration chosen, the image used willbe either a rectangular contained image

(for 50/50 pages) or a free-floatingsilhouetted image (for 1/3 - 2/3 pages).

Either type of image can be handled in avariety of styles: Rectangular images canbe full color, a black halftone* over a solid

color background or a color halftone over asecond color background. (See figures 1, 2

and 3;)

Silhouette images can also be full color orblack and white halftones (figures 4 and 5).

In addition, there is a style for silhouettesthat manipulates the original photo byvarying degrees to create a more high

contrast, grainier and/or multiple exposedimage.** (Figures 6, 7 and 8.)

*A halftone is an image reproduced in its fulltonal range in a single color.

**This technique requires a knowledge ofPhotoshop or other software with image

manipulation capabilities. It is a good way toovercome pictures of poor quality or make

images of different styles consistent.

5

TypefacesThere is only one font used for all text/copy

elements.

That font is Profile.

The font can be used in any of the weightsand/or italics shown at the right.

In all but the smallest point sizes, text isalways negatively tracked or tightly kerned

and leaded. *

Most samples in this document, the fontdisplay at the right and all page headings

are tracked (kerned) a minimum of -4, withcertain letter pairs kerned even tighter. Thedegree of negative leading is based on theparticular arrangement of negative kerning

negative leading ascending anddescending letters - or the lack thereof.

*Kerning/tracking is the adjustment of thespaces between individual letters or words.Leading is the space between lines of text.

There is no set formula for the degree ofkerning and leading, but rather it is basedon the overall visual characteristics of the

individual headline, letter pairs, the size ofthe component and the ability to do so in

any given situation.

Punctuation (including quotes, commas,etc.) should also be kerned as necessary.

If ellipses are needed, they should becreated by using 3 individual periods which

can also be kerned tighter.

6

Profile LightProfile Light Italic

Profile RegularProfile Regular Italic

Profile MediumProfile Medium Italic

Profile BoldProfile Bold ItalicThe Profile font can be purchased online atwww.fontfont.com with Mac and PC versionsavailable. Make sure you purchase the correctversion as the PC fonts will not work on Macs andvice-versa. For pricing and policies please reviewcompany website.

Color paletteThere are twelve colors in the core palette.

They have been chosen to help maintainconsistency while providing sufficient

variation to compliment most possibleimagery and have other appropriate

usages based on the season or a specificevent.

The 12 colors in the core palette consist ofthe three primary colors (red, yellow and

blue), the three secondary colors (orange,green and violet) and the six tertiary colors.

The chart at the right gives both thePantone match colors and the four-color

equivalent for each.

These core colors are of a moresophisticated nature. Therefore, we havealso developed ancillary palettes (for theprimary and secondary colors only) that

may be more suitable for communicationswith different constituencies (such ascollege students or children) or about

certain types of events (such as a comedynight, a mother/child pottery painting class

or a ‘70s theme party).

Those ancillary palettes, and an additionalselection of neutral colors, are displayed

on the following page.

PLEASE NOTE that due to the differencesof color printers and monitors, color should

be determined only by using a printedPantone PMS/CMYK swatch book and notby their appearance when viewing them on

a screen or printed by a desktop colorprinter.

7

Color palette

There are three ancillary palettes thatcorrespond to the core primary and

secondary colors:

The ‘clean’ palette.The ‘pastel’ palette.The ‘bright’ palette.

The “clean” and “pastel” palettes may bemore suitable for most of the

communications to young married couples,children and those of the Jewish Family

Institute, while the “bright” palette maywork better for the college crowd and Aish

Fellowship communications.

There is also a palette of “neutral” colorsthat can be used in conjunction with any of

the other colors, or when a neutral is thethe most compatible with the colors in anaccompanying image or necessitated by

the seriousness of the topic.

The charts at the right and below give boththe Pantone match colors and the

four-color equivalent for each of the colorsin these ancillary palettes.

Neutral

8

Headlines

9

The tonality of the pieces you create can be just asimportant as the visuals you choose. The brandwe’re creating for Aish is approachable, friendly,witty and definitely Jewish. When you createheadlines, you want them to sound natural andeasygoing, without a lot of technical-speak in theheadline itself. The purpose of a headline is topromote the event or the subject of your piece.Therefore, whatever you say should be enough tocreate some interest for people to read more. Asubhead or other lead-in phrase to the descriptivecopy can continue and/or quantify the thought ormeaning of the headline.

In order to master the new “voice” of Aish, here area few very practical rules for the creation ofheadlines. They are quite flexible and easy:– Headlines should be written in normal sentence

structure with no capitals (except for propernames) and a period or other properpunctuation at the end.

– Headlines should always relate to the picture insome way

– The best headlines use more colloquiallanguage and relate directly to the event orsubject.

– For the young singles, headlines shouldalways be witty and, in best cases, brief.

– For young families, you can take a morestraightforward tone but still be sure to talk to

the picture and/or the event. A lot of headlinesthat were used to promote a program, forexample “Make your good marriage great,” canstill be used without a problem.

– For college, you can also include one-word ortwo-word headlines that are quick and attentiongetting.

What will make this headline approach ownable toAish is the infinite number of potential referencesto all things Jewish—from nomenclature tonomenculture, Jewish foods, places, sayings,slangs, spellings, words, sounds,artifacts—anything. This is not to say that a Jewishreference is always necessary. Sometimes justbeing clever will be enough to carry the day, but ifyou can include such a reference, your audiencewill feel as if he/she is on the “inside” of this joke.

Where Learning Cafe type pieces are concerned,ideally there should also be a reference to coffeeand possibly the subject(s) being discussed at thatsession. Again, where you can add a little“oy-mph” and include a cultural reference, great!

The look and feelAgain, Aish’s new identity is based on aclean, open and minimalist page layout.

The elements on the page are consistentlyorganized and arranged depending on the

type of component being produced, theamount/composition of the content and the

chosen page architecture.

There are usually only four types ofelements: The headline, he image(s), the

necessary descriptive text and the logo/tagline signature. (Additional information

on these elements are describedelsewhere in this document.) There are

never any additional borders, boxes,shapes or graphics*

Copy field backgrounds are either white orone of the Aish palette colors and

headlines are always one of the palettecolors or a value thereof. Body copy and

other descriptive text is predominantlyblack, but color may be used when needed

for emphasis, clarity or differentiation.

*The interiors of some communications mayneed such elements tohelp organize complex

material. See the Aish New York ‘Learning Cafe‘ materials shown on page 13 as an example.

10

The look and feelAll headlines are set in Profile MediumAlthough there is an ideal point size for

flyers (see next page) most componentswill be set in point sizes that allow for the

largest possible headline depending on its

overall length line breaks or the length ofits longest word (Never hyphenate a word

in a headline.)

For headlines that run more than one lineleading will also vary depending on theparticular combination of words and the

arrangement of their ascenders anddescenders. In general leading should be

as tight as possible to make the overallcopy block visually even and balanced.*

Contrast among the various text elementsis also an important factor No two adjacent

copy elements should be only slightlydifferent in size color or weight from one

another.

All headlines and text are set flush left orright against either the edge of the page

the edge of a photo or a vertical line This isa critical part of the identity system.**

*See page 6 for a showing of allweights and styles of the Profile font and afurther explanation ofleading.

**The vertical line (rule) that appears somewhereon all components is always 1/2 point in weight

and always prints in the same color as theheadline that accompanies it on the page. (On

the back side of postcards or other one-colorsurfaces, the rule - and any other text/image

element, prints black.) This rule varies in length(height) based on the volume of text that it

accompanies and/or amount of space availablebelow the headline to accommodate it.

11

FlyersFlyers are always 8.5" x 11" and are

usually composed in a horizontal(landscape) format* Although each flyer willhave its own unique image, headline, colorand volume of text, the templates provided

for these – and all other basic components- are pre-set with the underlying page grid,

fonts and other elements that can simplybe modified as necessary.

The ideal point size for the headline text is112 point, but, depending on the longest

word in your headline, it may be necessaryto use a slightly smaller point size in order

to avoid having to hyphenate a word.

Headlines can be of varying numbersoflines but should always start 3/4 inch

from the top of the page. Also, the verticalrule and the subhead or first line of

message text should always be 1/2 inchfrom the bottom of the last line of the

headline.

Subtitles are set 16 point using ProfileRegular. Most descriptive text is Profile

Light (10 point on 12 points ofleading), withother weights, italics and or color for

highlight or emphasis as needed.

The date, time, location and cost text is setin 8 point on 10 points ofleading.

Hint: Use emphasis sparingly, as too manypoints of emphasis results in a busy page

with nothing really being emphasized.

*In certain circumstances, a flyer may beintended to be a self mailer rather than a flat

handout. (See the ‘Learning Cafe’ materials onpage 14 for more specifics.)

12

For flat flyers, use QuarkXpress template:Aish_flat_flyer_50/50.qxtAish_flat_flyer_1/3-2/3.qxt

For folded flyers, use QuarkXpress template:Aish_folded_flyer_50/50.qxtAish_folded_flyer_1/3-2/3.qxt

Postcards andPalmcards

Postcards and palmcards can be producedin either a vertical or horizontal orientation.

Postcards are always 5" x 7" andpalmcards always 4" x 3".

When either uses a headline only (with noimagery)* they are composed in a vertical

(portrait) orientation on the front but with atraditional horizontal orientation on the

back. In such cases, the front prints in oneof the palette colors (as a full bleed

background color) and uses a 30% tint ofthat same color for the headline The backside prints in black only - unless the flamein the Aish logo is to be red. (See page 19

for specifics on the logo printing.)

When either size card uses an image anda headline, they are designed with a

horizontal orientation and can use anypage architecture or appropriate variationof imagery style. Again, the back side can

print one or two colors.

*Only postcards and palmcards can beproduced without imagery, and can rely on

the cleverness of the headline to attractattention.

For 5"x7" postcards, use QuarkXpresstemplate:

Aish_postcard_50/50.qxtAish_postcard_1/3-2/3.qxtAish_postcard_all-type.qxt

For 4"x3" cards, use QuarkXpresstemplate:

Aish_palmcard_50/50.qxtAish_palmcard_1/3-2/3.qxtAish_palmcard_all-type.qxt

13

The Learning CafeMaterials produced to promote the

Learning Cafe or other similar eventsalways use a unique color to help identify

them. This color is part of the neutralpalette: Pantone 161 - or its 4 color

equivalent (C0M52Y100K64). This color isused exclusively on Learning Cafe

materials. All other grid, font, image andcopy tone rules for a flyer remain the

same.

Folded, self mailing flyers are a specialsituation. Although they are the same 8.5"x 11" proportion as a regular flat flyer, they

are created in a vertical orientation and,when folded, resemble a postcard on the

outside.

The detailed information that appears onthe inside also has a set format and gridthat utilizes additional graphic elementssuch as color tint areas to help organize

information and the silhouetted coffee cupimage.

For flat flyers, use QuarkXpress template:Aish_flat_flyer_50/50.qxt

Aish_flat_fly e r_1/3- 2/3.qxt

For folded flyers, use QuarkXpresstemplate:

Aish_folded_flyer_50/50.qxtAish_folded_flyer_1/3-2/3.qxt

14

InvitationsInvitations have a folded size the same as

that of a postcard (5" x 7") but can have asmany open panels as necessary to

accommodate the required content. If morethan a simple/single fold, all invitations

utilize a ‘roll fold’ structure to revealadditional information.

Since there are numerous possiblehorizontal dimensions for invitations, a

single template is not possible. Therefore,invitations will have to be constructed from

scratch within QuarkXpress.

Remember: When utilizing a gate fold orroll fold structure, each panel after the firsttwo must be made successively smaller by1/16” to allow it to fold inside the previous

one.

A. Simple Fold (5" x 7" when folded, 10" x7" flat).

B. Gate Fold (5" x 7" when folded, 14 and15/16" x 7" flat).

C. Roll Fold (5" x 7" folded, ?" x 7" flat).The length of roll fold structures will va ry

depending upon how many panels youneed.

15

InvitationsHeadlines (and images) should also be

developed to take advantage of the roll foldstructure.

In this case the roll fold reveals picture/headlin pairs.

16

InvitationsHeadlines (and images) should also be

developed to take advantage of the roll foldstructure.

In this case the roll fold reveals theheadline.

17

AdvertisingAs with most other components, ads

should be created with image and headlinepairs. A single image/headline could be ahorizontal 1/2 page ad or a double-page

spread in a standard publication format. Asequence of image/headline pairs could be

used for transit advertising in buses,subways or cab tops.

Since each advertising situation will havedifferent size/proportion requirements, you

must adapt the general look and feelaccordingly. Therefore, no templates havebeen created for advertising, but all other

font, color and design specs remain thesame.

18

The SignatureThe Aish logo, the tagline and the websiteURL make up the sign-off that appears at

the bottom of all advertising and promotionmaterials.

The elements of the signature are alwaysin a fixed size ratio and relative position to

one another. As you will see in theexamples used throughout this document,

the signature is always placed incombination with the line at the bottom of

the page.

The logo has been created as a singlepiece of electronic art that can be easily

scaled to fit materials of various sizes.

The standard version of the logo used a flamethat must be created using four-color process

printing. When doing so, use this version.However, there is a version with a simplifiedflame icon that can be printed in a single red

color when there is no need (or budget) forfour-color printing. That single red color is PMS

1805.There is also a version of the logo that replaces theflame with a coffee bean for all Learning Cafe type

materials or a heart for Jewish Family Institutematerials.

19

IgnitingJewish Pridewww.aish.com

4 ColorProcess(Forprintingfull color)

IgnitingJewish Pridewww.aish.com

Greyscale(Forprinting inBlackonly)

IgnitingJewish Pridewww.aish.com

TwoColor(Usegreyscaleart, butprintflame inPMS1805)

IgnitingJewish Pridewww.aish.com

4 ColorProcess(Forprintingfull color)

IgnitingJewish Pridewww.aish.com

TwoColor(Usegreyscaleart, butprint heartin PMS1805)

IgnitingJewish Pridewww.aish.com

MakeoversThe following pages feature actual

materials previously produced by Aish that,if they had been produced within the new

graphic standards, illustrate how theywould reinforce a consistent and strong

brand identity.

PLEASE NOTE: The makeovers are notactual new materials in use, but rather“hypothetical” illustrations to show how

current communications could be executedusing the brand attributes.

Before

20

After

Before

21

After

Before

22

After

Before

23

After

Before

24

After

Before

25

After

Before

26

After

Before

27

After

Before

28

After

Before

29

After

Before

30

After

Before

After

32

ResourcesThe Quark templates (for Mac platforms

only)

Templates:

Aish_palmcard_50/50.qxtAish_palmcard_1/3-2/3.qxtAish_palmcard_all-type.qxt

Aish_postcard_50/50.qxtAish_postcard_1/3-2/3.qxtAish_postcard_all-type.qxt

Aish_folded_flyer_50/50.qxtAish_folded_flyer_1/3-2/3.qxt

Aish_flat_flyer_50/50.qxtAish_flat_flyer_1/3-2/3.qxt

33

Contact the following people with any questions orfor guidance in the production of all advertising,direct mail or other promotion materials.

Shayna Goldsmith Adam Jacobs313 West 83rd Street 313 West 83rd StreetNew York, NY 10024 New York, NY 10024212-579-1388 ext.33 212-579-1388 ext.25sgoldsmith@aish.com ajacobs@aish.com

Rabbi Elazar Grunberger Talia Edgar8149 Delmar Boulevard 7717 Gannon #2ESt Louis, MO 63130 St Louis, MO 63130314-862-2474 314-725-2663egrunberger@aish.com tedgar@aish.com

Images

Reasonably priced stock photographs areavailable form various sources. Some stockphotography houses even offer collections ofimages on disc (‘royalty-free’ only) as well assingle images.

Please note that if you purchase a‘rights-managed’ image you will ONLY be able touse the image in the single piece that you havebought those rights to use it in. And you can onlyuse it one time. Any other usage of that image willrequire that you obtain additional rights for thatimage with the company that you purchased itfrom. Please consult with the company whenpurchasing the image to learn about the rights youare buying as each company is different.

However, most stock image companies do have‘royalty-free’ images that they sell. What does thismean? It means that when you purchase a‘royalty-free’ image you can use it as often as youlike on as many pieces as you like without havingto pay additional fees. Again, please consult withthe company when purchasing the image to learnabout the rights you are buying as each companyis different.

Some stock companies to check out (these are afew of many):www.gettyone.comwww.veer.comwww.masterfile.comwww.corbis.comwww.photonica.comwww.nonstock.com

www.agefotostock.com

FontThe Profile font can be purchased online atwww.fontfont.com with Mac and PC versionsavailable. Make sure you purchase the correctversion as the PC fonts will not work on Macs andvice-versa. For pricing and policies please reviewcompany website.

Appendix BBranding the AIGA

Appendix CBAM Graphic Standards Guide

Brief but complete guidelines written to introduce andnstruct designers to the typographic dentity systembegun with the 1995 Next Wave Brochure. CreativeDirection and Design: Michae Bierut, Pentagram.

The BAM identifier fornon-corporate publications

• Non-corporate publications include allseasonal promotional material:brochures, advertisements, playbills,souvenir journals, invitations, etc. TheBAM corporate logotype (the blacksquare) does not appear onnon-corporate publications

• These publications are identified by“Brooklyn Academy of Music” set inNews Gothic Light, flush left,one-word-to-a-line, leaded such that thedistance between the baseline andcap-height is equal to the x-height.

• “Brooklyn Academy of Music” alwayshangs from the top margin of thesepublications

The BAM typeface: News Gothic

NewsGothicLlght

ABCDFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

NewsGothicRoman

ABCDFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

NewsGothic Bold

ABCDFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

• Headlines and large type are set in NewsGothic Light.

• Avoid all caps• News Gothic Bold is used for subheads

only and should not be used above 13pt,except on large format items like posters.

• The optimum size and leading for text setin News Gothic is 8/12

• Text is set in News Gothic Light exceptwhen reversed out of black or anothercolor, in which case News Gothic Romanis substituted.

• In text-heavy publications—annualreports, souvenir books, magazinestylebrochures, etc.—a second typeface ispermissible. Bembo has been identifiedand employed as one such secondtypeface.

Relationship between the BAMlogotype and the surrounding type

• In most cases the logo will butt up to theleft-hand margin of the publication.

• The size of the logo can usually beestablished as half a column-width of thepublication (in this case, the

column-width would be 2 x A). This ruleplaces “Brooklyn Academy of Music” atthe top of the second column

• The logo is placed at a distance from topmargin that is twice its height

• where it is used as a title or identifyingdevice, rather than in continuous prose,“Brooklyn Academy of Music” is setone-word-to-a-line and in a size such thatthe longest word, “Academy”, isaproximately the same width as the logo

• “Brooklyn Academy of Music” ispositioned hanging from the top marginand at a distance to the right of the logoequal to the logo’s width.

• The leading of “Brooklyn Accademy ofMusic” is established so that the x-heightof “Music” sits at a distance from the topmargin that is equal to the height of thelogo

The BAM titling type style

• The BAM titling typestyle is achieved bytruncating the type on one, two, three orall four sides using a black or colored

bar, the edge of a page, or simply animagined line. Legibility must bemaintained by carefully judging theportion of the characters left showing.

• Titles are set in News Gothic Light andshould be tightly spaced. The typeshould be kerned at least 2-5 pointsoverall depending on point size (more inlarger sizes) and then individualcharacter and word-spacing should bemodified where necessary for generalevenness.

• An impression of spatial depth is createdin part by dramatically varying the pointsize of the titling type, from word to word,or phrase to phrase.

• Conceal the ends of rounded lower-casecharacters like "e", "a", "s" and "c", eitherby cutting them off at a point just aboveor below the end of the stroke, or bymasking them.

Appendix DGovernance Matters Presentation

Why Make aChange?

• Research indicated tremendousconfusion

• Sounds too much like otherorganizations in our universe

• Did not reflect our keycharacteristics– Welcoming, enthusiastic– Motivational, proactive

• Too long, awkward, oftenabbreviated ANG

• Not trademarkable

How We Did It or the

Process Model

• Limited resources• Learning curve• Re-naming• Choosing the right designers

Our Unique DesignConcept

• Double entendre

• Simplicity, versatility• Logo type• Applications

OrchestratingChange

• Launch plan to roll out our newname

• Partnering with you• Vote to ratify

Brand GlossaryA Audience: any defined group of people

B Brand: a person’s perception of a product, service,experience, or organization; the art and science ofbrand building. The brand has meaning beyond itsfunctionality and exists primarily in the audiences’minds.

Brand audit: the process of reviewing all printedand electronic promotion and expressions of thebrand, the end result of which is a chart or list ofexisting items for review and assessment.

Brand equity: the accumulated value of the brand’sassets, both financially and strategically (includingthe products, name, colors, logo); the overallstrength of a brand.

Brand image: a customer’s mental picture of aproduct, service, or organization.

Brand manual: a document that articulates theparameters of the brand for members of the brandcommunity; usually includes guidelines forformatting, imagery, nomenclature, typography, andcolor palette, as well as the brand positioning andthe organization’s mission statement.

Brand marketing: pushing beyond individualproducts or service benefits to fulfill a strategic corepromise; looking past the tangible to the intangible,accommodating the audience’s practical needs whilereasoning with their deeper emotions.

Brand personality: the character of a brand asdefined in human terms, such as MoMA = chic andrefined, or P.S. 1 = maverick and edgy (see chapter1).

Brand police: a humorous term for thestewardship’s responsibility of strict compliancewith the guidelines in the brand manual.

Brand promise: a stated or implied pledge thatcreates customer expectations and employeeresponsibilities, such as PBS’s promise to eschewpaid advertising in order to remain neutral (seechapter 1).

Brand qualities: the thoughts, feelings,associations, and expectations created by a brandidentity.

Brand steward: the person on the brand teamresponsible for protecting the brand and keeping iton message.

Brand strategy: a plan for the systematicdevelopment of a brand in order to meet theorganization’s objectives.

Brand team: a committee formed to assess andguide an organization’s brand-building process;sometimes called the creative council or brandcouncil.

Branding: any effort or program to build a brand;the process of brand building.

Branding markers: the four assessment tools thatare used to evaluate how successful a brand iscurrently: relevance, differentiation, esteem, andreputation (see chapter 2).

Buzz: the current public opinion about a subject,product, service, experience, or organization.

C Color palette: the limited range of colors selected torepresent the brand in its applications.

Credit: the acknowledgment in print of the work ofthe creator(s).

D Design: to bring together strategic and creativeprocesses to achieve a shared goal; a plan.

Design brief: a document that sets parameters for abrandbuilding project, including context, goals,processes, and budgetary constraints (also called acreative brief).

Differentiation: degree to which the brand is uniqueamong others of its kind.

Documents audit: a review of all existingdocuments in order to determine what currentlyexists that represents the organization’s currentoverall brand—anything from forms and fax coversheets to the Web site and annual report.

E Elevator pitch: a one-sentence to three-paragraphrecitation of a brand’s purpose or market position,

short enough to convey during a brief elevator ride;also called an “elevator conversation.”

Esteem: the degree of confidence and respectafforded the organization by its primary audiences.

I Identifier: the line tied to the brand name thatelaborates on the name, usually when the brandname is not descriptive in and of itself.

Identity: the outward expression of a brand,including its name, trademark, communications, andoverall visual appearance; the way a brand isexpressed visually and verbally.

Intellectual property: intangible assets protected bypatents and copyrights; the legal discipline thatspecializes in the protection of brand assets (i.e.,trade dress), including brand names, trademarks,colors, shapes, and sounds.

K Kill fee: the fee, agreed upon in advance, that wouldbe received by the designer if the project wereterminated at any point; the way the kill fee iscalculated is spelled out in the terms and conditionsof a written agreement.

L Logo: an abbreviation of “logotype,” now appliedbroadly (if incorrectly) to all trademarks.

Logotype: a distinctive typeface or lettering styleused to represent a brand name; a word mark.

Look and feel: the sensory experience of a brand’senvironment or communication.

M Mark: the symbol representing the brand.

Marketing: the process of developing, promoting,selling, and distributing a product or service;motivating people to become involved with yourorganization.

Markups: a carrying charge, usually 17.65 to 25percent, for expenses incurred by the designer on theclient’s behalf; this is spelled out in the terms andconditions of a written agreement.

N Nomenclature system: a formal structure fornaming related services, features, products, orbenefits that link these things together as a family;the naming portion of an organization’s brandarchitecture.

P Plagiarism: when a creator adapts and/or modifiesthe work of another creator without consent.

Positioning: the process of differentiating a product,service, or company in an audience’s mind to obtaina strategic competitive advantage; the first step inbuilding a brand.

Q Qualitative research: research designed to provideinsight into the organization, through one-on-oneinterviews or focus groups.

R Relevance: the degree to which the brand iscurrently necessary, according to its audiences.

Reputation: the degree to which the audiencesknow the brand.

Rights transfer: the designer generally transfers thecopyright to the client for the completed brandidentity when payment is made in full, whileretaining the rights to unfinished work.

S SWOT analysis: any conceptual tool that analyzesthe organization’s strengths, weaknesses,opportunities, and threats.

Symbol: a sign or trademark designed to represent abrand.

T Tagline: a sentence, phrase, or word used tosummarize a market position, such as the AmericanRed Cross’s tagline, “Together we can save a life.”

Trade dress: all the elements—such as color,typography, mark, imagery—that are collectively orindividually identified as unique to the brand.

W Work for hire: a loophole (usually applied to staffmembers) in the U.S. copyright law which, if agreedto in a contract, makes the creator all but invisible;rights transfers, on the other hand, do not negate thecreator’s existence.

Work on speculation: when a creator is asked towork without an agreement that he or she will bepaid and/or, in the case of pro bono projects, that theclient is intending to take the work to completion.

Note: A nod to the AIGA’s The Dictionary of Brandfor inspiration and guidance.

About the AuthorDK Holland is a writer, strategist and creative director

who turned her attention to nonprofits afterdeveloping award-winning programs that includedbranding, licensing, promotion and productdevelopment for companies such as Mattel andCiticorp for over thirty years. She was, until 2001, apartner in The Pushpin Group, an internationallyacclaimed design and illustration firm based in NewYork City.

DK says, “Now, more than ever, nonprofits need tocompete for the public’s attention to get theirmessage respected and accepted. To accomplish this,we need to apply the best tools and tactics of bigbusiness to the business of nonprofits.”

Currently, DK is the principal of DK Holland, LLC,a brand communications consultancy that worksexclusively with nonprofits. Her clients include TheLiteracy Assistance Center, Sisters of Charity ofNew York, the Organization Development Network,Brooklyn Friends School, and the BuckminsterFuller Institute. DK recently led the rebrandingteam, along with other members, of GovernanceMatters (formerly the Alliance for Nonprofit

Governance), and she serves on its board ofdirectors. She was an executive director of anonprofit for six years, and as a volunteer, foundedtwo different nonprofits on which, in both cases, sheserved as chair for a number of years. She currentlyserves on three nonprofit boards.

She is an editor of Communication Arts magazineand the author/creative director of a dozen books ongraphic design. In 1999 DK was awarded the WalterHortens Distinguished Service Award by theGraphic Artists Guild National. She has been a judgefor many design competitions in the graphic designindustry. DK is currently a member of the AIGA.

DK teaches in the graduate school for nonprofitmanagement of the New School. She lives in historicFort Greene, Brooklyn in an earlynineteenth-century building that was once a tanner’sshop with her American cocker spaniel WaltWhitman and stray tiger cat, Frida Kahlo.

IndexABC (American Broadcast Corporation), 83,–84AIGA (American Institute for Graphic Arts)

brand development of, 34branding manual of, 34–36case study of, 34–38naming strategy of, 37–38re-branding by, 38use of logo by, 35

Aish Ha’Torah case study of, 89–90logos of, 93

Alan Guttmacher Institute, 25Alliance for Nonprofit Governance. See ANGAltman, Lynne, 89American Broadcast Corporation. See ABCAmerican Institute for Graphic Arts. See AIGAAmerican Red Cross

brand strategy of, 3logo effectiveness of, 3logo origins of, 3–4

American Society of Media Photographers, 108ANG (Alliance for Nonprofit Governance)

board of directors impact at, 95–97logos of, 95–97re-branding of, 95–97

Apple Computer, 121Arledge, Roone, 83audience

effective strategies for, 8, 34focus of, 11LAC image’s impact on, 64language and, 81loyalty of, 6for non-profits, 118types of, 11, 22

BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), 54brand identity of, 54–55case study of, 54–55Pentagram work for, 56use of typeface by, 54–55

Bart Crosby Associates, 34Beers, Charlotte, 136–137Bernhardt, Craig, 78Bernhardt Fudyma Design Group, 78, 90Bierut, Michael, 54, 55board of directors

AMG re-branding impact of, 95–97branding process responsibility of, 42composition of, 116, 123design brief review by, 24–25fundraising efforts of, 120involvement of, 120–122, 124–125

BP (British Petroleum) brand identity of, 77, 124logo of, 77–78

Brain Research Foundation, 56brand audit

competition and, 47focus of, 47

purpose of, 46brand campaign

budget and funding for, 119challenges to, 88–89elements of, 18MoMA success with, 18

brand designconsiderations for, 74elements of, 40sources for, 30

brand equityidentification of, 66–67preservation of, 64

brand identityaudience loyalty for, 6for BAM, 54,–55of BP, 77, 124consensus for, 75–76copy writing for, 81cost-effective development of, 29differentiation of, 3equity preservation of, 64of FedEx, 66, 77focus of, 29of GE, 77–78implementation of, 85–87importance of, 85–86launch of, 93logos in, 35mission statement impact on, 7promotion of, 29–30reinforcement of, 28, 29relevance of, 19

trade dress impact on, 43brand issues

for MABP, 11–12for MoMA, 14organizational growth impact on, 14

brand leader, 42brand loyalty

goodwill and, 118through consistent presentation, 5

brand stewardbrand management by, 32, 42, 113design brief circulation by, 40

brandingAmerica’s use of, 136by Apple Computer, 121buy-in for, 75evolution of, 128–131funding for, 125–127intangible benefits of, 137–138LAC use of, 63–64manipulation of, 129–130nonprofits’ need for, 56for nonprofits v. profits, 117photography for, 82in religion, 134–135uses of, 131–133visual imagery in, 82–83, 101, 106–107word and image use in, 101

branding materialsapplication of imagery to, 83success of, 46types of, 46

branding process

availability of resources for, 41board of directors’ responsibility in, 42brand steward impact on, 42brand strategies in, 43–45consensus for, 31, 32copy writer’s job in, 43design brief for, 20–21design styles in, 43–44designer role in, 49emotional nature of, 80goals for, 32graphic design in, 44graphic designer influence on, 43inclusive need for, 70–73of LAC, 69leadership of, 31–32, 42nomenclature of, 38organizational weaknesses in, 41outside design consultant in, 43research and orientation of, 41–43responsibility for, 31style and strategy of, 43–45team roles in, 42team size in, 42

branding strategyfor American Red Cross, 3audience for, 34benefits of, 8budget for, 4, 22–23C&G use of, 3–4by committee, 24–27communication of, 2communication vehicles for, 5

competition and, 46definition of, 5design elements for, 12design success of, 3design tools for, 5differentiation through, 13, 23educating graphic designers for, 36effective use of, 2–3, 18elements of, 20expectations created by, 5focus of, 13fragmentation of, 25implementation of, 4ineffective use of, 7, 21markers of, 6–7, 23–24materials for, 4mission and identity support of, 4naming in, 36–40nonprofit world weakness in, 7–8nonprofits and outside consultants in, 21origins of, 5outreach efforts of, 2PUPS’ strengths in, 27–29re-branding issues of, 15roles needed in, 26staff administration of, 4

branding team, designer impact on, 43British Petroleum. See BPBrooklyn Academy of Music. See BAM

C&G (Chermayeff & Geismar), 15brand strategy by, 3–4

Chermayeff & Geismar. See C&GChermayeff, Ivan, 4Communication Arts, 44, 109–110copywriting

for brand identity, 81branding process in, 43with graphic designer, 102–103nonprofits use of, 98, 102outsourcing of, 105–106tips for, 103–105

copyright law, 111Crosby, Art, 99Crosby, Bart, 34, 47–48

designeffective use of, 3process of, 20–21strategy in, 3, 12structure and meaning from, 4subjective opinions of, 76, 88visual imagery in, 81–82

design briefbenefits of, 21, 27, 33board review of, 24–25brand steward impact on, 32in branding process, 20–21circulation of, 40consensus for, 32importance of, 40management participation in, 30orientation impact on, 65outline of, 21–23

review of, 71types of, 33–34

design media, 23design presentation

expectations for, 72, 75key questions in, 72sharing of, 76

design processapproaches to, 71design brief impact on, 62–63educational component in, 71evolution of, 41feedback to, 66need for simplicity of, 80participation in, 79phases of, 57, 62–69predictability of, 73–74refinement of, 80–81research and orientation of, 62

design proposalspurpose of, 58terms and issues of, 59types of, 57

designers. See graphic designersDrentell, William, 17

Elana Gutmann, 9elevator pitch

importance of, 112–113positioning statement for, 65–66

Federal Express. See FedExFedEx (Federal Express)

brand identity of, 66, 77logo of, 77–78re-branding of, 64

Forest Greene Park Users and Pets Society. SeePUPS

Fredrick, Beth, 25Fritsch, Stephanie, 106Fudyma, Janice, 78Funders’ Martix, brand development though, 116–127

GE (General Electric), 77–78Geismar, Tom, 4Geissbuhler, Steff, 3General Electric. See GEGoldman, Marian, 69, 110Governance Matters for Grantmakers, 123graphic designers

capabilities of, 50–51communications with, 52compensation of, 60–61copy writing with, 102–103firm size of, 54influence on branding of, 43legal and ethical concerns concerning, 60organization materials review with, 63portfolio review of, 50–51project management of, 54proposal review of, 56–58recommendations for, 52relationship with, 60–61

resume review of, 53selection of, 50–51, 57strengths and weaknesses of, 50stylistic fit with, 51types of, 49–50

Graphis, 44Green, Lee, 123

Hansen, Kath, 29Hecht, Amy, 29Hubbard Street Dance, re-branding of, 56Hurst, Aaron, 40, 52

Kaplan, Ruth, 16kill fee, 59Klemtner Advertising, 88LAC (Literacy Assistance Center)

case study of, 68–69logo of, 63, 68–69typography use by, 63use of branding by, 63–64

Landor Associates, 77, 83Lesser, Lori, 114Liska & Associates, 9, 56Liska, Steve, 9, 56Literacy Assistance Center. See LAClogo

ABC redesign of, 83–84of AIGA, 35of Aish Ha’Torah, 93of American Red Cross, 3–4

of ANG, 95–97of BAM, 55of BP, 77–78brand context of, 67as brand identifier, 35definition of, 67design continuum place of, 67effectiveness of, 11of FedEx, 64, 77–78of GE, 77–78identifying symbol of, 67of LAC, 63, 68–69of MABP, 11–12of MoMA, 17of MoMA QNS, 16need for simplicity of, 80of PBS, 2of PUPS, 29refinement of, 80–81simplicity advantages for, 16of Sisters of Charity of New York, 76–77subjective interpretation of, 76–80of UPS, 64usefulness of, 35–36Web sites placement of, 67

MABP (Make a Better Place)brand issues of, 11–12case study of, 9–13as client of Liska & Associates, 56logo effectiveness of, 11–12mission of, 9

naming strategy of, 38Maker a Better Place. See MABPmark. See logomarkups, 59MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

brand campaign success of, 18branding issues of, 14case study of, 13–19design brief process of, 32–33history of logo influence on, 17MoMA QNS brand issues for, 14

MoMA QNS (MoMA Queens)brand issues for MoMA of 14branding purpose for, 16logo of, 16typography use by, 16

MoMA Queens. See MoMA QNSMunoz, Fernando, 12Museum of Modern Art. See MoMA

namingAIGA strategy for, 37–38of BP, 77brand continuity through, 38–39feedback on, 37with hybrids, 39initialisms in, 38–39issues of, 37–38MABP strategy for, 38MoMA issues with, 14MoMA QNS issues of, 14for nonprofits, 37

reasons for change in, 37re-branding through, 39

nonprofitsattractions to, 56audience for, 118branding and design needs of, 56branding funding for, 125–127content advantage of, 56copy writing for, 98, 102naming issues in, 37photography and illustration used by, 81–82

Panton, Donna, 125Patterson, Carolyn, 24–25PBS (Public Broadcasting Service)

brand differentiation of, 3logo of, 2

Pentagram, 55–56work for BAM, 56

positioning statement, 65–66PRINT—Regional Design Annual, 44project management graphic designers in, 54

purpose of, 52staffing of, 52

Public BroadcastingService. See PBS

Public Theatre, 55PUPS (Forest Greene Park Users and Pets Society)

case study of, 27–30logo of, 29

Pusz, Ed, 15, 32–33Quaker Oats, 128

Quick, Tanya, 12

Racine Art Museum, 56Rand, Paul, 35, 83re-branding

AIGA strategy for, 34–36, 38of Aish Ha’Torah, 90–91of ANG, 95–98brand identity retention in, 64FedEx success with, 64funding of, 126of Hubbard Street Dance, 56issues with, 99–100through naming, 39timing of, 94UPS success with, 64

rights transfer, 59Rillbrook Consulting, Inc., 125Ross Culbert Holland & Lavery, 83Rudolph, Elyse Barbell, 63

Showcase, 108–109Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett LLP, 114Sisters of Charity of New York, 78–79

logo use by, 76–77Smith, Fred, 77source books, 109Stephanie Fritch Communications, 106stock photo agencies, 11

Taproot Foundation, 40, 52trademark, 113–115typography, 16, 54–55, 63

United Parcel Service. See UPSUPS (United Parcel Service), 64

Viverito + Brandmaker Express, 89

Walter Thompson Worldwide, 137Warnke, Benjamin, 122Warnke Community Consulting, 122Web sites

branding opportunity of, 12consistent use of design by, 13effectiveness of, 28limitations of, 12–13logo placement on, 67

Whitehouse & Company, 68–69Whitehouse, Roger, 71, 73Wilde, Lorraine, 17Workbook, 108–109

Zusi, Jane, 88

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Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm forConnecting Brands to Peopleby Marc Gobé (hardcover, 61/4 × 91/4, 352 pages, 134 b&willus., $24.95)

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