I recently had the pleasure of working as a Pro Bono Consultant for the Taproot Foundation with the executive team at Marin Agricultural Land Trust. I chose to join this team as one of two Graphic Designers, feeling like I wanted to dive into a richly creative project and learn about this 30-year-old brand from the inside out. As you can see from the “before-and-after” examples above, it was quite a journey. And the arrival was a delight for all involved, myself included.
What started as an exercise in rebranding and reinvention became a deep and engaging process of discovery and development. And ultimately, for me, it became a process of re-confirmation: that to truly represent a brand, wholly new or decades old, I must find what is authentic and true to that brand and bring it to life in a way that sacrifices none of the essence and, in fact, illuminates and elevates that core in a way that resonates completely and without the need for guidance or instruction.
As the new identity is activated we will see how this refreshed brand is embraced and championed by existing stakeholders and supporters and understood by those who will only now discover it and come to learn about the brand and what it means to them.