Two People and a Letterhead
One of the best parts of working with local conservation nonprofits is without a doubt the people I get to know. These folks dedicate their extra time to working tirelessly for the environment, they get results, and they have a lot of fun doing it. I met Betsy, the president of Friends of Little Hunting Creek, through my work with the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance, as she is also a driving force behind their Wildlife Sanctuary Program. I had already learned so much from Betsy and her work with NVBA that when she asked me to help with a new website for FOLHC, I jumped at the opportunity.
We started the website project with an analysis of the current website, which had lots of great information but was outdated and difficult to navigate. The biggest takeaways from the analysis were the need for better navigation, better visual consistency – and a logo! I recommended that they step back and take the time to develop a brand before jumping in to the website redesign, and we did just that. The brand design process included a deep-dive into their target audience, how they want to be perceived, and we developed a visioning guide alongside the branding to help FOLHC focus their story and mission and extend it into the future.
This group started with “two people and a letterhead,” a true grassroots effort to protect and preserve Little Hunting Creek not just for people, but for all the wildlife that depends on it. So an important goal for the new logo was to feature people IN nature, not just a bird or image of the creek on its own, but something that suggests the creek, wildlife and people all thriving together in the same beautiful, healthy environment. A Great Blue Heron, aside from its commanding presence and sheer elegance, symbolizes patience, humility and determination. It quickly became the creature of choice to represent this group and their mission.
The branding and visioning project gave us a huge advantage when we tackled the website redesign, as we had the visual system and communication intent (what are we saying, and to whom, and how do we sound when we say it) already in place. I built the website in WordPress with the Divi theme and builder, which gave us ultimate flexibility in designing the site and ease of maintenance for a volunteer. It features organized and persistent navigation, clear calls to action, and better use of graphics and photos that really tell the story of FOLHC.
The final primary logo, left, and secondary and submarks, right. It’s important to have a version of your logo for every application that is true to the original and instantly reconizable as part of your brand.
I collected images that I felt celebrated people in nature and people working together as a community alongside images of water and, of course, a dynamic Great Blue Heron. The color blue felt necessary for a group committed to conserving a waterway, so we went with bold earth tones similar to those shown in this mood board.
These are some of the initial sketches for the logo design. There’s clearly a heron theme going on here, and I tried it in lots of different ways, but also explored insects, fish and people.
More Great Blue Heron explorations. This bird is so striking at any distance that it was challenging to decide how best to bring it into a logo design. Ultimately, the bird in flight, heading forward with outstretched wings and legs, felt right, and it’s also instantly recognizable as a silhouette.
A few unused logo concepts. I still think the irritated heron with the plastic bottle in his beak would make a great sticker or patch for the Friends of Little Hunting Creek annual cleanup;)
The old home page, top left, and the new home page, top right, plus some additional screenshots below. Visit the FOLHC website to see the whole project.
