A Sanctuary for Pitbulls
This was a rebranding concept project. For the project we were to choose a non-profit that needed an update or a rebranding. I chose Passion for Pitties, a Pitbull rescue based out of San Diego, CA. Their mission is pitbulls. They are committed to getting pitbulls out of the shelters and into a loving homes before they are euthanized. They believe in no bad dogs, and any dog can be rehabilitated. They started when the founder, Elise was working in a shelter and connected with a pitbull, Sage. Elise and Sage loved to be together. One day though, Elise came into the shelter and Sage was not there. Elise learned Sage was in the shelter so long that the shelter said her spirit was broken and therefore her time was up. Elise was sadden, and vowed to pull as many pitbulls from the shelters as she possibly could before their time was up. I was the sole and lead researcher and designer on this creating everything from the new logo, to the style guide, to print.
Problem
How might I create a consistent and cohesive brand while gaining the trust of our audience to help get pitbulls out of the shelters and into loving and forever homes?
While Passion for Pitties is a wonderful organization, they are not always consistent with how they market themselves. For instance they have one logo on their website, and another for social media. The two logos while are both pitbulls feel like two completely different brands. This does not build trust with an audience. Titles and fonts on their website can be hard to read, and they sometimes talk as the dog and sometimes in third person. All of this can make it feel uninviting and as if they do not know what their brand is or if they want to be two organizations doing the same thing.
Goal
The goal was to be more accessible, and to be have more consistency between their website, social media accounts, and even printed products - to have them essentially have one identity. This would be all to gain more trust, bring in donors, fosters, and adopters by creating on single brand identity.
Research
Before I even started thinking about creating, I researched. I researched not just Passion for Pitties and what they were doing, but I researched other dog rescues here in San Diego. I noted things that were done well and things that were not done well. This gave me a better understanding of how to create a cohesive brand identity and build trust with the customer.
Competitive Analysis
I started with researching other dog rescues here in San Diego. It gave me a sense of what other rescues were out there and why a person would choose one rescue over another. I found three other small rescues here and noted their strengths and weaknesses. I not only looked at their websites, but at their social medias as well to get a better sense of who each of these rescues were and what was going well and what was not for them.
SWOT Analysis
After seeing what the other dog rescues were doing, I could do an analysis on Passion for Pitties themselves. This would tell me not just strengths and weaknesses, but also what opportunities they have and what outside threats are there, that would need to be addressed to further the trust of the people.
Create and Design
With all the research there I could start to think how I wanted to rebrand Passion for Pitties. The first thing was to create one logo, one logo to use for the website, social media, and print. I could then move to see what colors would work, and to have typography that is easy and inviting to read. After I could start designing posters, a brochure, and instagram ads for the brand that would all be cohesive and gain trust.
Logo
The logo I have created was modeled after the original Pitbull who inspired Passion for Pitties, Sage. I wanted to show the sweet and lovable nature of a pitbull by letting the tongue hang out, paws up, a heart around its eye, and the pink text.
Logo Variations
Color Palette
After the logo was created and now knowing I needed to keep pink (a color they already use) in the color palette I was able to build around that. Black and white remain as the leading colors as they are classic and accessible. The pink needed to stay for the compassion and sweetness of the dogs. Blue and green act as accents as they show trust and healing, while keeping all the colors same brightness and lightness levels.
Typography
With the logo and color palette created, I started to think about the typography. I would need a friendly, and inviting text that is disarming, but legible. I decided to keep it more simple and stick with one font face, as to not have to much confusion or too much going on, so the focus can be more on the dogs.
Creating Media
Now that I have made a style guide with the logo, typography, and color palette I needed to make some ads both digital and print to bring everything together. Digital and print should all be cohesive and be so the audience knows who it is. I started with Instagram ads, and then created print posters, and then a brochure for a Fall Festival to raise awareness and hopefully get dogs adopted.
I started with Instagram as it may be the first place people might see. I wanted the dogs to be staring at the camera with their bright orange eyes. I gave them each a name because people would be more likely to emphasize with the dog.
Posters
If the Instagram ads were to get people to feel sad and act right away, I wanted to create the posters to show these dogs having a better life thanks to Passion for Pitties.
Posters
Trifold Bochure
Sometimes, the organizations holds small events to raise awareness, money, and help get dogs into fosters and forever homes. I decided to create a trifold brochure for a Fall Festival for people to get more information about the event and Passion for Pitties.
Trifold Bochure
Conclusion
This project has taught me a lot. I have learned more is not always better. I had learned how to keep things simple with a simple logo, and not have too many different fonts. I had learned how to really look at the competitors and note everything. I have learned that color palette and typography say a lot themselves and the right palette and types need to be used to say what you want your audience to hear.
If I had more time with this project I would go back and possibly do an Instagram story as well as the posts. I would have also liked to create a Zine for them to get more information out and to show more dogs.