The goal of this studio was to conceive and develop a multi-component branding and communication strategy for the international NGO, Project Concern International.
Art Center and PCI are ideal partners. We have been consistently awed and surprised by the energy, intelligence and creative output of the students here.
– George Guimaraes, President and CEO, PCI
In Spring 2010, a class of 14 Art Center students was commissioned by Project Concern International (PCI) to create a new graphic identity for the organization. The class consisted of Graphic Design, Illustration and Advertising majors, as well as two Graphic Design instructors. This TDS is the first of a two-part corporate identity design and 50th anniversary campaign project for PCI. The second phase of the project involves a different group of students designing a wide range of materials for PCI’s 50th anniversary.
The goal of this transdisciplinary studio was to conceive and develop a multi-component branding and communications strategy for PCI, creating a campaign that would not only embody PCI’s core values and operating principles, but help audiences imagine the significance of PCI during the next 50 years, reaffirming its importance in the ever-evolving global landscape.
Students were encouraged to pursue a wide range of solutions ranging from new designs that would use the existing organization name to the possibility of renaming and rebranding the organization completely. Students worked in three teams: Team Humankind, Team Positive Change and Team PCI+. Branding was implemented into a range of contexts from print materials to vehicle covers to websites.
Final presentations involved an array of design options for the organization, from which PCI will choose of several quality options to adopt into implementation.
Project Concern International’s mission is to prevent disease, improve community health and promote sustainable development. Motivated by concern for the world’s most vulnerable children, families and communities, Project Concern International (PCI) envisions a world where abundant resources are shared, communities are able to provide for the health and well-being of their members, and children and families can achieve lives of hope, good health and self-sufficiency.
Working with Art Center students has been a priceless, insightful experience for our organization. We’re beyond pleased.
– Mark O’Donnell, Chief Operating Officer, PCI
Students discussed the organization with several team members, donors and field staff in several countries where PCI operates, and also interviewed their target demographic as part of the research process. They also familiarized themselves with written materials provided by the organization to fully understand its mission, core philosophy and guiding principles.
Team Humankind emphasized the humanitarian approach of PCI and created an inspiration iconography as well as innovative communications strategy for bringing stories from the field into PCI’s donor outreach. The crosshatch logo included the tag line, “Impacting Communities Through Compassion,” the tag line for the circle logo was “People>Communities>Impact” and the figure logo included a tag line of “Individuals Building Communities.”
Team Positive Change recommended changing PCI’s name to “Positive Change,” feeling it kept the brand equity of the existing name while highlighting the organization’s strength in building lasting impact in community empowerment, engagement and education. They created two logos for Positive Change: the loop and plus sign.
Team PCI+ created PCI’s new identity around the organization’s mission to address root causes of disease, malnutrition, and economic insecurity. PCI empowers communities by providing the tools, training and resources needed to build healthy futures—and the PCI+ team aimed to reflect this in their branding strategies and proposed new name, “People, Communities, Impact.”
All three groups applied their brand identities to a wide range of applications, including business cards, emergency vehicles, bus shelters, fundraising materials and websites.
Following the close of the studio, a small team representing all three groups traveled to San Diego to make a special presentation to several PCI board members and executives. A small team continues to work under Faculty Simon Johnston’s lead this summer term to finalize the new identity for the organization. A new PCI studio, in which students will take the re-branding designs and apply them to a new range of materials, is underway this summer.
Samples from the campaign appear in the Project Gallery sidebar.
Working with the PCI team and Designmatters provided me with the hands-on experience I strive for as a designer. It was an honor to participate in the design process and I look forward to the fruition of the hard work.
Natalya Sariashvili, Graphic Design Student