The Mazovian Federation asked me to carry out a complete rebranding process and prepare a communications strategy.
It took us almost a year to complete all the activities, and I can confidently say that we completed them with absolute success. But it took us a while. The Federation team was very pleased with the results of the work and is now implementing the concepts we created.
In the following article you will read about the difficulties we encountered and how we overcame them.
Communication strategy and workshops
The Mazovian Federation made it clear from the start: “we need a communication strategy, a new website and graphic templates, just a complete rebranding”. Since a coherent visual identity was to be created, I decided that we would first prepare the communication strategy and then start working on the visual side.
During the first 2 months we had an intensive workshop cycle with the Federation team, which lasted about 15 hours in total. During this process we were able to answer some basic questions:
- How does the association want to be perceived?
- Who is its target audience?
- What resources and skills does it have?
- What are the objectives of the Federation’s actions?
As part of the strategy work, we also identified the association’s content marketing capabilities. A very important issue that emerged during the strategy work was the limited expertise within the Federation in creating graphics, videos and other content. Like many smaller organisations, the team does not have a professional graphic designer on board. Armed with this knowledge, we knew that when it came to creating the visual identity, we needed to prepare in such a way that the organisation could put it into practice.
It also became clear that simply creating a strategy, website and graphics was not the answer to the Federation’s needs. It was necessary to provide the organisation with the knowledge of how to apply the premises. We decided that once the work was done, we would train the team on Facebook, web operations, the marketing funnel and content marketing, within the agreed budget.
The result of many meetings and conceptual work was a document of about 25 pages describing communication premises and sample activities. I hope that the ladies from the organisation will sometimes reach for this file 😉
Visual identity
The organization had a rather distinctive logo, which, unfortunately, in many aspects did not match the current times. Its main drawbacks were the numerous details and the many shades of color. We decided to simplify it, while keeping the color scheme and a certain dynamic.
First, we presented four versions from two graphic designers. None of the proposals fully satisfied the team, but we were able to clearly define the direction. The next version was close to perfect, the Federation team suggested subtle corrections related to the colour scheme, which at the same time did not negatively affect the legibility of the logo and the rules for creating this type of graphic.
Once the new logo was in place, we moved on to creating the brand book, graphic templates and printed materials. All graphics were created in a minimalist style with the ability to edit them in Canva. This was important for the organisation as there was a lack of professional designers.
Website undergoing rebranding
The website created for the Federation was of course designed to serve a basic business card function, but it was also necessary to create a dedicated registration landing page for new member organisations. A blog section was also important, as well as descriptions of projects the Federation was undertaking or had undertaken. I built the site on WordPress and included all the necessary analytical tools and plug-ins to facilitate the application of SEO principles.
Simply preparing all these tools without teaching how to use them would be in vain. So once the organisation had approved all the materials created for them, we moved on to learning.
We trained the association on how to use Facebook, how to write posts, how to use the website and how to use the visual identity. We also gave them tips on how to use free photo databases and other useful websites.
The whole process took almost a year, but it was well worth it. The organisation knows how to communicate better with its audience and has a professional, aesthetically pleasing visual identity.
