Branding
Brand:
Sarah Groves Foundation
Channels:
Organic social, print (posters, leaflets, etc…), merchandise & stationery
My role(s):
Designer, Brand Guardian
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The Sarah Groves Foundation is a charitable organisation founded to honour the legacy of my sister, Sarah, and drive positive changes in the lives of children and young people, primarily in Guernsey.
Emphasising values dear to Sarah, the Foundation focuses on nurturing artistic, fitness, and adventurous pursuits, aiming to provide enriching opportunities.
Dragonfly icon
Sarah was a very talented artist and, as such, had numerous sketch books containing drawings. When I was tasked with designing a logo for the Foundation, we looked through Sarah’s sketch books to see if there were any recurring themes or symbols that resonated with both Sarah and the objectives of the Foundation.
We identified a drawing that contained a dragonfly taking flight. The dragonfly was flying from left to right, which represented moving forward or in a positive direction. Upon research, I learned that the dragonfly symbolised hope, change and love. This was appropriate for the Foundation, which is a charity focused on benefitting underprivileged children and young people.
From there, I vectorised the dragonfly and carried it forward to the design phase.
Fonts
In terms of the primary font, I opted for something handwritten. This was partly to reflect Sarah’s personality. but also because the Foundation is a children’s charity. I settled on Noteworthy as it had a relaxed, almost child-like, feel. It was also clearly legible, offered two weights and was free to use commercially, which is important during the early days of the Foundation.
My secondary font selection was Open Sans. This could be used to balance the casual feel of the Noteworthy font with something that felt professional. Open Sans is also free to use commercially.
Colours
I wanted something that would have good standout but that felt gentle in nature. I settled on a mid-blue (called celestial blue), which is something that has become synonymous with the Foundation in Guernsey.
I considered including additional colours or tones, however, I decided against this. It has helped to keep printing and manufacturing costs down for the Foundation.
I selected the following colour codes.
Celestial Blue:
RGB: 0, 144, 218
HEX: #0090DA
CMYK: 92, 24, 0, 0
Pantone: 2193C
White:
RGB: 255, 255, 255
HEX: #FFFFFF
CMYK: 0, 0, 0, 0
Pantone: 000C
The Logo
The primary element is Sarah’s name. Without her, the Foundation would not exist. Secondary to that, is her dragonfly illustration, implying hope and optimism. And finally, the word foundation is positioned underneath more discreetly using the Open Sans typeface.
The dragonfly icon provides the Foundation with something visually impactful that can be leveraged to capture attention, as shown below.
Example Stationary
Summary
Overall, I feel the branding is a perfect reflection of both Sarah and the Foundation. The dragonfly icon provides a strong, recognisable and positive graphic element that can be leveraged to draw attention, whilst the colour selection is gentle and reassuring.
The Foundation has become easily identifiable in Guernsey as a result. The increased brand awareness has enabled the organisation to flourish and improve the lives of many young people on the island.