BACKGROUND
I learned about Encircle right before the organization’s opening at Provo’s annual Pride Festival and was incredibly excited to see such an important and needed resource for LGBTQ+ youth and their families in Utah Valley. I was thrilled with a friend involved with Encircle, a LGBTQ+ family and youth approached me with a project to help design a logo for one of Encircle’s new programs, called Ignite, aimed specifically at youth and adolescents.
THE PROJECT
This was a unique project for me since I was acting as an account manager figuring out the center's goals for this new program, and their vision for the outcome. I was also acting as the art director who had to take the vision of Encircle and create a new identity for the new Ignite program.
As an account manager for this project, I wanted to fully understand the center’s goals for the program, and as an art director I wanted to take this vision and translate into a visual representation of this identity. I began by interviewing members and volunteers at Encircle about the organization, the community it fosters, and their desires for Ignite. After gaining insights from this, as well as discussing potential routes with the Encircle board, I went to work on the brand identity.
LOGO
Since the logo for Encircle was already so well known among patrons of the center and surrounding community in Provo, I didn't want to stray too far away from the aesthetic it possessed. Instead I wanted to lean on it to create something fresh, but still familiar to those who would be interacting with it. I also focused on the things I had learned from interviewing members of Encircle who had talked about the energy and excitement they had found in the center. They mentioned the passion that everyone had for what was going on there. This was important to capture in the logo.
I came up with something that was reminiscent of the original Encircle logo that used imagery of flames that recalled to the passion and excitement found in the center. This "phoenix" logo represents those feelings that are present in the community and the prospect of new things on the horizon, much like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Above - New Ignite "phoenix" icons
Below - Encircle logo
Below - Final full Ignite logos
FURTHER BRAND IDENTITY
After finishing the logo, I helped the group organize a campaign for the launch of Ignite in December of 2017. The full work can be seen on their website https://encircletogether.org/ignite/. The launch was wildly successful in garnering community attention and helping more LGBTQ+ youth than ever feel accepted and supported at Encircle, and among the incredible staff and volunteers who work there.