The Story
Covenant House has been helping homeless, runaway, and trafficked young people for nearly five decades. And for most of that time, their communications have followed the same formula: direct mail with strong religious undertones, telling stories of suffering youth in need.
We partnered with Covenant House to build a brand that better reflects all that they are and offer today––and all that they could be in the future.
The Challenge
How do you build a brand that brings unity to an organization that’s all about celebrating diversity––without changing who they are?
Covenant House has locations across 31 cities and 6 countries. Each one was using a different value proposition, tone, design language and messaging. The new brand needed to ground all of Covenant House in a shared purpose, while giving each site the flexibility to tell their own unique story.
The Audience
We built a brand that is a gathering place for the many different voices within Covenant House: those of the young people who turn to us, the staff that support our mission, the donor community that powers us, and so many more.
It centers around the commitment that is at the heart of all that we do. And it emphasizes the importance of sharing that commitment with others to inspire more.
The Design System
Covenant House needed to encourage people to move beyond one-off donations and to truly see themselves as part of the CH mission, so we built a brand designed to activate commitment. Encouraging people to proudly share all the ways they’re involved in the Covenant House mission. From volunteering on site, to participating in an event to posting about us on social, to a verbal identity that Heroed the voices of the entire CH community, the new system encourages everyone to sign a pledge, uphold their covenant, and share that commitment with others to inspire more
Symbols of Commitment
Commitment is at the heart of everything we design. To emphasize and activate that focus, we created signifiers. Symbols of Commitment that represent our promise and are the pillars of our extended visual system. Giving that brand a flexible way to communicate that everything we do as an opportunity to not only make a commitment, but share that commitment with others to inspire more.
01 The Dove - Commitment to young people facing homelessness and trafficking. It’s how we hero their individual journey.
02 The Heart - Commitment to our values. They unite our community in unconditional love and absolute respect.
03 The House - Commitment to impact. How we are driven to do more, make a difference, and create meaningful change.
