AIA Washington Council
AIA WA's political committee gets a brand identity update.
My Role:
Lead Designer responsible for identity development, client presentation, and brand packaging delivery.
Company:
Key Responsibilities:
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Audience and AIA chapter research
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Concept development and execution
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Brand standards development
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Brand package delivery
The challenge
My team at Chalkbox was invited to design a new sub-brand for the AIA Washington Council's Architect's Political Committee (APC). There was no existing sub-brand, and up to this point APC communications were off-brand, using some older, graphics and colors outside of the primary AIA brand standards. This was an opportunity to reflect a recent update to AIA’s brand standards for the APC, and build a brand kit which would help the APC look connected and familiar to WA architects and lawmakers.
The new sub-brand would enable more effective communication with AIA WA members, helping them create a culture of fundraising for campaign support.
Connecting AIAWA to the parent brand and the community
The APC advocates for policy activities important to architects, their communities, and publicly funded projects that take place in Washington. My team developed a mark that references the legislative building in Olympia, Washington without breaking the overarching AIA brand standards.
Key take-away and lessons learned.
Brand identity is an important component in brand building. Organizations like the APC need a foundation for their marketing and communication efforts to be effective. Inconsistent branding and accidental subversion of the AIA parent brand were unintentionally siphoning credibility from AIAWA's communications.
Developing this brand identity package in collaboration with AIAWA gives them a kit of parts they can use to advocate effectively and with greater legitimacy for the policies that will benefit local architects and publicly funded architectural projects.
It took a while to get to this solution because it was tempting to over design something for a design-saavy audience. Leaning back into simplicity and practicality provided a solution that is audience appropriate, scalable, and easy for the AIAWA team to use.