Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) needed a brand refresh to stay relevant. The current brand was tired and outdated and the 500+ member-based organization was ready for change.
We began the rebrand process as we always do, with curiosity. While our research revealed an enormous amount of love for the organization, those closest to the brand struggled to articulate its value and impact. The passion, care, and energy of VBSR wasn’t coming through.
Our insights led us to a strategic platform grounded in a bold new rallying cry “Build Love to Build Power” that simplifies how VBSR communicates its value. This framework maps the member journey across three tiers—human connection, progress and innovation, and action and impact—providing a strategic roadmap and messaging hierarchy to deepen engagement and meet people where they are.
Although the initial request was for a new logo design, a brand audit uncovered opportunities to strengthen and unify the entire brand experience and informed our recommendations for greater clarity, consistency, and cohesion across every touchpoint.
So we went to work designing an identity system that captures the essence of VBSR's core strength, its human-centered approach and ability to bring people together through shared purpose and values. The abstract shapes in the logo, inspired by the letters in VBSR, symbolize the diverse people and businesses coming together in conversation and collaboration. The shapes and their placement also speak to the ideals of openness, inclusion, and possibility, and of collective action taking shape.
The vivid color palette reflects the warmth and care at heart of the brand combined with a balance of expressive and pragmatic typography. Captivating patterns, also built from the shapes, are uplifting and energizing, working in concert to communicate connection, innovation and action within a dynamic and flexible visual identity system.
We collaborated to implement the rebrand with Bootstrap, Eternity, and the VBSR team across print and digital channels, developing refreshed event materials, a reskinned website, social and launch communications, and cool new merch.
Logo animation by Vaughn Traynor.