Grassroot Soccer is an adolescent health organization that leverages the power of soccer to equip young people with the life-saving information, services, and mentorship they need to live healthier lives. Evolving from an HIV-focused organization to an all-encompassing adolescent health organization, they sought a brand refresh, which included a new logo, a new tagline and name evaluation, an updated brand guide, and materials to reflect the revised brand.

I worked as a designer on this project with Brevity & Wit to execute on the brand redesign and materials.

Grassroot Soccer wanted to refresh its brand identity so that it better represented the work they did across adolescent health. They required new brand language, including top-level messaging, a new tagline, and an evaluation of the organizations’ name and whether to change it. They also wanted a new logo, color palette, typography and brand guide, as well as common communications templates applying the new brand, such as Google Slide decks, InDesign and Canva templates, one-pagers, and social media templates.

The team:

• Held an initial kickoff meeting: This helped set standards for communicating with each other and get on the same page about a shared vision for the project for both the brand messaging and visual identity.
• Led small team workshops: We facilitated two workshops – one for messaging and one for visual identity — with the Grassroot Soccer team to gain a deeper understanding of what the current challenges were and what the brand and language should transform into. 
• Developed refreshed brand language. Using existing research from the Grassroot Soccer team, we evaluated the existing name, explored options for name changes, built several tagline options, and helped develop top level messaging.
• Developed a new logo, color palette, typography, and brand identity guide. We ensured that the brand followed WCAG standards for color contrast.

Since launching the new brand, the Grassroot Soccer team has felt a renewed sense of energy and excitement across its organization and audience. The color palette is now seen as a better representation of the organization’s work, and the logo stands out in a crowded field of international nonprofits working in adolescent health.  We received word that the staff are more excited about the new brand, and have spoken about how the logo and color palette is easier to work with to create dynamic materials. 

A long-time consultant of the organization who is working on an annual event wrote, “I mean there’s just no comparison to previous years. The new branding just elevates everything.”

Key stakeholders, funders, donors and supporters have offered lots of positive feedback, appreciating how the new logo looks modern and contemporary, is creative and unique, and the colors are fresh and exciting. 

Coaches working in South Africa and Zimbabwe were excited to be part of such a momentous organizational transformation – and excited how the new logo stood out against their yellow t-shirts!

Even a former participant in a Grassroot Soccer program expressed his enthusiasm for the new logo on social media. 

The refreshed branding was also applied to a new website,  more accurately and effectively telling the Grassroot Soccer story. Grassroot Soccer also storyboarded and shot new explainer videos featuring the new branding, which are critical communication pieces for explaining their approach and what they do.

Once the branding was unveiled on social media, engagement increased. Grassroot Soccer’s posts announcing and celebrating the launch received much more engagement than their typical content does, and they saw a significant spike around launch.