REBRAND: AXIS

Being in your twenties is one of the most fun & exciting periods in a person’s life.  The joy of being out on your own. Having your own apartment.  Finding the guy or girl of your dreams.  Yeah, you might have classes or the office to go to in the morning – but you can fully stay out till 2 am with your friends if you want.  It’s up to you.

In rebranding AXIS, the 18 to 20-something’s ministry of Willow Creek Community Church,  I wanted to capture this sense of spontaneous excitement & “instant nostalgia” – the feeling that AXIS is a place where memories are created.  Every moment you spend with your friends at AXIS, you create a memory that you will take with you for the rest of your life.

When I met with Jake Smith Jr. (Director of AXIS) for the first time, he told me that “AXIS is a community of 18-29 year olds who believe something phenomenal about each other: That each one has been designed uniquely by God to engage the world as only they can.”  Together we worked to create a visual identity for AXIS as a place where 20-somethings can come find themselves.  This idea became the foundation for the rebrand campaign: “FIND YOUR STORY.  LIFE AWAITS.”

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When so many other ministries have identities based on flashy graphic designs, I wanted to create a clean, clear and fun visual identity built around candid-style photographs of actual AXIS 20-something’s in real situations creating real memories.

We shot all these images simultaneously with the campaign launch video (below) giving rebrand imagery a singular look.  I wasn’t looking for polished posed shots, but authentic “moments” in the lives of 20-somethings. Bjorn Amundsen was the photographer and did a great job matching the still images with the moving images I was filming.  Together he and I re-touched the images for their various uses.

IDENTITY

When brainstorming logos, I knew wanted to create an icon that invited the creativity and uniqueness of the community instead of having a rigid “brand guideline” document a mile long with endless rules.  That just didn’t seem consistent with who AXIS is.  Yes visual continuity is needed, but if AXIS really is a place for young adults to discover their own uniqueness (like Jake said) then they should have a visual identity that reflects that uniqueness and variety.

So what I did was create an original typesetting of “AXIS” composed of geometric shapes.  This lettering always appears inside of another geometric shape.  What that shape is and what color it is, is up to the designer of any given piece.  As artists within the community have ideas for the different pieces they’re contributing to, they have permission to “remix” the logo however they like.  I knew it was a bit of a risk, and this wouldn’t work for every client, but the team at AXIS loved it.  I was excited to see that MySpace adopted the same philosophy when they rolled out their new branding last week (Nov 2010).

CAMPAIGN LAUNCH VIDEO

The centerpiece of the launch campaign was this promo video which premiered at a highly attractional Willow Creek weekend service in early September, links for online viewing were included in an e-news letter immediately after the “live” premiere, and then it was featured prominently at the official launch of the new website IAMAXIS.org.

Shot in a single day, this video features actual AXIS attenders having fun together.  We intentionally extended the timeline of the piece beyond Summer to multiple seasons by varying wardrobe and color-grading.  We shot in late July, and I’m very happy with the variety in seasonal looks we achieved.  At the Sept 30th launch, the “Fall” shots look perfect.

Original score by Nathan Yaccino (my go-to soundtrack guru). Voice-over by Blaine Hogan.

WEB

It was our goal for IAMAXIS.org to be a place, not just for the AXIS calendar and general info, but that it would highlight the uniqueness and personality of the attenders themselves.  A WordPress magazine-style theme was the a perfect solution for the AXIS team to manage their own content – as this would be regularly changing and updated.  Again, photography plays a big role in this. Since imagery would be “king,” I intentionally used a neutral color palette for the basic site elements.

Additionally, there is a mobile version of the site (with downloadable web-app) complete with streaming of all video content.  The app works with 90% of all smart phones including iPhone, iTouch, Android, Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, Blackberry Torch, and Samsung touch models.  All content on the mobile app is easily updated by the AXIS staff through the WordPress CMS without needing outside support.  It’s been fun watching them updating their new site every week with new content completely on their own.

A special request the team had, was that there be a LIVE CHAT feature for visitor’s to be able to instantly connect with a staff member about any question they have in the moment, instead of having to email and wait for a response.  The solution I found for this also enables an “operator” to respond to questions from their mobile device if they were away from their desk. Pretty cool!

Facebook social-plugins were also integrated into the site via “Like” buttons on posts and a “News Feed” on on the Blog page featuring your friend’s latest activity.

Dont take my word for it…. VISIT THE SITE FOR YOURSELF!

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