You may have noticed that ServeMinnesota’s website has a completely new look – featuring new colors, new icons, and a brand new logo!
The new brand is the product of close collaboration with our design team at Christiansen Creative. When the national AmeriCorps brand changed last fall, we knew we’d need to make changes to Serve Minnesota’s brand to tie in. We’re grateful to have come up with something that’s a great fit for our goals and mission.
The experts at Christiansen designed our new brand to be bold, inviting, and energetic – qualities reflected in ServeMinnestoa’s work to create change through innovative AmeriCorps programming. The new logo has an “M” shape at the top that represents Minnesota and positive change. The new brand links ServeMinnesota to the national AmeriCorps brand while still carving out a distinct visual identity for ServeMinnesota.
“ServeMinnesota is one of the best-kept secrets in our state,” said Lisa Winkler, Vice President of External Relations at ServeMinnesota. “It is time to create more awareness of the incredible impact our programs are making.”
We spoke with Tricia Christiansen of Christiansen Creative about her work on the new brand and how it will help elevate awareness of ServeMinnesota’s work. “It’s exciting to see ServeMinnesota with its own mark,” she said. “This team does amazing things and we want the identity to reinforce their efforts and the role service can play in addressing issues through the power of AmeriCorps.” More from our conversation with Tricia below.
Q. What is the vision for the new brand? What kind of impression are you hoping it will have on our audiences?
The goal of this rebrand was to create a visual identity that could stand out, be memorable, and work well with the new AmeriCorps logo. We want people to know the impact ServeMinnesota is making through a graphic that shows connection and movement, focusing on making positive changes in Minnesota communities.
Q. Could you talk a little bit about what the logo represents and why?
The logo has evolved to feel more active and bold because we are literally calling people to serve. The typography was simplified so Serve could stand out more in the name. We shortened Minnesota to MN because less is more and it reads faster, allowing for the visual focus to stay on serve. The M icon is rounded to pair well with the circular A in the AmeriCorps logo and uses the traditional black, red and blue colors as a nod to the historic partnership.
Q. What did the process of creating this brand look like, from the announcement of AmeriCorps’s new brand until now?
The moment AmeriCorps launched their new brand a year ago, we knew ServeMinnesota’s identity would need to evolve, since the former AmeriCorps logo was the primary visual element in the ServeMinnesota brand. Creative explorations included logos that would stand well on their own and pair nicely with the new AmeriCorps logo. The partnership between ServeMinnesota and AmeriCorps is integral to their work, and we wanted to be sure that alignment continued. Beyond the logo itself, we selected fonts and colors that reflect the energy of the organization. There are several key accent colors in the new brand that overlap with the AmeriCorps color palette.
Q. Could you share a little bit about your experience and how that ties into this project?
Our studio has worked with ServeMinnesota for a few years, which has given us some great insight into the range of audiences connected to this brand. Our goal with any rebrand is to create a framework of consistency, while allowing for flexibility. With such a diverse span of audiences from college-age students through executive level professionals, flexibility is an important component to consider. Flexibility is built in to allow for typography, iconography, and photography-based treatments that are still consistently connected to ServeMinnesota. It’s so exciting to see it all in action!
