Case study

Creating an identity for fundraising and volunteer outreach

Casa do Caminho is a non-profit organisation in Brazil supporting children from low-income families through its foster homes and projects.

The challenge

Casa do Caminho had no established visual identity and very little marketing presence.

The organisation needed a recognisable identity and practical communication materials to explain its work, attract international donors and volunteers, and support fundraising.

My role

I created Casa do Caminho’s first visual identity, then developed and applied it across fundraising, information and promotional materials.

My work included:

Creating the organisation's logo and related identities for its projects and foster homes

Building the organisation’s visual presence across brochures, leaflets, posters and other communication materials

Designing fundraising products and promotional materials for international supporters

Producing a promotional video to support fundraising and volunteer outreach

Created in 2008 with limited production resources; the production quality reflects the technology and budget available at the time.

Building a presence from the ground up

With no established identity or marketing system to work from, the first task was to give Casa do Caminho a recognisable visual presence.

The identity then needed to work across very different applications, from foster-home and project logos to printed information, fundraising products and video, while helping people outside Brazil understand who the organisation was and how they could support it.

What this case shows

Creating a visual identity from the ground up is not only about designing a logo. It is about building enough structure for the organisation to communicate clearly as its needs grow.

When developing an identity like this, I consider:

What does the organisation need people to understand first?
What should make it recognisable?
How should projects and sub-brands relate to the main identity?
Where will the identity need to work in practice?
What will make it easier to communicate consistently over time?

A useful identity gives an organisation something recognisable to build from, not just something attractive to put on a page.