Firm: Daniel Pipitone (Freelance – Pro Bono)

In the third phase of Emmanuel Christian Church’s new branding effort, I have continued my pro bono work for ECC and redesigned their business papers, including basic #10 envelopes, business cards and stationery.

Their identity includes some evocative elements, including rough-edged illustrative segments and other texture detail that were used to tie things closely to the other ECC materials. You can see this connection well when looking at their recently-redesigned bulletin.

This marks the next phase in ECC’s progression towards a complete extension of their newly created identity. We’ll be working towards future goals of signage and the eventual refresh of their website.

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance – Pro Bono)

In the next phase of Emmanuel Christian Church’s new branding effort, we worked together on the redesign of their bulletin. After some initial usability discussion that resulted in some changes from their current format, we then pre-printed the bulletin shell, which ECC can run through their laser printer week-to-week for customized announcements and promotional information on the mostly blank inside front cover. Overall, this redesign works well to extend their new identity, paving the way for a new suite of highly visible materials that will encourage strong connections between ECC and its the congregation as well as the local Pittsburgh community.

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance)

The identity for Emmanuel Christian Church marks the first step in their approach towards an entirely new branding program. With a renewed focus on outreach and engaging their community in Pittsburgh’s Northside neighborhood of Brighton Heights, Emmanuel is committed to reshaping their church, making themselves more accessible, inviting and becoming a bright spot in their community.

Leading up to this identity redesign, I worked together with Emmanuel’s pastoral staff to carefully consider a range of branding “markers,” including:

Reputation: How well is your organization known?
Esteem: How highly regarded are you?
Relevance: How important are your organization’s mission and activities to the concerns of the audience?
Differentiation: Are there others that do what you do? What makes you different than them? What  makes you the same? Where are the points of  “alignment”?

We also underwent an in-depth profiling exercise (as outlined by DK Holland in her book, Branding for Nonprofits), where we looked closely across a spectrum of issues in order to craft ourselves a creative brief to work against. These items we examined were:

• Profile
• Context
• Positioning
• Audiences
• Personality
• Current  Situation
• Budget
• Schedule
• Design Media
• Technical / Practical Requirements

Following through on this examination proved incredibly valuable in helping us uncover many of the reasons why Emmanuel stands out among many established and emerging churches. The results of our preliminary work together provided the basis for an identity and branding program that not only stands out among other Christian evangelical churches, but has made Emmanuel confident they now possess a voice that expresses their core values and personality as closely as possible.