2019 has been a year of change and growth for us here at YWS! We’ve expanded our team, supported almost 1,000 youth, and announced a new 5-year strategic plan.
Alongside this, we have been hard at work behind the scenes with our friends over at SOS Design agency, building on our brand, and creating a fresh new look to greet the new year.
The logo and branding of Youth Without Shelter was an ongoing topic of discussion among our staff, board members, and our youth. After all, a brand is so much more than just a logo – it’s the glue that holds our organization together, and inspires our community to join us in our mission to make change happen.
We’ve been supporting our community for 33 years and as the shelter has evolved, we felt like it was time for our logo to reflect the strong, diverse, and energetic voice we express within our walls each day. It was time for our outside to match our inside, and for us to share that with the world!
To begin on this journey, we met with SOS Design to discuss the basics – our mission, our goals, and our donor demographic. But we wanted to dig deeper… We rely heavily on the voices of our current and past residents to shape each and every decision we make here at YWS. We value the voices of our youth as they drive our organization to be better each day. Knowing this is a key element to who we are as an organization, SOS Design offered to take one of our youth under their wing for the project to help guide their branding decisions and inspire the creative for the new YWS brand.
Photo: John at SOS Design, engaged in the initial logo brainstorm exercise
John joined the team as our resident Brand Ambassador, and helped mould this new brand concept from beginning to end. Meeting with SOS for creative brainstorming at their agency, and sitting in on key branding meetings with our marketing team, he insured that not only his voice, but the voices of all the YWS youth was heard throughout this process. Ultimately, he chose the first draft of our logo, and helped us develop it to what you see today.
This rebranding process couldn’t have hit closer to home. We all came together to develop something truly special for our brand, and we are so excited to share it with you now!
We are Youth Without Shelter: Bold, creative, youthful, resilient, welcoming, and driven. Driven to inspire, support, and make change happen.
Join us on our journey to end youth homelessness – one youth at a time!
Photo: John with Sarah and Ankush from SOS Design, revealing our new branding to the staff and youth of YWS
