Alban: A Visual Identity Evolution

The Alban Institute is a 35-year old, nondenominational, nonprofit organization devoted to building up religious congregations and their leaders. It is a thought leader in its field and maintains large educational and publishing, as well as consulting activities. Despite its reputation and role, Alban had not made a coordinated attempt at strategic marketing and outreach, and it felt strongly that its look and feel were unappealing to new demographic targets.

At initial meeting with Thinkdesign to explore brand refreshment, it became clear that the association’s official name (“The Alban Institute”), especially in the colors used, conveyed the idea of a “think tank,” rather than an active problem-solver and source of first-rate educational and consulting products.

TD made the suggestion that Alban’s graphic presence remove the “The” and “Institute,” and that the organization’s four business divisions be given distinction.

The original logo was too constrained by the dark red box.

It was difficult to really tell what Alban was attempting to convey with this version. Our initial concepts all removed the bounding box and freed the type and bug to really shine (no pun intended).

↑ The original logo…

…our initial concepts →

…and after three rounds of revisions

We settled on a final version which we felt really met their needs → The final version

We also developed sub-brand treatments for them.

These logos and sub-brand logos became the basis for a comprehensive brand guide and a graphic roll-out including both digital and printed products as well as the association’s home page and divisional landing pages.