When I began volunteering for The Little Free Pantries, the first project that I was asked to design was a brand guide. The Little Free Pantries (LFP) did not have a cohesive branding system created yet, only logos, colors, and marketing materials that all looked vastly different.
I approached the project with the intention of keeping the usability of the guide extremely simple. LFP is run by volunteers, so the people using the guide may not always be trained designers. I did not want them to feel confused or overwhelmed. To keep things simple, I only included essential guidelines. The guide contains LFP’s mission, purpose, colors, logo, logo uses & rules, and typography.
LFP’s mission, purpose, logo, and primary colors had already been established. To further the branding potential of LFP, I designed secondary brand colors, logo uses & rules, and chose typography.
The logo uses & rules section is kept simple so it can be easily understood by everyone. It includes straightforward tips about how to use, place, and size the logo in a variety of circumstances. There were several aspects to consider when choosing the typefaces for LFP. I chose Avenir because it is a very sleek and easily readable typeface. Avenir works well with Lemon Milk, the font used for LFP’s logo. Verdana is used as the primary typeface if Avenir is not available because it is available to almost everyone. Most volunteers work in Google Docs, so I chose a typeface that would be accessible to everyone, not just designers.
