Our New Look

Creating a visual brand as dynamic as our organization

This year, we’re celebrating our 40th anniversary. As we approached this milestone, we spent a lot of time reflecting on our past and honing our vision for the future. You can see the culmination of these efforts in our new Strategic Plan, which also laid the groundwork for a new visual brand.

As we’ve transformed as an organization over the years, we’ve refreshed our branding to match.

Our last update introduced our current logo and moved us away from what had become a dated, corporate look. With our latest update, we’ve taken another step toward visually representing our personal approach in ways that also communicate our values. 

What’s new

The Community Foundation is a dynamic network of generous community members, nonprofits, students, advisors and teammates—all working together to create local, philanthropic impact. That word, dynamic, is a key component of our visual update. We’ve incorporated new elements to reflect the energy, versatility and variety that define our organization and the people who partner with us.

Hand Drawn Lines

Our work has always been human-centered; from the way we cultivate relationships to how we invest in understanding our community’s needs. This sets us apart, and now it’s reflected in our visual language through hand-drawn lines and patterns. They also reflect our broader community, where individuality and imperfections make our region unique and beautiful.

Patterns

One action or thought repeated over time becomes a pattern, and patterns are the basis for systems. Our work to create a flourishing and just southwest Washington starts with envisioning and creating new patterns for ourselves and with each other. In addition to giving our brand more depth, the use of patterns keeps this concept at the forefront of our minds, so we remain thoughtful about what it means to create lasting change.

You’ll notice a topographic pattern we use quite frequently. This represents our focus on locale; Cowlitz, Clark and Skamania counties.

Stars

Stars are an important symbol to us. Like stars, the Community Foundation is a source of positivity and light for our community. We help caring residents navigate the nonprofit landscape and guide them toward greater impact through a variety of philanthropic approaches. Similarly, stars represent our donors, students, nonprofits and advisors, who spread light themselves through their many contributions to our community.

Fonts

Equity is also important in design, and our typefaces are a great example. Our primary font, Halyard, is the brainchild of Joshua Darden. He is credited as the first African-American type designer, although many likely slipped by unnoticed. Purchasing our font licenses from Darden Studio is just one small way for us to contribute to the success of historically underrepresented designers, including BIPOC, women and those experiencing disabilities.

Halyard is also a perfect pairing for our brand. Much like the Community Foundation, this font is familiar yet distinct, because it takes a historically well-loved style and adapts it into something more useful and contemporary.

Colors

There were a lot of things we liked about our previous color scheme. The bright, playful palette brought life to our brand. However, working with these highly saturated colors presented its challenges, especially around accessibility. Our refresh keeps our vibrant mix of colors but leans toward more muted, natural versions. We’ve also supplemented our primary brand colors with additional shades or tones. This palette is more complementary and easier on the eyes, allowing us to create more dynamic designs by combining different colors or using one color family on its own.

Illustrating impact, inspiring connection

You can see how all these elements work together at the newly redesigned cfsww.org. We are excited to see how the new brand elevates our partners and the community impact we create together. It also illustrates our vision for a diverse, vibrant and flourishing southwest Washington.

While it feels new now, our brand refresh is part of the continual progress we’ve pursued for the last 40 years as a community foundation. In that spirit, whether you’re a longtime supporter or new to our mission, we hope it inspires you to connect more deeply with us and our work—the work of community.