Horizons

Rebranding one of San Francisco's oldest youth organizations

Horizons Unlimited of San Francisco is a non-profit organization based in the city’s Mission district. Since 1965 they have been empowering the areas primarily Latino youth with a combination of services.

When the organization approached Manmade they had two primary objectives: to align the organization’s staff and its many departments behind a single unified vision, and to develop a more professional corporate image that would better equip them to approach private funding sources.

Our first step was to ascertain the way in which people currently experienced the organization. Staff, funding sources, and the youth themselves were all given custom questionnaires in English and Spanish. The questionnaire format allowed private, candid feedback about the organization, its programs and operations. As almost everyone referred to the organization as simply Horizons this was developed as the core brand name.

Using the information gathered two distinct distillations of the Horizons methodology were developed as mission statements. The chosen statement—“The success of the individual is the strength of our community”—led to further research in fundamental psychology, pre-Columbian history and organizational group dynamics. This research informed the design of final logo, which is a multiple reflection of the Mayan symbol for community.

A restriction unique to this project was the limited color palette available. Due to possible misinterpretation regarding gang affiliation, reds, blues and other primary colors were to be avoided. Black was selected as the brand color for its inclusion of all colors, its lack of ambiguity and for consistency in reproduction.

Throughout the identity development process sketches and revisions were displayed in the art gallery at Horizons. This encouraged feedback from all levels during development and enabled an organization-wide buy-in to the final identity. The Horizons mark has become a standard to bear.

A comprehensive standards manual was distributed to staff so that the proper execution of the mark could continue to build and strengthen the identity of the organization as a whole. Its extension to stationery, staff jackets, fund-raising brochures, flags and signage has begun to establish this modern incarnation of one of San Franciscos oldest and greatest non-profits. The organization now has a single, cohesive identity to stand behind and a more unified purpose of vision.