Something I don’t often write about on shawnblanc.net is what I do when I’m not writing here. For those who may not know, I am the director of marketing for the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP–KC). We are a Christian ministry with a 24/7 prayer room that has live prayer, worship, and music. I’ve been on full-time staff with IHOP–KC for almost 10 years and have been working with the marketing, design, and Web team for three.
In early 2009 our in-house design team began a massive project: rebranding.
At the time we served about 30 different internal clients (sub-ministries, events, and product development). Each one had their own icon, typeface, and branding style. Our aim was to clean out those unique brands and consolidate everyone into a single, strong brand which could ebb and flow within several contexts and be attractive to a myriad of demographics.
Our in-house team did all the research, use-case studies, mock-ups, and presentations. We worked on the side as we were able, and it took us nearly a year to land the new typefaces and branding guidelines. Moreover, as anyone who has worked for an in-house design team knows, projects of this magnitude are not just about research and implementation. My team and I worked hard to educate our peer departments, internal customers, and the senior leadership all along the way. This naturally made the process longer, but it was enjoyable as well. I work with some of the most wonderful people on the planet, and it was an honor to serve them and the ministry in this project.
Once the new branding was landed it took several more months to implement it into our website, printed material, videos, signage, and more. There are still bits which need to be shored up, but this first step was a big one, and I could not be more proud of my team nor our progress so far.