research / brand strategy / naming / creative direction

Ascend Dallas

The Client:

Community lies at the heart of this organization. Originally named WiNGS (Women in Need of Generous Support), Ascend meets women at critical points of change in their lives, (such as after the birth of a child, or times of economic change) and provides a supportive community learning environment that holds each individual accountable for her own growth — developing a network of financially savvy, future-minded individuals.
While its original brand was developed in a donor-focused silo to gather funds quickly, the women who participate in this program are truly its center, and they deserved to be represented positively by this organization.

The Situation:

How can we develop a new name and brand for WiNGS (Women in Need of Generous Support) that honors the autonomy, effort, and fortitude of its program participants, and calls attention to the longitudinal benefits cultivated by the nonprofit and its community?

The Solution:

Rather than creating a brand that appeals to donors, I spoke directly with program participants and facilitators to understand the successes and opportunities they have achieved through the organization to capture the feeling one gets when engaging in the services offered by Ascend (formerly WiNGS). In one-on-one interviews and group workshops, themes of uplifting autonomy, and support without strings emerged quickly. Collaboratively, we came up with a framework that would guide our naming brainstorm.

This framework balanced four categories of organization names:

US / YOU / PROGRAM / OUTCOME

Using this framework, in partnership with my creative team, we came up with around 120 different names to test with the client, ultimately landing on the name Ascend Dallas, and the tagline “A Collaborative for Generational Change”.

Armed with a new brand strategy and a new name, my creative partners set out to build a brand system that would feel joyful, electric, and community-oriented. Bright, vibrant colors, a clean and flexible identity system, and a photographic style guide that showcases real participants lay the stage for a rallying cry that members would be proud to shout from the rooftops.

Ascend Dallas is the only organization that operates as a catalyst for success in motherhood and financial stability by meeting women where they’re at in critical points of change, from their first pregnancy to their first house, to provide a dynamic, supportive community learning environment that holds women accountable for their own growth.

Ascend is developing a network of financially savvy, future-minded individuals who own their own power through cultivating deep, interpersonal relationships to enact generational change by providing highly curated programming to the Dallas community that supports women through the execution of their goals.