I head about Greenville Natural Health from a co-worker who had seen them in the past for some health issues. After looking through their site and seeing some of their materials, I knew A. this is a place that would help my own digestive problems post Lyme Disease and B. this is a place that would use a bit of branding help and a refresh. I have been to other natural health practices before as the typical routes for recovery weren't helping me as much as I had hoped. I was directed from one specialist to another specialist, to another and taken so many antibiotics with no end in site.
Upon going to visit with Marina, right away, I could tell this was going to be a good experience. Not only did Marina take time to listen to my story and talk through what has helped and hurt, she seemed to care and understand. Like many small businesses that are now looking to grow and take the next step, Greenville Natural Heath could use a brand refresh. There wasn't a polished look to many of their items and I wanted to start to create branding that would not only be consistent across their business but also bring a more current look. After all, the team does some techniques and treatments that are cutting edge and they should have a clean, modern feel.
I got to work, creating various styles and looks that could be flexible but easily recognized as the brand extends onto apparel, sponsorships, collateral and advertising. I even questioned having "Greenville" before the other wording or after. For some reason I could see it being said both ways and thought it was worth discussing.
Since the business has Greenville right up front in the name and previously in the logo it was so prominent, I thought it would make sense to have a visual that could play off Greenville's staple, the bridge. It just makes sense to incorporate if we could. My thought was that if the sticker is seen on cars, or around town, residents would feel more inclined to wear it or notice it because it feels local.
As you can see I created a simple vector graphic representation of the bridge and used a leaf to communicate the natural or health side of the business. I liked the green and blue color scheme as it seems relaxed but still had quite a bit of contrast. The blue incorporation was a jump from the previous branding, but after looking at a few color swatches I think was a smart move.
When creating the various orientations, I started exploring an abbreviation for Greenville. I thought GVL would feel more modern and locally I think more people would still recognize the abbreviation. It created a slightly simpler look when handling the type which I liked as well. In the end I provided both versions, spelled out and abbreviated. What is being discussed is using Greenville until it's full¥ established with the new branding and then down the road transitioning or at least revisiting the abbreviation. With SEO and other considerations, it's maybe too big of a switch at this time.
I included this next image to illustrate just how many files I create for a logo project. There are full color, reversed full color, outline, reversed outline, grayscale, reversed grayscale, one color black and finally, reversed one color. This is just for one of the badges, then I did both horizontal and vertical orientations with both Greenville and GVL. Cheap designers or crowdsourcing sites would give you the full color version and event then who knows what filetypes of them, but when you choose a professional designer, they should be giving you professional, clean files with many forms for use. Vendors will thank you, your layouts won't be blurry and it will make your brand look more professional.
Stickers for bottles, and all types of collateral materials are being developed and below are a few branding elements I have started developing. A few of the explored sticker directions are shown here. The small stickers are for the tops of bottles and the large one is for wrapping on the side of the bottle and indicating dosage.
The avocado is the first of many icons being developed to represent Greenville Natural Health service offerings. Using the simple outline style works well with the new logo and is a more modern approach than full color graphics with drop shadows.
I also created a leaf pattern to be used and have already overlaid the pattern on photos for key visuals on a presentation and plan on using the pattern to add a texture on various branded items.
All in all, a fun start to a rebrand and it's exciting to work on a refresh for a business that helps people get back on track with their health!.
