Art, Case Study, Design, Identity Design, Illustration

Case Study: R.O.C.K.

ROCK (Actually R.O.C.K. or Reach Out Chatham-Kent) provides (w)holistic street health and drop-in services while building partnerships and capacity through leadership, advocacy, empowerment & compassion.⁠

We approached R.O.C.K. Missions seeing a need for “all hands on deck” to combat Chatham’s multifaceted issue(s) of homelessness, poverty, addiction and the like.

The need for their services was outweighing the supply and they needed funding. It’s happening thanks to Health Canada’s Substance and Addictions Program which has granted the non-profit $710,000 to expand its peer initiative.

From The Chatham Voice: “Between 2016 and 2020, Chatham-Kent experienced a greater than a 280 per cent increase in ER visits involving opioids, and a 400 per cent spike in opioid related deaths. Exacerbated by the pandemic, 2020 saw the largest rise in opioid-related deaths in five years.”

Important to an organizations success or failure is clear communication across the board; internally and externally. Brand is always king, wether selling a product, service OR combatting a serious issue that feels to large to make a difference.

We started with the existing brand and its core elements: the mountain (or rock), a heart and an individual:

From their, we were able to start not with a “from scratch” redesign BUT a respectful renovation of sorts where the core elements weren’t reinvented but were solidified in an iconic, strong graphic way both with and without the “mountain(s)” (Chatham does NOT have mountains, foothills or much elevation in general).

Once we respectfully renovated the identity, we started to push ourselves and the client in new directions; conceptually and visually. AND it started with a geometric heart:

AND a literal rock WITH custom “etched” letterforms because why not?!

As a last “hail mary” for pushing the brand, we used only hands as literal forms of connection; simple and illustrative:

Lots to digest for a busy client that ended up feeling the initial brand “renovation” was just right and we agree(d)! An update on colouring, primary and support type and we’ve got a brand that knows where it’s at based on where its been and where its going next.

R.O.C.K. used to be followed up with “Missions”, which became a hinderance as it has a strong religious connotation rather than referring to the “missions” that they would go on when they “reached out” to Chatham-Kent. Replace “Missions” with a quick non abbreviated version of “R.O.C.K.” (when necessary) and we’re good to go.

Good work for good people.

We got creative.

Michael + Ruth Ann

Michael L’Ecuyer, B.Des. & Ruth Ann Pearce, BFA

Chatham Creative Company