Greater Grant County.
Overview.
In 2023, the three previously-existing chambers of commerce in Grant County merged to form one organization, Greater Grant County. Marion Design Co. created a visual brand identity to encapsulate Greater Grant County’s mission of cultivating a vibrant community, encouraging a thriving local economy, and improving the county’s overall quality of life.
Background.
Prior to the establishment of Greater Grant County, three chambers of commerce operated within Grant County: the Gas City Area Chamber, the Upland Chamber of Commerce, and the Marion-Grant County Chamber. After experiencing challenges related to the pandemic, the community decided to take a more unified approach to economic development.
Merging the three chambers into Greater Grant County allows the organization to make more efficient use of resources, create a stronger network of support, and expand services to promote business development on a broader scale. Marion Design Co. worked alongside Greater Grant County’s leadership team to develop a new logo and brand guide for the emerging organization.
Objectives.
UNITY
The visual identity for Greater Grant County had to represent all of Grant County’s community members, not just its most prominent groups or largest city. The idea of working together was central to the message we sought to convey.
GROWTH
Greater Grant County strives to stimulate economic growth by focusing on business development, engagement, and commerce. The mark created for Greater Grant County had to embody this sense of forward motion.
FLEXIBILITY
The brand guide needed to be flexible enough to adapt to the organization’s needs, while remaining consistent enough to maintain a concrete brand identity.
Process.
Our team began by meeting with the client to discuss their goals and priorities. Greater Grant County had already decided on its name upon collaboration with Gene Rodriguez Miller, and now Marion Design Co. stepped in to expand on this rebranding. We built on the idea that “greater” refers both to the organization becoming better and more efficient, and to their reach broadening to a larger geographic area.
After meeting with the client, we knew we wanted to create a visual identity that would tell the story of Greater Grant County, incorporating both the history of the three chambers and its future direction. With this in mind, we began sketching various iterations of the new mark. Our ideas generally centered around an arrow representing forward movement, the letter “G” representing Grant County, or some combination of the two concepts. We presented the client with three versions of the new mark. All three employed bright colors and invoked the idea of expansion.
Results.
The client decided on the “Arrow” version of the new mark. This mark combines the “G” of Grant County with an arrow, while also incorporating the square shape of the county itself. In this way, the mark represents both a sense of progress and the unity of Grant County. Yellow and orange give the mark a feeling of energy and connection, while the soft green between them calls to mind flourishing and growth.
To ensure accessibility, we paired the mark with two typefaces licensed under the Open Font License. Both are Google fonts, so members of the Greater Grant County team can use them without having to pay extra fees. The logo can be used on the organization’s website, signage, business cards, and other materials such as mugs and notepads.
As we developed the brand guide, we also focused on adaptability as we created four versions of the logo, each to be used in a specific context, as well as an alternate mark which calls attention to Greater Grant County’s web address, gogreatergrant.org.
The visual brand identity we created for Greater Grant County allows the organization to convey their mission and values as they establish their presence in the community. This project is a great example of how Marion Design Co. strives to support local organizations so they in turn can better support our local community.
