Tools for Connecting people in their Communities
Organisations concerned with cultural identity/history making, place making, sustainability, positive change, adaptation and knowledge exchange tend to focus a great deal of their attention on the communities that surround them. Yet, strategies to explore the process of belonging or “identification”, or community connecting and the understanding of what it takes for people to really be part of their community organisations (and of course their communities) is often a struggle.
At a time when resources are becoming more and more stretched, value (re)branding and identity building activities that aren’t required by donors might seem extravagant. As our informal research with organisations reveals, on the whole, organisations won’t ask for support with value (re)branding community connecting and identity making activities. And many organisations will attempt to undertake a value (re)branding because they know it is essential to have community buy-in and participation. However well-meaning, it is often a self-directed and misinformed campaign, that does not show results.
Identity making (re)branding checkpoint:
- The task of connecting people is central to the (re)branding purpose
- Staff at all levels of the organisation have a theoretical understanding of community connecting which informs their practice
- The organisation has an in-depth knowledge of the community in which it operates and is/aims to be well respected in that community
- The (re)branding exercise makes a contribution to its local community
- The (re)branding exercise is designed to promote community connecting
- The (re)branding team have skills and qualities which enable them to connect people in communities
The more sophisticated the (re)branding team are in their understanding of communities, the better the chance that the people they support will make connections. Sometimes this means that the (re)branding exercise itself is best placed to locate community connectors, who will then work in a bottom-up process to facilitate the identity making.
A community member should be able to say:
- I contribute to my local community
- I know people in my neighbourhood
- I know people who share my interests
- I am a citizen
- I feel valued and included
- I can follow my religious and cultural beliefs in my community
A good brand represents many intangible aspects: it’s a collection of feelings and perceptions about quality, image, lifestyle and status. Your brand embodies an ideal and a set of values that organisation is structured around, and will need to take many small steps towards delivering on that promise. The everyday artifacts, spaces, services, and other interactions that surrond your organisation will work as an addition or detraction element to your promise. A well-designed system of program elements is required to build upon itself inorder to reflect, extend, interpret, and continuously strive to reach that ideal.
Communicate your promise and personality :
We are a lively community network, offering practical functionality within an accessible digital platform, connecting people towards making a positive and meaningful change in their community. We are multifaceted, diverse, but always local. Our community is a range of ages, origins and cultures. We are urban, vibrant and dynamic, able to foster personal expression and systems of ideas. We are a place where people aren’t afraid to take a stand on what they think is right for their community. (case study)
Define your visual identity:
- Choose a name the community can identify with, and make their own
- “My” or “Our” in name, short and snappy, no more than eight letters
- Memorable, relevant, fun, bright, longevity, a family of sub-brands
- Web 2.0 sensibility
- Trendy yet with conventional taste, high calibre yet approachable
- Is the domain name is available, does it have international relevance?
- Identity as a Texture
- Neutral palette of 60% lights, 30% mediums, 10% darks
- White/ish background
- 3 or 4 bright key colours to add a spark
- Soft, sophisticated gradients, Web 2.0 sensibility
- Photography is preferable over illustration. Three categories: textural, conceptual and journalistic.
Textural category
Textural: Rich, layered imagery, magnified dynamic cropping, diverse range of media, techniques and colours. No black and white or monotone imagery.
Conceptual category
Conceptual: Magnified dynamic cropping, natural lighting, non-clichéd, not posed or contrived, purposeful subject matter. No black and white, monotone or “Photoshop” filter altered imagery.
Journalistic category
Journalistic: Natural lighting, dynamic cropping thats not magnified, not staged or posed, people based. No black and white, monotone or “Photoshop” filter altered imagery.
Please note: All imagery should support the brand promise and personality. All photography should be pulled from an approved library of images.
Identity as a Voice:
Our voice supports the concept of community dialogue and thought—one of the most important parts of the identity.” (case study)
- Friendly, companionable, familiar, but not Microsoft’s paperclip avatar
- Welcoming, but not “acting” helpful, genuine
- Polite, well-spoken, down-to-earth, but no slang
Identity as Emotion (User Experience):
- The platform should be designed to be dynamic and flexible within a family of constraints. This includes the use of color, typography, image style and graphic elements as well as the digital front-end and back-end functionality. The flexibility of the system requires careful treatment and attention for all elements to allow dually for consistency of the brand and individuality of the user groups
- The system should be functional and emotional, open and transparent, inclusive, facilitated, empowering, responsive to change, collaborative
- The system should be designed in such a way to allow/invite population, modification, expansion, growth or neglect as the community feels fit
Identity as Communication:
Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” (Leo Burnett )
Advertising is often needed for several early campaigns, including, amongst others, campaigns to create awareness and participation, e.g. opinion workshops, UX platform tests, prototype tests, campaigns to increase community engagement and initial buy-in, campaigns to introduce and announce the concept of your organisation, and finally, at a later stage, campaigns to support the network, it’s technology and it’s established community events.
By no means does the advertising need to have a huge budget and to use traditional commercial media outlets, although a few of these options, e.g. radio in order to speak to those community members that might not come in contact with the non-traditional methods suggested below. Many non-traditional methods may be employed on a very low budget and are often quite successful. The advertising language of the campaigns need to aim to speak and appeal directly to the community. We will be able to do this by referring to the brand messaging guidelines set up by the (re)branding team.
Starting ideas:
- Commercial advertising media that can be used non-traditionally: wall paintings, street furniture, reverse graffiti, human billboards, town criers, sticker campaigns, coffee cup advertising, publicity-stunt advertising
- Commercial advertising media: printed flyers, radio and television adverts, web banners, magazines, newspapers, posters.
- Commercial online advertising: search engine result pages, social network advertising, advertising networks and email marketing.
- Non-commercial/non-traditional online advertising: viral messages and games, crowdsourcing user generated events
…
Don’t forget:
(Re)branding and brand development is about maintaining a clear, open and honest dialogue between your organisation and your community. The dialogue is two-fold, enabling your organisation to make informed, practical decisions on how to further develop the campaign, and allowing the community to feel acknowledged which in return will respond with loyalty.
- Workshops
- Good customer service support team, and passionate ambassadors of the brand
- Advertising
Florens 2012
This post is a submission to be part of Team Florens where themes around the economy of cultural and environmental heritage, including, “developing and promoting cultural identity” will be debated at Florens 2012 Cultural and Environmental Heritage Week. A nine-day biennial event that explores how culture can generate economy. Join us!