Social Value Canada

Railyard 2022 (Winter)/ Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Visual Design, Verbal Identity

At the forefront of the social impact space, Social Value Canada (SVC) is redefining value to improve collective wellbeing and environmental health. As the Canadian affiliate of the Social Value International (SVI) network, they offer a variety of training programs and certify organizations that embody the eight social value principles. This is done with the objective of improving our decision-making to increase social and environmental impact. SVC is setting the standard for how Canadians account for value and is driving important systemic change.

Immersion

To get us started, our team took some time to research the organization and its mission. One of the highlights was being able to speak with experts on social value within the SVI network. We were also able to conduct interviews with three individuals who had participated in their training courses to gain insight about SVC from people who were actively applying social value thinking to their day-to-day work.

Brand Strategy 

Putting together SVC’s brand strategy was an exciting process as we got to work on reimagining this well-established brand. The interviewee's responses, and the resources from the client team and SVI meant that we had a lot of reference material. Our goal was to build a brand strategy for SVC that could stand on its own with inspiration from the SVI brand.

Visual Language

Reinventing SVC’s visual identity was a really awesome challenge! Their new branding elements needed to show off their professionalism and expertise, while also providing enough creative flexibility to allow them to effectively scale without issue. As well, our designs had to have some resemblance to SVI’s branding to maintain a visual connection. This set of criteria resulted in a very iterative design process - nothing we’re stranger to! Ultimately, we were able to deliver an exciting and scalable visual identity that will help SVC grow for years to come.

Brand Identity

To get us started, we explored several unique logo concepts that combined different elements from the brand strategy and the visual identity. Understanding where SVC was headed, the logo had to be ownable, unique, and timeless.  As we navigated the client’s feedback, we brought in our advisors to help us with the development process. Their expertise were crucial in fine-tuning certain elements of the logo. After lots of iteration and refinement, we were able to design a logo system, utilizing the brands core colours, for SVC that is visually dynamic and recognizable.

Verbal Identity

For a brand with SVC’s reach, a verbal identity is crucial for maintaining consistency in how they write and what they write. We established a strong foundation for their writing by carefully selecting voice words that convey their ambitions and credibility. As well, their tone was developed to give them added flexibility depending on who and where they communicate. With this tool in hand, the SVC team will be able to streamline their writing process to improve consistency.

Impact

With the brand strategy, visual identity, and verbal identities coming together, SVC is poised to flourish as it continues to expand its network. For us, this was an excellent opportunity to work closely with industry leaders in the social impact space. We learned a lot from this experience and are grateful to have worked alongside the SVC team!