By 2022 the church had outgrown its first identity. Eighty nationalities in the room, a ministry center, a fellows program, kids and students with their own energy, and one logo that had to carry all of it on a street sign and a Sunday slide. The brief asked for a flagship church of truth and power, and for room to grow.
The direction came from the city. The arch is a D.C. roofline; the palette is brick, sky, and the ivory of the buildings. Presentation V3 won on March 21, 2023 with the house logo. The decision that mattered most came four months later, when the credits set aside for a website went to a Youth brand and a Kids brand instead. The house had rooms before it had a homepage.
A roofline, three lines for the steps, and a wordmark that leads with District. The icon works alone. Seven colors: Dark Skyline Blue, Skyline Blue, Ivory, Ochre, Sunset, Brick, and Light Skyline Blue.
Three frames, cut from the arch. They hold a photo, a line, or nothing at all, and they are the reason a window poster and a tote bag read as the same church. When the sub-brands came along, each one got its own version of this idea.
This is Your Home. This is a Church for the City. Fuel Your Spirit. Love. Think. Act. Four lines, and the last one became the Kids brand's whole voice three years later.
Every sub-brand answers the parent. District Kids keeps the roofline and puts a heart in it. Youth and College flatten it to a single line and add a seal. Music turns it into a monogram and rings of sound. Restore, the capital campaign, borrowed the arch for the tower of the building it set out to save.
Two years of collateral after the brand shipped: stationery, a generosity envelope, a connection card built to mirror the Church Center form, a welcome sign, a first-time pack, team tees, the District Fellows trifold, and series art. This is what a brand does on a Sunday.
We do not want this to be a great departure from the Main Church brand.
Brand evolution: the house logo, icon, and wordmark in seven colors; Brand Style Guide.
Brand elements: the three frames and the photography direction.
Applications: signage, billboards, A-frames, flags, apparel, social outlets, pre-service slides.
Collateral, 2023 to 2025: stationery, generosity envelope, connection card, welcome sign, first-time pack, team tees, District Fellows trifold, series art, Canva frames.
Five sub-brands and a campaign, each with its own study: District Kids, District Youth, District College, District Church Music, Restore, Multiply.
The Challenge
Eighty nationalities, a ministry center, a fellows program, and one logo that had to carry all of it. The church needed an identity built to grow rooms.
Deliverables
