Juniata Students Craft Brand for Advocacy Organization
Huntingdon, Pa. – Tuesday. Dec. 4, 2018
Making Huntingdon House a Home: Huntingdon House, a local non-profit organization that supports and advocates for survivors of domestic violence, launched their new brand, which was created by students in Juniata College’s Integrated Media Arts (IMA) program.
Huntingdon House impacts the community in many ways, providing individualized and survivor-centered support. Advocates at the organization also assist with a 24-hour hotline support, legal advocacy, individual and group counseling, emergency shelter space, permanent housing and more. Every year, they hold outreach events, including a Walk to End Violence and a candlelight vigil, that grow awareness of domestic violence.
“These services are very often the piece a survivor needs to move ahead with their plan for establishing safety for themselves and their family,” stated Jean Collins, the executive director of Huntingdon House. “Huntingdon House provides support to all survivors of all identities. All are welcome here, and everyone in Huntingdon benefits by a system that prioritizes safety for survivors and accountability for offenders.”
Huntingdon House recently partnered with Juniata students to help build a consistent brand that people within the community and surrounding areas recognize.
Huntingdon House focuses on individualized support for those it helps. Similarly, Juniata focuses on individualized educational opportunities for its students. In the IMA Labs course, taught by Ryan Gibboney, assistant professor of integrated media arts, students worked in teams to rebrand community partner Huntingdon House. Together, the class created a new visual identity and then updated print and digital materials, designed a new logo, developed an updated website, drew illustrations and enhanced the organization’s social media presence.
“The rebranding of Huntingdon House is important to raise the profile of our organization throughout the county, region and state,” says Collins. “Establishing and remaining consistent with our brand will go a long way toward public recognition of Huntingdon House and our role in the community.”
The students worked to create a brand for Huntingdon House that focuses on making the organization feel like home.
“Our team felt that the previous logo did not give the right feeling of what Huntingdon House provides to the community,” explained sophomore Sierra Waite, who also participated in this project. “To the viewer, it appeared rigid and corporate, when Huntingdon House is anything but that. They are a flexible and compassionate organization.”
Junior Colin Powers designed and developed Huntingdon House’s new three-dimensional logo after receiving ideas from junior Caitlyn Konradt.
“We kept the previous logo’s idea of moving forward by incorporating an arrow pointing upwards,” explains Powers. “We wanted to strengthen the message that this is a place where you can move forward and beyond struggles. My emphasis, then, turned to the idea of open doors, signified under the Hs of the new logo, while giving the house itself a more comforting and inviting feel.”
Huntingdon House staff expressed positive feedback about the new tools and materials.
“Huntingdon House staff and its Board have greatly enjoyed the process of working with the students on this project,” says Collins. “We have been very impressed with the professionalism and expertise of the class members and of Ryan Gibboney. The outcome for Huntingdon House is far more than we could have envisioned, in terms of the value this will add to our day to day outreach and operations.”
–Written by Sierra Waite ’21