Our partnership with the Joseph Maley Foundation began over a decade ago.

When INNOVATIVE first sat down with the Joseph Maley Foundation, our brand discussion focused solely on Joseph—the inspiration behind the foundation. We learned that he was a young man with a myriad of disabilities and a big heart. We learned that he loved string and the color yellow and that he was always playful despite being nonverbal. But most importantly, we learned that Joseph loved everyone unconditionally, sharing his joy with the world until the day he passed away.

That’s why his family founded the Joseph Maley Foundation (JMF) to serve children of all abilities, raising awareness for disabilities and teaching kids the power of acceptance. With that mission in mind, the “standard rules of branding” ceased to exist. We focused solely on building a brand that would honor Joseph’s legacy and help the Maley family heal from their loss.

But after ten years of service, the Joseph Maley Foundation came to INNOVATIVE looking for a brand refresh. Their original brand gave them a strong place to start, but JMF was ready to elevate their brand alongside their growing programming. They needed a logo that felt more modern with better readability. They needed a broader color palette for more diverse applications, and they needed to create a clear brand connection between all of their distinct programs.

Logo design starts with putting pencil to paper.

Visually, our designers love to start with sketches. This process allows them to freely explore new design concepts and refine graphic elements before moving into the digital space. The JMF rebrand was no different—with the first round of logo design done entirely in sketchbooks.

For their new logo, the Joseph Maley Foundation wanted the foundation to be the focus. This new look needed to be more modern and instantly recognizable, so they could increase brand awareness across their programming. The one legacy element that JMF wanted to keep was the butterfly, which represents the hope, resilience, and beauty of their community.

Once our designer finished his initial sketches, he met with team’s brand strategist to discuss the logo design and how it reflects the new direction of the brand.

There’s nothing like watching a client fall in love with their logo.

INNOVATIVE went into the review phase with several strong contenders for the new JMF logo. Each design had its own unique strengths and aesthetics, and the Joseph Maley Foundation liked every option on the table. But at the end of the day, the decision was simple. It’s not often that a client chooses a logo without hesitation or revision, but in this instance, it was love at first sight. The JMF team knew almost instantly which logo would be the winner.

We brought the new JMF brand to life with a refreshed website.

Once the logo design was finalized, we began implementing the refreshed JMF brand across their new website. These updates helped breathe new life into their web presence, while improving the overall user experience.

Now, the Joseph Maley Foundation website is an organized hub for all of the nonprofit’s programming. The Joseph Maley Foundation really took time during their rebrand to focus their efforts and ensure that all their programs utilized the new branding. This allowed us to build a website where the content truly matches their mission—and every visitor can easily understand the importance of their impact.

Our graphic toolbox helped the Joseph Maley Foundation implement their new brand quicker and easier.

With a new logo and website launched, the final step was building a graphic toolbox to help JMF utilize their new brand. This toolbox included a variety of templates for their Canva account, including design elements for social media, signage, and other brand collateral. Before the rebrand, the client said they dreaded making content for social media. But our toolbox made it easy for the Joseph Maley Foundation to step up their content creation and elevate their social media presence.

Now, content creation has become a truly enjoyable experience for the JMF team, and the Joseph Maley Foundation continues to receive great feedback on the brand from donors, participants, and volunteers alike.