BRILLIANT CITIES
Where brilliant things happen.
WHAT WE DID TOGETHER
Brand architecture
Brand guidelines
Brand strategy
Brand application and materials
Brand voice
Website design and build
Messaging and copywriting
Social media assets
Brilliant Cities create places where brilliant things happen. This new organisation is the national and global expansion of Brilliant Detroit. It is a neighbourhood-powered model ensuring children 0-8 are school-ready, healthy, and supported.
They do this by transforming houses into community hubs where children and families have what they need to thrive.
It’s scalable, transferable and hyper-local – and it’s working!
Together with the Co-Founder, Cindy Eggleton, and her leadership team, we transformed Brilliant Detroit into a joyful, powerful and effective platform to take their work to the international stage – greater reach, greater impact and greater societal change.
A combination of brand architecture, strategy and identity design was brought together to honour their work to date and reimagine their brand for the future.
THE CHALLENGE
Legacy, reimagined for scale
The legacy of Brilliant Detroit precedes them across this resilient city – their success and expansion have been fast and great. Our challenge was how to build a global-facing brand that can bridge the hyper-local, grass-roots approach that made them who they are, with the scalable, societal change and community-building impact that their model brings. This shift in brand meaning and positioning opens up new audiences and conversations that go beyond where they currently operate on the ground in their city. This was about dreaming BIG, building to what was possible on a global scale. Where the brand wasn’t telling this bigger vision and story. We wanted Brilliant Cities to launch with a credible, comprehensive identity and message from day one – an evolution that allowed loyal advocates to share in their growth and continue to feel part of the story.
THE CHALLENGE
Legacy, reimagined for scale
The legacy of Brilliant Detroit precedes them across this resilient city – their success and expansion have been fast and great. Our challenge was how to build a global-facing brand that can bridge the hyper-local, grass-roots approach that made them who they are, with the scalable, societal change and community-building impact that their model brings. This shift in brand meaning and positioning opens up new audiences and conversations that go beyond where they currently operate on the ground in their city. This was about dreaming BIG, building to what was possible on a global scale. Where the brand wasn’t telling this bigger vision and story. We wanted Brilliant Cities to launch with a credible, comprehensive identity and message from day one – an evolution that allowed loyal advocates to share in their growth and continue to feel part of the story.
THE RESEARCH
Real stories of connection
The research process was comprehensive – we spoke to board members, team leaders, staff, partners, allies and aligned organisations that champion their work. This allowed us to get a full picture of how they operated and what it meant to those involved. Cindy Eggleton, the Co-Founder, herself is the embodiment of love, warmth and connection. She loves her people and her city. Everyone connected to Brilliant Cities/Brilliant Detroit was compassionate, driven and hopeful about their work and its impact. The culture this organisation has built over their 8 years shone through with every interaction. We wanted to capture this and bottle it up! We knew that this care was what made the brand unique.
THE RESEARCH
Real stories of connection
The research process was comprehensive – we spoke to board members, team leaders, staff, partners, allies and aligned organisations that champion their work. This allowed us to get a full picture of how they operated and what it meant to those involved. Cindy Eggleton, the Co-Founder, herself is the embodiment of love, warmth and connection. She loves her people and her city. Everyone connected to Brilliant Cities/Brilliant Detroit was compassionate, driven and hopeful about their work and its impact. The culture this organisation has built over their 8 years shone through with every interaction. We wanted to capture this and bottle it up! We knew that this care was what made the brand unique.
THE STRATEGY
Grassroots at its core, with global potential
The significant shift in the brand’s strategic position was from pure service provider and curator working at the grass-roots level to a global model that can be adopted by other cities. This elevated position required architecting the organisation’s structure, ownership and model, and shifting the story to one of broader impact outside of Detroit (whilst being proudly born out of Detroit, I hasten to add!). They had already had a lot of interest and gained serious momentum, so this rebrand came at the perfect time to meet the needs expressed by other cities across North America. This also saw us coaching the leadership through owning their true impact and potential – to step into it and capture the essence of what started it all, how it can be taken to bigger stages. Every time, the story was grounded in community and place. This was the balance and challenge we had to solve for.
THE STRATEGY
Grassroots at its core, with global potential
The significant shift in the brand’s strategic position was from pure service provider and curator working at the grass-roots level to a global model that can be adopted by other cities. This elevated position required architecting the organisation’s structure, ownership and model, and shifting the story to one of broader impact outside of Detroit (whilst being proudly born out of Detroit, I hasten to add!). They had already had a lot of interest and gained serious momentum, so this rebrand came at the perfect time to meet the needs expressed by other cities across North America. This also saw us coaching the leadership through owning their true impact and potential – to step into it and capture the essence of what started it all, how it can be taken to bigger stages. Every time, the story was grounded in community and place. This was the balance and challenge we had to solve for.
THE STORY
A place where brilliant things happen
The combination of the ‘how’: community-first, family-focused, elevating child learning; the ‘what’; a proven model that is scalable and transferable, meant we started the conversation in the heart of the community – about place and space for learning, safety, love and growth. We put the people, the neighbourhood, at the core of the brand – each as individual as the next. We needed to create something that spoke to the idea of place, inclusion, community and wholeness. And all from behind an orange door! It’s their signature – each hub has its door painted orange so the community knows where they can come and be heard, supported and resourced. Our goal was to tell the power of this narrative and its impact. In doing so, create a brand that balances optimism and effectiveness whilst honouring what’s been.
THE STORY
A place where brilliant things happen
The combination of the ‘how’: community-first, family-focused, elevating child learning; the ‘what’; a proven model that is scalable and transferable, meant we started the conversation in the heart of the community – about place and space for learning, safety, love and growth. We put the people, the neighbourhood, at the core of the brand – each as individual as the next. We needed to create something that spoke to the idea of place, inclusion, community and wholeness. And all from behind an orange door! It’s their signature – each hub has its door painted orange so the community knows where they can come and be heard, supported and resourced. Our goal was to tell the power of this narrative and its impact. In doing so, create a brand that balances optimism and effectiveness whilst honouring what’s been.
THE IDENTITY
Love + Safety + Growth = Brilliant
From the beginning, we wanted the Brilliant Cities brand to be vibrant, joyful and accessible. A visual identity that could reflect their communities and work whilst being bold and unignorable, so when it was brought to the attention of other city and community leaders, they were left feeling inspired, wanting to know more. The existing palette was tweaked: the orange more vibrant, the blue more saturated and introducing a sunny yellow. The fonts were kept simple, rounded and friendly. The circles became the mechanism to hold imagery, messaging, denote a place, highlight people or a moment. They can be used in a myriad of combinations and colours, to reflect the diversity of each neighbourhood. The icon – a bold B contains an open orange door – the symbol of the hub and ethos of the organisation. It’s an invitation to come in and take a seat, connect with people in your neighbourhood and get supported. Each city has its own unique font (Brilliant Detroit, Brilliant Philadelphia, Brilliant Cleveland, etc.), so they can have their own sub-identity. This was important as each execution of the model will vary from city to city, and we wanted to offer a little something different for each one.
THE IDENTITY
Love + Safety + Growth = Brilliant
From the beginning, we wanted the Brilliant Cities brand to be vibrant, joyful and accessible. A visual identity that could reflect their communities and work whilst being bold and unignorable, so when it was brought to the attention of other city and community leaders, they were left feeling inspired, wanting to know more. The existing palette was tweaked: the orange more vibrant, the blue more saturated and introducing a sunny yellow. The fonts were kept simple, rounded and friendly. The circles became the mechanism to hold imagery, messaging, denote a place, highlight people or a moment. They can be used in a myriad of combinations and colours, to reflect the diversity of each neighbourhood. The icon – a bold B contains an open orange door – the symbol of the hub and ethos of the organisation. It’s an invitation to come in and take a seat, connect with people in your neighbourhood and get supported. Each city has its own unique font (Brilliant Detroit, Brilliant Philadelphia, Brilliant Cleveland, etc.), so they can have their own sub-identity. This was important as each execution of the model will vary from city to city, and we wanted to offer a little something different for each one.
THE IMPACT
Launch to international adoption
The brand launched with much anticipation and a warm welcome. There is a growing waitlist of cities to adopt the Brilliant Cities model, and discussions for further expansion, internationally, are ongoing. The project has given a greater depth of understanding both internally and with their audiences, which has set them up for future growth in a whole new way.
THE IMPACT
Launch to international adoption
The brand launched with much anticipation and a warm welcome. There is a growing waitlist of cities to adopt the Brilliant Cities model, and discussions for further expansion, internationally, are ongoing. The project has given a greater depth of understanding both internally and with their audiences, which has set them up for future growth in a whole new way.
“There’s almost no words for the transformation.”
Cindy Eggleton
Co-Founder, Brilliant Cities