When you know better, do better. A brand is a living thing. (See We Rebranded Ourselves, Here’s Why.) Our task with Prospect Park Alliance was to study current best practices, revisit the brand strategy, and reassess the visual system through small adjustments. The goals of the work were to invite more people in without anyone noticing a change had been made and to preserve the core elements and impact of the brand while updating everything to be more accessible. With that came the acknowledgment that we’ll keep learning and the work will likely need to update again in another ten years.

The biggest challenge was color, particularly when used in text. Prospect Park Alliance’s key identifying element is its use of a bright, warm green. The problem? This color was established almost 10 years ago and, by today’s understanding, does not have enough legibility and contrast with white or the other brand colors and is therefore inaccessible.

Design has the power to include or exclude.

We looked at darker shades and lighter tints of the green, but all attempts strayed too far from the vibrance and punch that makes it so immediately recognizable. The green had to stay, so instead we turned to the other brand colors and fine-tuned the values to ensure that we had enough accessible color pairings for text on the website, in printed materials, and on signage. 

We also re-evaluated the typography system to implement a more legible body copy font, we recommended an approach to photo captioning to avoid placing text on top of images, and we used our new color system to update usage rules for signage and wayfinding. As we always do with our clients, we got deep in the weeds to create a granular rulebook so they can truly own and feel confident about maintaining the brand’s accessibility moving forward. 

Recognizing that a brand identity toolkit is not up to date with current accessibility standards is a great step, and is part of the life cycle of a brand. Since Champions already knew the brand inside and out, it made our collective effort smoother and both agency and client emerged more prepared to execute accessible design moving forward. 

Guidelines evolve, and expire, and conversations around inclusivity are only growing louder. Agencies, designers, and clients alike all have a shared responsibility to stay at the forefront of current accessibility guidance and know when, and how, to re-adapt a brand.