An aspect of identity design that goes unexplored to a certain degree is that for religious organizations, but as everyone becomes more brand aware these spaces and communities must communicate and attract with as much urgency as any major consumer brand or corporation. In this specific case being reviewed today, we are also veering a little off from the typical redesign in that there is no big logo change, rather it’s an identity overhaul through typography for International House of Prayer (IHOP – KC) in Kansas City. Established in 1999, IHOP – KC is a young adult Christian organization that combines 24/7 prayers for justice with 24/7 works of justice, with many outreach programs for different causes. Ten years later the organization has grown to include more than 50 different departments, and with growth and little control comes graphic havoc.

Complex organization brand.

Relying on Perpetua and Gill Sans, with cameo appearances by Helvetica, Snell Roundhand, Zapfino and numerous other unwanted typefaces, the identity for the whole organization had become confusing and incohesive. So the internal team took it upon themselves to rethink their identity from the typography up. If you think just choosing new typefaces and implementing is a walk in the park, you probably haven’t done it for a big organization with board members who don’t know their serifs from their sans serifs, much less their Gill Sans from their P22 Underground Pro. The research took 18 months and the team explored “200 typefaces: 100 at minimal depth; 65 at medium; 35 at intense” to make a final set of recommendations. Yes, perhaps a little overkill.

New type families.

The choices were Sebastian Lester’s Soho Gothic (all weights), Nick Cooke’s Olicana (all three weights), TypeTogether’s Karmina serif (all weights), and a custom-made version of Karmina for display.

Custom display version of Karmina.

All good, versatile choices, and as you can see below and on their website, the typefaces can generate a lot of different looks and flavors but retain a unified identity throughout. This is far from the sexiest identity project we’ve shown here on Brand New, but in identity it’s not all about home runs, sometimes you just want to fill those bases and start piling up those runs. I’m not sure how I went from religious organizations to baseball metaphors but there you have it.

Sample of old catalog cover.

And its new version.

Samples of new identity in application.