Georgia Family Connection Debuts Refreshed Brand to Better Serve Partners and Strengthen Statewide Network
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- Brand refresh presents a consistent statewide narrative with reinforced focus on mission, vision, and core values
- New visual identity better characterizes the statewide network and local Collaboratives—and what Georgia Family Connection does
- Redesigned website gets data, resources, and local stories into partners’ and legislators’ hands to help them improve conditions for Georgia’s families
Georgia Family Connection today introduced a refreshed brand, a new look, and a redesigned website that better reflects users’ needs.
The move comes as part of this statewide network’s efforts to deepen its presence in Georgia as a resource to partners, community leaders, investors, and lawmakers working to improve conditions for Georgia’s children and families. It reflects both the network’s evolution over the past quarter century and its vision for the future.
Back in the early 1990s, conditions for children and families in Georgia were among the worst in the nation. The private and public sectors were busy working to improve the lives of our most vulnerable citizens, but they weren’t working together. Georgia Family Connection was established to connect and convene key community members committed to improving the well-being of children and families.
Twenty-five years later, Georgia Family Connection is the only statewide network of its kind in the nation with partners in every county dedicated to the health and well-being of families and communities. However, this diverse group of Collaboratives has always struggled to consistently and intentionally communicate that.
“We’ve lacked focus in a consistent message and visual identity—until now,” said Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) Executive Director Gaye Smith. “That’s because the network evolved organically by waves of county Collaboratives voluntarily becoming part of it. This statewide network gives us a unique vantage point—not only to see the big picture, but also to operate effectively at a local level, and we want all our stakeholders to take advantage of that.”
GaFCP Board of Directors Vice Chair Kathleen Bowen, of Association County Commissioners of Georgia, agrees and points out that the Board did not take this brand refresh lightly.
“If we intend to improve the lives of all families in every county in the state, we need to clearly communicate our shared vision, mission, and values,” said Bowen. “At the same time, our county Collaboratives and local partners must demonstrate their individual personality and accomplishments, while aligning themselves with this powerful statewide network of possibilities.”
While the brand and logo have changed to better represent Georgia Family Connection, Smith is quick to point out that the shared mission, vision, and values remain the same after a quarter century and will continue to guide the network.
“We’re preparing for the next quarter century by shoring up our identity to strengthen the network and its mission,” said Smith. “What we do is vital, because we are—and always have been—working toward measurably better outcomes for everyone, grounded in our five core results areas.”
Bowen agrees. “The framework we’ve built for our story articulates where we came from, what we stand for, and how we’re working with our partners to improve conditions for children and families,” she said. “It’s a story that comprises our successes and our challenges.”
Getting to long-lasting community results requires collaboration across all five key result areas. None of them stand in isolation. They overlap. These results areas form the groundwork of Family Connection’s theory of change map and our statewide initiatives.
“We created these icons to keep our vision always in front of us, and they are designed in the style of our former logo as a nod to our past,” said Smith.
Georgia Family Connection’s mission and vision are based on a simple premise—that a strong social infrastructure, coupled with evaluating progress, is the best way to enable measurably better outcomes—because collaboration and collective effort yield collective impact.
“Our model of disciplined collaboration among partners is hard work, and it’s messy,” said Smith. “There are no quick fixes and it takes time. But it’s worth it. That’s where lasting change begins to happen. Georgia Family Connection has 25 years of experience grappling with thorny or complex issues, making sense of it all, and getting results.”
Our Visual Identity
The new Georgia Family Connection logo better represents, and evokes the clarity and focus of, the network’s mission.
The green and eggplant color palette invokes Family Connection’s vision for healthy, robust, and vibrant children, families, and communities that thrive.
The overlapping circles demonstrate the intersection of the network’s five results areas and the “messiness” of collaboration that members of this network embrace. That overlap also demonstrates that Georgia Family Connection works in the background to convene and support partners, and highlights the network’s reputation as the glue that holds community Collaboratives together through strong relationships.
The crisscrossing rays that extend inward and outward illustrate that every connection matters. It’s the relationships between people, partners, and state agencies that help build the social infrastructure for Georgia’s children and families.
The new typeface lends a clean and modern yet traditional look, and the lowercase letters demonstrate that Georgia Family Connection is approachable and invites all stakeholders to the table.
The Evolution of Georgia Family Connection’s Visual Identity
Our Website Redesign
An essential component to brand refresh is the launch of a new, redesigned version of gafcp.org. Key features of the site include a cleaner and more attractive design that responds to laptop, mobile devices and tablets; a more engaging user experience with enhanced search and navigation; and more intentional content strategy that brings data and resources—and tips on how to quickly access and download them.
Smith says that when Georgia Family Connection celebrates 50 years in 2041, the aim is for this new mark to represent trust, reliability, and the network’s core values—and to exemplify the countless Georgians who have become productive citizens.
“Why? Because we will have had a significant role in helping people reach their potential by empowering the children and families, along with the partners and stakeholders who support them in their communities,” said Smith. “Ultimately, we understand that we’re better and stronger together. That’s our legacy.”