CEDE: Catholic Entrepreneurship & Design Experience
Identity design & Brand Guide
Developing this brand was a team effort headed up by Sherwood Fellows for one of their clients. CEDE, an acronym pronounced “seed,” is an educational experience in the works, whose mission is to break students out of the shackles of apathy, utilitarianism, and boredom; and inspire them to undertake great things so that they can create value in their own lives and the lives of others.
CEDE challenges students to wake up, shift their perspective, see the world with wonder, and engage in their own call to greatness. The brand’s visuals and tone of voice flow from this mission. From the colors and fonts to the layout style, CEDE’s brand is as bold, courageous, inspiring, igniting, and heroic as the program itself will be.
The logos consist of a C or CEDE wordmark, adorned with a small budding leaf. Seeds are universally the sign of life’s great potential, so it is the seed that gives the course it’s namesake. The leaf shooting up out of the wordmark and contained in the “C” initial point to the potential that each young person brings to the world.
The brand language is simple and built around swaths of orange, large and provoking headlines, and photos of heroes who have changed the world for the better: saints, entrepreneurs, and spiritual innovators. Traditionally, in western cultures red is the color of passion, while yellow is the color of happiness. Orange stands as a balance between joy and daring. It is the color of fire and is associated with creativity, determination, success, and change. CEDE’s orange is a provocative, unapologetic color that when paired with a more neutral blue, expresses both the energy and the wisdom that CEDE imbues in it’s students
CEDE catalyzes in young people a faith that moves mountains. An occasional mountain range or line of trees may appear hanging upside down at the top of a page to inspire a spirit of adventure and a shift in perspective. I can’t tell you how excited I was when the client approved of flipping the world on its head in this way! It’s easy to make a brand that’s pretty and plays it safe; and it’s another thing entirely to push the boundaries of what’s “normal” to achieve something truly new and unique. That requires boldness, courage, and a willingness to take risks. Since CEDE plans to invite students to do the same, it’s fitting that their branding reflects that.
