SF New Deal
SF New Deal is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting small businesses and strengthening neighborhood vibrancy in San Francisco. The organization needed a refreshed visual system after 5 years of impact that could communicate their mission with clarity, warmth, and energy while scaling across diverse programs, partners, and audiences.
CREDIT
Agency / Forces+Combined
Creative Director / Robin Marich
Illustrator & Designer / Gigi Aldrich
Designer / Chandler Johnson
Brand Strategist / Aaron Sanchez
Web Developer / Priyanka Aggarwal
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I assembled a team of talented individuals to partner with me and SF New Deal to reimagine and refresh their brand identity to better reflect the vibrancy of San Francisco. This included designing a new logo system inspired by the city’s blocks and neighborhoods, developing a hand-drawn illustration style to bring warmth and humanity, and expanding the color palette to capture the energy and diversity of the community. Alongside these, we built flexible brand guidelines, templates, and assets that empowered SF New Deal to tell their story more clearly and consistently across programs, campaigns, and community engagement.
It was important to create a hand-drawn illustration style that carried a distinctly human touch—one that reflected the creativity, care, and grassroots spirit at the core of SF New Deal. To bring this to life, I collaborated with local San Francisco illustrator and designer Gigi Aldrich to build a library of illustrations that embraced small imperfections and subtle nods to the city’s character. The result was a versatile system that felt authentic and approachable, resonating with small business owners, city officials, residents, and admirers alike.
When thinking about the logo, we wanted to create a flexible brand system that was versatile enough for the team to have fun with while also being able to utilize the elements within specific guardrails.
We wanted to make sure there were fun surprises and little easter eggs around every block.
