Nashville CARES has been around for forty years. It started as a response to a crisis. Today it's a full clinic. Whole-person care, for sixteen counties in Middle Tennessee.
The trouble was the picture in people's heads. It was forty years old too.
So the name was known and the organization wasn't.
My part: I was co creative director on a team put together by The Roster here in Nashville. A writer, social, PR, media, web. I led the look.
Listen first. Then take things away.
Your lifelong best friend.
Before any design, we spent a day on site with the leadership team and a few board members. I sat in on a board meeting too. Mostly I listened.
What I took away was this. The brand needs to feel like your lifelong best friend. I've got your back. You can call me at two in the morning.
Just CARES.
The board calls the place CARES. So that's the word the new mark puts first. Nashville sits small above it.
The old ribbon came off. It dated them.
A lot of healthcare logos are cluttered. Shields, swooshes, little extras. This one is just type, and it had to pass the oldest test there is. If it doesn't work in black and white, it doesn't work.
The board asked for no red, so there's no red. And the navy matches walls that were already painted. We don't need to repaint the building. We can just work with it.
One system for the fortieth year.
The identity came out of campaign work for the fortieth year. Social, a bus bench, buttons, pins. One system, so nobody ends up sticking a logo on whatever they happen to be making.
We presented the mark, the palette and the campaign to leadership on May 8, 2025. About two weeks after starting the identity itself.
I want the people in the room to feel heard before they see anything. Then when the work shows up, it already feels like theirs.
People call this a nonprofit rebrand. To me it's the same problem owners have before a sale. The business moved on and the picture didn't.
How do you rebrand an organization people already think they know?
Start with what's still true and build from there. Here that was the care. Then take away whatever is keeping people stuck on the old picture.
How do you get a board to agree on a logo?
Let them be heard first. And show the thinking, including what you chose to leave out and why. People say yes faster when they can see the reasons.
How long should a new identity last?
Longer than a trend. If you can put a year on it by looking at it, it's already getting old.