creative design

girl scouts of the usa

Girl Scouts Corporate Rebranding
in Partnership with Collins Agency

Let’s start at the top: 1912. Savannah, Georgia.

Juliette Gordon Low has an idea: prepare girls to meet the world with “courage, confidence and character.” She brings together a small group of young women, effectively founding one of the largest, most vital organizations for girls. One with a presence in every corner of the United States, today.

1.7 million girls. 50 million alumnae.

With 111 independent councils designing communications, the movement’s design approach needed a cohesive point of view. 

Project Type: Corporate Rebranding


GIRL SCOUTS OF THE USA
CEO: Silvia Acevedo
CMO | CCO: Lynn Richardson-Godfrey

Design Team: 
Senior Director: Jill Fiore
Sr. Art Directors: Ken Feisel, Wil Gray, Sarah Micklem, Laura Molina, Sheryl O’Connell 


Ken Feisel: Logo systems, Illustrations; UI design of online Brand Standards & Guidelines

Wil Gray: Shape system; logo systems; iconography; printed marketing / OOH; digital / social media layouts

Sarah Micklem: Typography, color systems, printed program assets, program badge design, apparel merchandising

Laura Molina: girlscouts.org website UI redesign, UI/UX web standards development, GS cookie packaging

Sheryl O’Connell: Printed program assets, GS cookie merchandising, print layout systems

COLLINS:
Owner: Brian Collins

Consulting Team: (Design strategy, tone of voice, messaging, photography, Brand Standards & Guidelines Book)

Dashiell Alison, Megan Bowker, Madeleine Carrucan, Mari Juliano, Sanuk Kim, Antonia Lazar, Kristine Lim, Camille Sauvé, Niamh Walsh, Tomas Markevicius, Eric Park 

Type Foundry:
POSITYPE



For over one hundred years, Girls Scouts have played an active role in every cultural milestone of American history. From women’s suffrage to civil rights, they’ve been there. Pioneering female leadership in every discipline. Encouraging girls to act on their dreams and change the world for the better. 

So, the Girl Scouts invited the Collins agency to work with us to craft just that. Beginning together in 2019, we sought to clarify the brand as a formidable and hopeful cultural force. 

Comments From the Collins Agency:

“We started with a question: what does “preparing girls to meet the world with courage, confidence and character” mean today? We recognized the importance of championing all girls’ ambitions—work that the Girl Scouts has been doing for over 100 years. They’ve provided girls with the support to act on their aims and savor their accomplishments. 

Together with their remarkable team, we worked to define a clear brand platform centered on being a champion of girls’ ambition and sought to bring that idea to life through every expression of the brand. Starting with their symbol.” 

“The Girl Scouts movement has been represented by the Trefoil since its inception. It has seen many iterations, ranging from the American Eagle to girls’ silhouettes. The Trefoil, now simplified, embodies its most potent, iconic essence.

Beyond the logo, a new brand system needed to address the reality of having dozens of energetic councils designing communications for the same brand. The councils needed tools that would provide coherence across the country and offer flexibility to support their different communities.” 

“We were inspired by the visuality and history of Girl Scout patches and badges. 

These are artifacts of achievement that girls proudly wear to tell their own story; their goals, their accomplishments, their interests, their identities. We translated these objects into bold, geometric forms that could be used as building blocks for design and interactivity.”

“The system grants a common language to all communications and is flexible enough to support any application, whether it be a presentation template or a vibrant campaign.

We developed a voice that looks girls in the eye, recognizes everything they are and can do, and seeks to empower them to blaze the trails only they can.”