Orienteering Adventure Kids Logo (client)

What was my Problem: One of the volunteer leaders of the Orienteering Adventure Kids (OAK) program had come to me to help update the program’s branding. They wanted to increase registration, and for parents to consider it as an activity that their kids can do. With this, they also wanted to solidify the branding for future deliverables. The pre-existing logo was outdated, complicated, and out-of-touch with their target audience.

What was my Solution: OAK is a Lower Vancouver Mainland Orienteering program for kids. Orienteering is a great way to allow kids to develop navigational, terrain-running, and map reading skills. The program aims to guide kids into gaining confidence, navigational skills, and also a sense of independence while being active outdoors. From my meeting with the client, the goal was to refresh their old logo into something modern, fun, and adventurous. They were looking for something that they can potentially use as a symbol on social media and in the future, on t-shirts for competitions. Through research and getting an understanding of what orienteering was, navigation from point to point plays a significant key role as kids learn how to use a compass and read topographic maps to navigate the trails.

 I proposed to go in the direction to visually symbolize navigation within the logo and keep the logo fun yet bold to represent how kids are fearless and fun. I also decided to pick colours that would normally be associated with the sport. I had spent some time playing with the letters as a nod to navigation and their old logo. In the end, the orange and blue compass was able to stand on its own as their informal logo on social media and the text logo can stand on its own without the icon to represent the different parts involved in the sport.

 What did I learn: This was my first project working with a client freelancing on my own from start to finish. It was overall a good experience of going through a discovery session, writing my very first client brief, going through iterations and feedback, to delivering the final product. I learned how to write my own contract for the very first time and it was a good learning opportunity to add under my belt for future clients as a freelancer. I’ve also learned to be on top of communication with the client to ensure transparency throughout the whole process on both ends even if sometimes the communication isn’t fully there on the client’s side.