Like many professional and scholarly associations, the Tire Society’s membership growth had become stagnant and membership churn was increasing at a rate faster than previous years. In addition, journal subscriptions declined 16% between 2014 and 2018 and annual meeting attendance decreased 19% from 2017 to 2018.
Deciding it was time for a change, the Tire Society agreed to let the marketing and design experts at Treefall Marketing + Creative create a new brand identity for the society and its journal. This would include a new logo, color palette, typography and brand guidelines.
Our goal was to present the Tire Society with a more contemporary, simplified logo that would be easily recognizable in all sizes and applications. The Helvetica Oblique font featured in the former logo was maintained, but combined with a more modern graphic icon to reflect the subject matter and focus of the organization. Additionally, the logo text overlaps the tire icon to create a more cohesive conceptual image of the society’s mission, and the directional line in the logo represents the constantly changing speed of today’s science and technology.
The brand identity strongly utilizes the color black to incorporate the material of the tire in the design. The three primary colors that accent the tire icon represent the 3D axis, thus incorporating the importance of engineering in the society’s mission. The choice of Arial font and copy provides an attractive and versatile type combination.
The Tire Society’s leadership team was extremely pleased with the final brand identity package and decided to unveil the new logo at their annual meeting in September 2018. To go along with the unveiling, the society commissioned Treefall (Allen Press) to design new business cards, coffee mugs and signage featuring the new brand identity.
With an impactful and eye-catching new brand identity, the Tire Society is hoping to appeal to a broader audience and attract individuals from different sub-industries. Along with some fresh marketing tactics, the new brand identity package will help reinvigorate the Tire Society and enhance interest and engagement within the organization. Treefall hopes to continue advancing the mission of the Tire Society through future marketing and membership efforts.