Brand Identity Design: Waterfowlers Academy

The Wisconsin Waterfowl Association approached Grit to help them develop a unique brand identity for their new hunting education program. This program focuses its efforts on educating individuals that might not otherwise have opportunities with the mentors and access required to safely and ethically learn the sport of waterfowl hunting. A challenge within the hunter education space is the fact that many unrelated groups refer to their programs as “Learn to Hunt”. This ambiguity causes the various groups to blend into each other, prevents accurate word of mouth, and even causes confusion for participants looking up programs through search engines or social media. The solution, create a unique name and develop a brand that can be easily and consistently identified.

Special Use Formats 

Primary Format

Special Use Formats 

Flexible Formats

While the stacked icon over text is the preferred format of the mark, there was a strong case for developing a logo system with flexibility to fit all the different use cases the client would encounter. The shape of the stacked mark works well on shirts and letterhead but applications such as social media, sponsorship banners, or hats make the best use of the space with logo formats that are specially designed for that intended use.

Color Variations

The selection of colors for this palette needed to offer a great amount of flexibility. The client also desired a small hint back to their parent company (WWA). Incorporating the brand orange and brown from WWA’s branding helped the Waterfowlers Academy brand mesh with the parent company while still retaining a separate appearance. There was also a strong need for the logo to work well on white for letterhead, black for banners, and on camo for effective contrast and good readability.