Fighting Poverty and Poor Design

One of my favorite charities, Mercy Corps, just launched a new logo, tagline and brand design. The face of efficient, dignified and effective humanitarian aid, Mercy Corps has once again reinforced their committment and love for their core competency: helping people. As a global brand, they've gained the trust of both the people who give and the people who receive, by avoiding some of the uncomfortable traits associated with many organizations in their line of work. The ideology, politics, religious activism and accountability controversies that surround many other NGOs don't seem to haunt Mercy Corps. Is this because they hide their ulterior motives so well? Or is it because their mission is so transparent? I for one feel that when I deal with Mercy Corps, there's nothing between myself and the people I want to help. My focus - saving a child, digging a well or helping in some way I haven't the insight to imagine - feels fully realized, because the Mercy Corps vision is so focused. Mercy Corps incites you to make a difference, because it instills in you the belief that you can. That is a powerful brand!

As for their elegant new look and logo, the connotation is more feminine, more earthy and more hopeful than the old one. The gestural stroke of the logo humanizes while the design implies a sprout, an angel and a child skipping rope. I'm sure the Rorschach could go on, but I doubt any of it is news to the folks at Mercy Corps. If anything, the new logo shows their focus, clarity and cleverness to a fault. Any further and I'm afraid it might be trite. "Be the change" seems to me to be the challenge, and its own reward. If you've ever had a jones for changing the world, Mercy Corps is definitely the place to go for a quick fix (or a bender, if you can afford it!)

I hope you'll rush right over to Mercy Corps and part with a little of your hard-earned cash. The hard-working people of Mercy Corps have the uncanny knack of transforming that paper into the currency of Peace.