Rebranding a global powerhouse of inclusive workplace research and insights.

Coqual, formally the Center for Talent Innovation, is a non-profit that empowers companies to create diverse and inclusive workplaces where every person belongs. In February 2020, they published Being Black in Corporate America, which garnered international attention and raised the stakes for a redesign project already in the initial planning stages. 

Team

As an independent contractor with Design Minded, a long-time partner of Pentagram, I helped develop verbal identities operating as a researcher and content strategist.

Primary goal

Develop a new brand name, create a visual and verbal identity, and tagline in tandem with a total website redesign. The project’s scope was large, and board members were eager to overhaul their digital presence entirely. 

My role

As a strategist and copywriter, I functioned as the point person between the marketing and communications team at Coqual and Design Minded, facilitating working Zoom sessions and fielding emails about developing a brand line to fit the new visual and verbal identity we were developing with Pentagram. I also:

• Worked with the design team to flesh out visual concepts based on brand language and stats the client wanted to highlight.

• Crafted copy did bits and selected quotes for the home page and about us pages.

• Consulted on information architecture for the deliverable, high fidelity wires.

Getting started

The Center for Talent Innovation had a huge hold on their audience. They had built an international community and resource center that has been driving industry standards for workplace diversity and inclusion for decades. It was high time they started looking (and sounding) the part.

As 2020 unfolded and changed all of our lives, it also changed the nature of the project. The events of the following months would continue to raise the stakes of building a bold brand that represented corporate action and equity––without sounding tone-deaf or making light of a serious subject. Remote workshops had snafus, Google docs spread across a wide array of private folders, and many stakeholders had strong opinions.

Deliverables

I created the Verbal Branding Guide (screenshots below) around the new identity for the marketing team moving forward, including baseline information around the name, tagline, and foundational brand idea that drives overall tone and voice. This document survives as a living resource to empower writers at Coqual to keep the vision of the rebrand in all their communications going forward.

Research and Reporting

A high priority that came out of the initial stakeholder interviews and working sessions was the need for a designed template for Coqual’s reports and a place on the website to publish and index them for all who wished to read. 

With growing awareness of the brand and its research practice around diversity and inclusion, we designed a cover system that leaned on color and keywords to categorize research by issue, identity, and specific market.

Results

The rebrand increased  web traffic by 60+% during the five months immediately following the launch. Our touch on their brand continues to expand beyond their website onto their social media feeds, published reports, and other touchpoints as they continue to become a more ubiquitous brand.