9. The Website
I built a 10 page website in Squarespace that hosted all of Alex's free resources, offerings, school, and apothecary. It gave people easy ways to connect with her and established her as a leading voice in her community.
Grounded Crown
8. Internal Organization
Brand Guidelines are an essential part to any branding project, especially one as extensive as Grounded Crown. In this image are a few pages from the 31 page document which covered brand strategy & positioning, color, typogrpahy, illustrations & icons, imagery, print & product assets.
SERVICES PERFORMED
Brand Strategy
Logo Design
Complete Visual Identity
Custom Typography
Illustration
Product Design
Print Design
Content Creation
Art Direction
Squarespace Website
I had been working with Alex on and off for a few years and this rebrand happened in quite an unconventional way. Inspired by Alex's handwriting from the previous project, I approached her with a custom font named "Sawubona" for the Zulu greeting "I see you" which carries the importance of recognizing the worth and dignity of each person. She was quite inspired by the idea and we took off on a complete rework of her site, brand, and imagery.
We then spent several weeks pouring over her offerings and the best way to structure them. Once we established her voice and solidified her vision, the project was able to flow naturally and effortlessly (with a significant amount of joyous work).
Grounded Crown is a home for ancestral reconnection, housing an apothecary and a school. Within Grounded Crown is Homecoming, the elemental earth school, is a virtual program spreading the wisdom of herbalism, classical Chinese medicine, Gaelic song, tea, tarot, and more. Tree Temple Apothecary sells hand crafted essential oils, incense, and body mists.
The success of this project has established Alex Crow as an authentic spiritual leader and educator in her community.
1. Where we started
A custom font inspired by ancient manuscript calligraphy and Alex Crow's handwriting.
Next Project
3. Logo rework
New logo (2022)
The previous version of her logo no longer fit the vibe and aesthetic we were wanted for this new phase of Grounded Crown. I took the sharpness of her previous two birds logo and outlined it (see above), rounding the corners to match the tonality of the typography, placed it within a circle to create a ripple / vibrational effect, and her handwritten script was swapped for Sawubona. We lost the geometric precision of the initial logo but this new single color treatment made it much easier for Alex to use across her brand.
Previous Iteration (2020)
5. Tree Temple Apothecary
In addition to Grounded Crown, Alex wanted to develop another branch within the project titled Tree Temple Apothecary, where she would sell her carefully crafted essential oils and mists. My idea for the logo was to have a seed and within that seed, two hands cupping a star and the seed split down the center so that the star also looks like a wand.
She had two offerings, and only one of the ones I designed went into production -- the copal mist.
6. Brand Images
With Marisa Franco's fabulous photography skills, we organized a photoshoot. The way the images came out is just so beautiful, and really let Alex's spirit shine.
7. Collages
Inspired by the photographs, I overlayed the illustrations I had made previously on them and the effect was quite beautiful.
2. Map the Territory
We workshopped Alex's ideas for Grounded Crown's future within my brand strategy framework. From this place, we figured out Alex's offerings and how to position herself.
Launch love!
4. Custom Illustrations
Alex named the energies that she wanted present in her brand and I drew them out for her! Dragon, Thumbprint, Ripple, Snake, Treasure, Pinecone, Star & Sunflower Seed.
We created new symbols for the Chinese 5 elements, and full body diagrams for identifying the meridians in the body and yin yoga poses that specifically created to help work with the meridians.
I also illustrated an esoterically profound and all around gorgeous image for her Homecoming School offering. It touched the hearts of many! The image shows a genderless person making qigong movements that show the transformation of the 5 elements. In each of the movements are the symbols Alex and I worked on -- Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal.
As a final gift to Alex, I drew a visual for her Song Sharing offering.
10. Sharing the Song
To help support the launch of Grounded Crown's rebrand, website, school, & apothecary, I created a custom instagram for her. I also uploaded all of Alex's brand assets and created templates directly into Canva.
