Custom Website & Brand Identity Design

CRF Behavioral Healthcare

CRF is a San Diego-based not-for-profit corporation that treats, educates, and rehabilitates individuals with mental health challenges. They are a parent organization to 30+ behavioral healthcare centers across the San Diego region. They came to us with the need to update their website that hadn’t been updated in more than 10 years. After discussions with their team, it was decided that we should start with a rebranding project first, and then redesign the website.

We started by conducting a half-day strategic workshop with their leadership team. It was decided that their existing name “Community Research Foundation” no longer reflected the organization. They are no longer specifically research focused and also not a foundation. Their clients actually know them simply as CRF. We decided to drop the full name and move forward with the acronym and descriptor “Behavioral Healthcare”.

“We are so happy we worked with Noble Intent Studio for our rebranding and website redevelopment. Angela and Cris really took the time to get to know us and learn about our specific needs. They valued our input and legacy while guiding us toward a new vision. They were always organized, prepared, and extremely flexible with our pace and resources. We could not be happier with the new logo they created, branding guidelines, and website. We continue to receive wonderful compliments from within and outside our organization. We highly recommend Noble Intent Studio and will continue to collaborate with them moving forward.”

— Diego Rogers, CEO of CRF Behavioral Healthcare (client since 2021)

Step 1: Brand Identity Design

In our strategic workshop, we got to the heart of what the organization stands for and is known for. CRF is rooted in San Diego and committed to the community. They provide a foundation, or “roots”, for client patients and the interns they train. Words such as supportive, compassionate, advocate, inclusive, honest, and time-tested describe the ethos of the organization. The organization has a history of using tree iconography and tree names. It wasn’t a requirement to keep with the tree theme, but we wanted to at least provide a subtle nod to this history.

In this branding project and in the future website project, we knew we had to speak to two key audiences—the client patient and the potential hire. During the strategic workshop we created personas for each audience to ensure that what we created resonated with each. Another challenge was to consider how the parent brand would interact with CRF’s 30+ healthcare centers, or programs.

Logo Concept 1

Our first concept was inspired by the Jacaranda Tree, San Diego’s official City tree. This design portrays problem solving, putting the pieces together, and the many different components of comprehensive care.

Logo Concept 2

Our second concept was inspired by more traditional healthcare visual cues, but still includes leaf/floral iconography. It includes an evolution of their former logo color. The typography used is friendly and approachable.

Logo Concept 3

The third concept we proposed was inspired by growth and forward movement. The letter forms symbolize evolution. The design is minimal and approachable and includes a subtle leaf shape. The accompanying pattern, taken from the “c” letterform, can be interpreted as ocean waves or happy and/or sad faces depending on the feelings of the viewer.

The Decision and Refinement

The leadership team had varied personal preferences for which concept they liked best. In a circumstance such as this where there is a large team of decision makers, we use feedback sheets to remove personal, subjective preferences. This allows us to get to the heart of which concept resonates best with the brand’s target audience and brand traits. When evaluated this way, concept 3 was the clear winner according to the leadership team.

We then moved into the refinement stage where we made minor revisions to the logo based on the feedback from the team.

After the logo was finalized, we moved on to create logos for each of the 34 programs CRF manages across the San Diego region.

Then, we created a comprehensive branding guidelines document. This document outlines the importance of standardization and consistency across all brand touch points. The branding guidelines document is meant to be used by internal staff and external vendors—anyone using the logo or creating marketing materials. It outlines how and how not to use the logo, a color palette, typography system, and brand collateral templates.

Once the branding guidelines were complete, we created a stationery system including business cards, letterhead, envelopes, and email signatures for both the corporate brand and the programs.

Step 2: Custom Website

Once the brand identity redesign was complete and implemented, it was time to get started on the new CRF website!

We went back to our key audiences of client patients and prospective employees. Nearly all pages have a jobs listing section that is filterable by Program, Service, Region, and Career Type. Prospective employees can search through their typically 100+ open jobs to find what fits their qualifications. The job openings are fed from their external careers platform using a custom API. Plus, we strategically implemented both client and employee testimonials on key areas of the new website.

We are thrilled to see CRF’s new website serving both their client patients and future staff members.