Wagging the Tail of Change: Rebranding spcaLA
A conceptual rebrand exploring how typography, visual systems, and custom type design can express compassion, adaptability, and social impact for one of Southern California’s oldest animal welfare organizations.
This project was developed as an academic exploration into social impact branding, focused on reimagining the visual identity of a real-world nonprofit organization.
Rather than redesigning for aesthetics alone, the goal was to explore how design systems, particularly typography and visual language, can communicate empathy, trust, and long-term commitment within animal welfare.
Why spcaLA?
As one of the oldest animal welfare organizations in Southern California, spcaLA carries a deep legacy of compassion, education, and advocacy. However, its visual identity lacked a cohesive system that reflected both its history and its forward-looking mission.
The challenge was to create an identity that felt warm yet structured, playful yet credible, and flexible enough to evolve without losing its emotional core.
Concept: Animal Tails
The identity centers around the concept of Animal Tails, a visual metaphor for movement, adaptability, and individuality.
Animal tails communicate emotion and personality without words. This idea became the foundation for the logo, custom typeface, and pattern system, allowing the brand to feel expressive, friendly, and alive.
Logo Design
The primary logomark is a stylized interpretation of the letters “LA,” abstracted through organic forms inspired by animal tails. The resulting mark conveys motion and fluidity while maintaining a strong, recognizable silhouette.
Paired with a clean wordmark, the logo balances playfulness with clarity, ensuring versatility across digital and physical applications.
Custom Typeface: Animal Tails
To further embody the concept, a custom display typeface titled Animal Tails was designed specifically for this identity.
The typeface features organic shapes, uneven curves, and fluid terminals that echo the expressive nature of animals. Designed in Glyphs, it functions as a personality-driven accent across headlines, graphics, and brand moments.
This custom typeface reinforces the emotional warmth of the identity while adding a distinct, ownable voice.
Supporting Typeface: GT Flexa
To complement the custom typeface, GT Flexa was selected for its versatility and clarity. Its structured forms provide balance and legibility, grounding the identity system and ensuring accessibility.
Together, the pairing creates a dynamic typographic system that feels expressive without sacrificing professionalism.
Logotype Lockups:
Color Palette
The color palette draws from earthy neutrals and calming hues, reinforcing spcaLA’s connection to nature while maintaining a warm, approachable tone.
Brighter accent colors were introduced to support moments of playfulness and engagement, allowing the system to adapt across educational, promotional, and fundraising contexts.
Pattern Design and Image Treatment
Patterns were derived directly from the logomark, extending the identity into a flexible visual system. These forms allow the brand to scale across layouts and backgrounds without feeling repetitive.
Photography is integrated through organic masking inspired by the same visual language, creating consistency between graphic and photographic elements.
Brand Applications
The identity system was applied across digital and physical touchpoints, including posters, web layouts, and environmental graphics.
Each application demonstrates how the system adapts while maintaining a cohesive visual voice, reinforcing recognition and emotional connection across platforms.
This project explores how thoughtful design systems can support social impact organizations beyond surface-level aesthetics.
By aligning concept, typography, and visual language, the reimagined identity aims to amplify spcaLA’s mission while creating a flexible foundation for future growth.
This project was developed as part of an academic exploration into social impact branding, focused on creating a thoughtful identity system for a real-world nonprofit organization.