CASE STUDY
Reaching the Right Audience
CALVIN CENTER FOR FAITH & WRITING
INTRODUCTION
Time for a Rebrand
The Calvin Center for Faith & Writing (CCFW) is all about fostering thoughtful conversations around religious belief and literature. You might know them best for their biennial Festival of Faith & Writing, a cornerstone event that makes them a significant cultural and intellectual hub here in West Michigan. Despite their reach, the CCFW team started to notice a disconnect—how they saw themselves wasn't quite matching up with public perception. That growing friction, combined with an outdated digital presence and a desire to tie in the Calvin University parent brand while allowing the Center to stand on its own, prompted them to seek out a partner to help them reconnect. That's where Mix Creative Group came in. We stepped up to provide CCFW with a comprehensive brand and website overhaul.
Our goal was clear: to create a brand and digital presence that more accurately reflects the Center’s vital mission, genuinely engages its diverse audience, and ensures its continued growth and influence for years to come.
The Calvin Center for Faith & Writing’s website before the Mix Creative rebrand.
THE PROBLEM
A Disconnect Hindering Growth
The noticeable gap between the Center's true identity and how it was perceived was causing real confusion among potential attendees, donors, and the broader literary community. This was compounded by an old, outdated website that just wasn't serving their needs. The site lacked an optimized user experience and failed to showcase the richness of CCFW's programming effectively. In short, the Center is not just the Festival of Faith & Writing but is a wonderfully robust academic center offering student fellowships, research, resources, and year-round events. Ultimately, their incomplete messaging was holding them back from reaching new audiences and effectively communicating their unique value.
OUR STRATEGY
Getting to the Core of What Matters
A new, revitalized brand strategy, meticulously designed to address CCFW’s core challenges head-on, was the centerpiece of our approach. We understood that to truly resonate, the solution had to go deeper than a simple refresh; it needed to be a comprehensive and strategic transformation that connected with CCFW’s audience on a more profound level.
Clearly Articulating CCFW's Purpose
We aimed to distill the true essence of the Center's mission. Our goal was to make sure every brand touchpoint communicated its unique value proposition. This meant clarifying not just what they do, but the powerful why behind it.
Identifying and Understanding Key Audiences
Through our research, we dug deep to define CCFW's diverse audience segments. We're talking authors, scholars, students, general readers, and potential donors. Understanding their motivations, what they needed, and how they engaged with the Center was absolutely crucial for creating tailored, effective communication.
Refining the Brand Story
We then crafted a compelling narrative. This story was designed to resonate both emotionally and intellectually with their audiences, highlighting CCFW's rich history, its significant impact, and its exciting future vision.
Strengthening the Center's Identity
Our ultimate goal was to create a cohesive and memorable brand identity. This eliminated inconsistencies and fostered a strong, unified perception of CCFW across all platforms. We made sure visual and written elements worked in harmony, projecting an authentic and consistent identity that truly represents them.
Our Tactics
Discovery + Assessment
Brand Strategy
Updated Logo Designs
New Brand Guidelines
Web Content, Design + Build-Out
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
EXECUTION
Bringing the Vision to Life
Brand Identity Update
We started this project the way we start most of our projects: by really digging in. We conducted stakeholder questionnaires and did a thorough review of all of CCFW's existing content. This helped us gain deep insights into their internal perceptions and the current brand landscape. This discovery phase was crucial for understanding their strengths, the challenges they faced, and all their aspirations. Based on those insights, we explored two distinct mood board directions. These visual representations captured different aesthetic and emotional tones, allowing CCFW to actively participate in shaping their new look and feel right from the start.
Once a direction was chosen, we established comprehensive brand guidelines. This included:
A refreshed and meaningful logo that beautifully captures the essence of faith and writing.
Thoughtfully selected fonts that conveyed both gravitas and accessibility.
A vibrant and welcoming color palette that truly reflected the Center's warm and intellectual environment.
Distinctive graphics that could be used consistently across all materials.
Refined messaging that communicated CCFW's mission with clarity and real impact.
Recognizing the growing importance of their podcast, Rewrite Radio, we also developed a dedicated sub-brand. This gave the program a unique identity while maintaining strong cohesion with the parent brand. With these foundational elements firmly in place, the new brand was ready to be applied across all of the Center's touchpoints.
Web Design + Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
With the new brand firmly in place, our next step was to design and develop the Center's revamped website. Our strategy here was all about being smart and user-focused:
Keyword research and SEO best practices: We dove into keyword research to identify the terms and phrases CCFW's target audience would use to find relevant content. This intelligence then shaped our on-page SEO strategy, where we optimized meta descriptions, headings, and all the content to boost search engine rankings and pump up that organic traffic.
On-site user experience (UX): Intuitive navigation, clear calls to action, and a visually appealing layout were at the top of our priority list. These elements ensure that visitors can easily find information and genuinely engage with the content. We're talking streamlined menus, optimized page load times, and designing for perfect mobile responsiveness.
Targeted user journeys: We thoughtfully considered various user paths. This means anticipating the needs of different visitors—whether they were looking for info about the upcoming Festival, exploring past archives, or learning about CCFW's broader mission. This allowed us to create a logical and efficient flow through the entire site.
We paid special attention to featuring Festival of Faith & Writing information and archives, too. Given the Festival's prominence, we designed dedicated sections and functionalities to highlight past events, showcase featured authors, and provide easy access to recordings and resources. Our updates to the Center's digital footprint went beyond just the website. We also included redesigned social platform assets and post templates, making sure CCFW has a consistent, professional brand presence across all its online channels.
THE RESULT
A Clearer Vision, A Stronger Presence
As a direct result of our collaboration, we successfully delivered a warm, bold, and welcoming brand identity for CCFW. It successfully communicates their mission and vision with enhanced accessibility and relevance. Their updated messaging effectively closed that gap between the Center’s true identity and how their target audience perceives them.
Their new, user-friendly website is clean, modern, and exceptionally well-equipped to support the renowned Festival of Faith & Writing, as well as all their other programming and resources. Simply put, CCFW’s updated digital presence now provides a robust platform for engagement, information dissemination, and continued growth.
CLIENT FEEDBACK
“The Mix team has been exceptional to work with. They not only created a beautiful new website for us and refreshed our brand, but they have also become essential partners in our work moving forward. We were impressed with the time they took to listen to us and delivered a brand and website that was pitch-perfect and truly reflected the mission and heart of what we do. The team was organized, communicated clearly, and delivered beautiful work ahead of schedule and on budget. I would absolutely recommend their services.”