Rebrand, Audience Research, Interviews, Stakeholder Session, Persona Development, Logo Development, Marketing Templates, Brand Guidelines, Brand Launch Plans
Montgomery County, PA
Building a Brand System for Opportunity on Every Path
Brand Strategy & Identity
Overview
Montgomery County, PA was ready to rethink how its identity showed up across the organization. The County needed a modern logo, an updated seal, department logos, brand guidelines, and templates their team could use moving forward.
But what started as a clear visual identity project quickly became a larger brand challenge. To work for the County, the identity had to do more than look updated — it had to support official government communications, public-facing outreach, departments with very different responsibilities, and an internal team that needed consistent tools.
We helped turn the initial design request into a full brand system rooted in audience understanding, visual structure, and practical use.
Understanding the County from the Inside Out
Iris began with Stakeholder Sessions to explore the needs, expectations, and priorities connected to the County brand. We spoke with the County’s communications team, staff from other departments, elected officials, and external partners to understand how different groups experienced and represented Montgomery County.
Those conversations surfaced strengths, challenges, opportunities, and audience needs that shaped the direction of the work. The input helped move the project beyond visual preference and gave the identity system a stronger foundation.
Clarifying Who the Brand Needed to Reach
From there, Iris used the stakeholder input and audience research to define who the brand needed to serve. Montgomery County communicates with residents, businesses, visitors, community partners, internal staff, elected officials, and departments with very different responsibilities.
We organized those audience needs into audience profiles that helped guide messaging, visual decisions, and implementation. This gave the County a more practical way to understand what different groups needed from the brand and how the identity could support those interactions.
Moving from a Seal to a Brand System
Montgomery County had historically relied on its seal as its primary visual mark. The seal carried the authority of government, but it was not the right fit for every communication.
Iris developed a primary logo for public-facing use and updated the seal for official County communications. We also created a department logo structure within a master brand system, giving individual offices a way to communicate their work while staying connected to Montgomery County.
The final brand guidelines documented the system, including logo use, seal use, color, typography, graphic style, and messaging direction.
“I think the style guide was one of the most successful things that came out of this project. And I don’t know if I really expected that. That has really made a world of difference in our ability to share and apply things consistently.”
— Megan Alt, Communications Director, Montgomery County, PA
Bringing the Identity into Everyday Communications
Once the brand system was defined, we translated it into a graphic style with distinctive repeatable elements that brought the new identity into both formal and public-facing communications.
These design treatments helped show how the system could flex across different types of communication while still feeling connected to Montgomery County.
Giving the Team Tools to Keep It Consistent
From there, we developed the system into templates and collateral, including business stationery, presentations, flyers, e-newsletters, Zoom backgrounds, and other recurring communication needs.
Files were developed in formats the internal team could easily use, including Adobe, Microsoft Office, and Canva. With guidelines and templates in place, staff had practical tools to create materials that followed the brand without starting from scratch each time.
