Futurpreneur
About
Futurpreneur is Canada’s only national non-profit funding, mentoring, and support organization for entrepreneurs aged 18-39. With a human-centric model that separates them from the aggressive tendencies of disruptive big technology investors, they asked Oddbee to refresh their brand to better suit the young and community-focused market they operate in.
With a broad target audience of young working professionals in grassroots organizations, we set out to develop a design language that shares Futurpreneur’s tenets of diversity, inclusivity, and approachability that would be replicable by their photographers, content designers, and office staff nationwide.
Challenge
The Futurpreneur logo was functional but lacking in a handful of critical areas. The logo was right-aligned and lengthy, creating placement issues on pieces of external branding like stickers or merchandise. Secondly, it felt too “corporate” given the young (sometimes rural) audience and diversity of applicants they service. Lastly, with 40% of their entrepreneurial base residing in Quebec, the word “Canada” was removed in select future drafts as it failed to resonate with a large section of their audience.
Concept
Our rebranding began with examining and redefining their symbol of “amplification.” To us, the ascending dots represent not only the ways in which entrepreneurs are empowered but how young stars are formed through astral conditions known as stellar nurseries. Like the gathering of nuclear materials that one day decorate the sky, what are entrepreneurs, if not future superstars?
Identity
Following ideation, the scope work included simplifying the colour palette, introducing a modern secondary font, creating unique graphics that could be used throughout the design, developing custom iconography, and supplying brand assets for social media, pitch decks, marketing materials, and merchandise.
BESP
Black Entrepreneur Startup Program. Program for Black entrepreneurs age 18-39 provides startup loan financing and up to two years of mentorship, plus access to resources and networking opportunities with fellow entrepreneurs across Canada.
IESP
Indigenous Entrepreneur Startup Program. At Futurpreneur Canada, support Indigenous entrepreneurs aged 18-39, helping them launch or buy their own business. With up to $60,000* in financing, an expert mentor for up to two years, and access to resources, to help young entrepreneurs bring their business plan to life.
Guidelines
With a refined image of what Futurpreneur meant, we could construct a brand guide that satisfied all the client needs—clean lines without Silicon Valley pretension, candid photography of a diverse base without feeling staged, and lifestyle content in line with the small-town community members. The branding (built to comply with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities) was further distilled into a guideline that could be distributed internally for communicative cohesion nationwide.
As a non-profit organization supporting young entrepreneurs, we needed a design language that could appeal to a diverse and community-focused market. Oddbee took on this challenge and delivered beyond our expectations. They revamped our logo, updated the colours, fonts and graphics to give our brand a more modern look and feel. Thanks to their work, we now have a cohesive branding guide that ensures consistency nationwide. I highly recommend Oddbee to anyone looking for a creative and collaborative design agency that understands the importance of a human-centric approach.
Charles Finley
Chief Experience Officer, Futurpreneur
