north stars vbc

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North Stars VBC Brand Book

Lillie Schenk

The Story 8

The Present 16

The Future 42

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We are a proud Heart of America Volleyball Club! Our athletes and teams are committed to a demanding training and competition sched-ule where we play amongst the finest clubs in the county. This means we expect to look great!

North Stars teams are in the gym working hard in preparation for an exciting and challenging season playing local HOA tournaments and major travel tournaments. Look for us at HOA Powerleague, MLK Tour-nament, ShowMe National Qualifier and the HOA Regional Champi-onships, all in and around our home in Kansas City. On the road you'll find our teams in Omaha for the President's Day Classic, the LoneStar Classic in Dallas, Colorado Crossroads in Denver, and the Mideast Qualifier in Indianapolis in Indianapolis and St. Louis.

GO NORTH STARS!

Phil Klassen, President

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Hi! I’m Lillie,Lillie Schenk……which is perhaps the most awk-ward name to have when you’re a volleyball player.* Yes, I used to play volleyball and this was me back in my high school club days. You might have noticed that this is a book displaying my re-brand-ing of North Stars Volleyball Club. No, I wasn’t a North Star; I was on the other side of the net.

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*Schenk (shangk), or “shank” in volleyball terms is a bad pass where the ball most likely cannot be played by a teammate, thus potentially losing a point for their team.

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The Story

This was one of the teams I played on.

In this moment, we were watch-ing the North Stars 16-1 team warm up before playing them. We’re analyzing them in hopes of finding any weaknesses they may have. Any regional volleyball club knows this is a difficult task.

Highlands 16-1

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So why is my team study-ing the North Stars’ tactics?

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So they don’t do THIS to us.

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So, who arethe North Stars?

veloping volleyball knowledge and skills through instruction and compe-tition.

GOAL Each player, parent and coach will represent our club, as well as the Heart of America region, with integ-rity and good sportsmanship. We will be competitive and positive at all lev-els and during all games regardless of the outcome.

FUTURE The North Stars Volleyball Club has successfully achieved schol-arships for 90% of all seniors. These scholarships ranged from Division 1 to NAIA schools.

HISTORY Steve Harris and Lisa Free-man founded North Stars Volleyball Club in 1993. The club was founded with the commitment of providing youth in the Kansas City metropolitan area an opportunity to enhance their volleyball knowledge and skills. North Stars VBC is dedicated to providing a positive environment for all partici-pants. The individual, team, and club goals are achieved through the active participation and cooperation of play-ers, coaches and parents.

The North Stars program has been recognized as one of the best clubs in the Heart of America Region. The club has consistently performed in the top five among the region’s age

divisions. In addition to our regional performance we have made a strong presence at the national level.

The club has drawn some elite coach-es in the area. Our coaching staff consist of college, high school, and middle school coaches, along with college players and All-Americans. We also have a variety of coaches that have played and/or coached upper levels of club ball. The club continues to draw on these talented coaches and are grateful for their unselfish contributions to the game.

MISSION North Stars is a junior vol-leyball club for young women ages 9 through 18. We are dedicated to de-

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… and why re-brand them?I considered re-branding a volleyball club that I had played for, but I liked the idea of rebuilding something from an outsider’s perspective. I didn’t want to have a “pre-bias” towards what I was re-branding. Being familiar with the game of volleyball and being accustomed to North Stars through opponency, to me, was the perfect base of knowledge for a successful redesign.

I also wanted to work with a group that (although perhaps wasn’t successful when it came to graphics), really had their act together when it came to their main purpose of existence. Through records and observation, it’s clear that North Stars stands firm on its skills, character, and determination.

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The Present

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Currently

Logo. Elements are disconnected from each other. This mark says nothing about North Stars.

Colors. Black and red aren’t bad colors, the red is very basic and plain, though. It’s lacking sophistication and depth.

Website. Flat and dated; solely there to inform.

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Coaches’ gear. Visuals seem to change with the seasons. Change is good sometimes, but North Stars needs to have a solid graphic/s that they can be associated with.

Facebook page. Flat and dated; solely there to inform

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LOYALTY

FAMILY.

FUN

FRIENDSHIP

TRUST

SUPPORT

LOVE

UNIFICATION.

Both on and off the court, there’s an admirable amount of

North Stars can be viewed as a

for themselves and the game. They have

having respect and

and hunger for the ball. They are condi-tioned for

paying attention to detail. Opponents take notice of their

and desire for each point. No one can ignore their extreme

heard throughout the game. They have the

to make smart moves on the court, and it’s clear they have a true

for the game they play to win.

North Stars teams have a sense of

within both the club and each team. North Stars have a good amount of

with each other to build a close bond. There’s a

exists in this club. Each girl gives

to her teammates on and off the court.There is an extreme

for one another and the game, and a tight

that’s carried on beyond the season. An apparent

PROFESSIONALISM,PRIDE

AGGRESSION

PRECISION,

INTENSITY

VOLUME,

PASSION

INTELLIGENCE

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Complete Attributes List

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3 directionsPulling from the attributes on the previous spread, I developed three potential directions. All 16 attributes accurately reflect North Stars, so by narrowing down to three particulars for each direction, I am not eliminat-ing the remaining, but rather focusing on the selected.

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FAMILYFUNUNIFICATION

PRIDEPRECISIONPROFESSIONALISM

VOLUMEINTENSITYSUPPORT

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For this direction, I experimented with renaming the North Stars. “Midwest Elite” focuses on the club’s skill and impressive record. The mark is a star-like shape with exaggerated points to indicate the club’s on-point focus and plays. The colors and their transparency creates a form of elegance and flow. The logotype consists of thin type to give it a more feminine and classy look. The primary type, Archer Bold has a brisk, yet pol-ished look, why the secondary types, Archer Light and Satellite have a more delicate look.

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SatelliteABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

Archer LightABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

Archer BoldABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

ON POINT, EVERY POINT

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For this direction, I explored renaming North Stars again. I chose “Velocity” to allude to each team’s quick pace when they play.

On a surface level, the mark represents the rush and speed of the players, or a loud sound. Deeper than that, though, this logo showcases an abstract view of a team by celebrating the different roles of each player on the court. Each trian-gle represents a player based on their build as an athlete. The smaller triangles symbolize back row players (short play-ers are closer to the floor, therefore mak-ing better passers). And the larger, lon-ger triangles represent front row players. There is even a special black triangle aside from the red that showcases the libero, whom wears a different colored jersey from her teammates. The circle shape the triangles are creating alludes to a huddle or cheer that calls for the team to physically come together.

The logo and logotype work alone to keep the visual balance of the primary mark. The logotype holds one of the tri-angles, though, which is placed horizon-tally to give the look of acceleration or the raising of volume. The triangle rests on the “C” to call out the word “city.” This shows that the club represents itself on more than just a regional level; they represent Kansas City.

The pattern showcases another way players can be connected with their teammates. It also refers to the repeti-tion of the game.

The primary typeface, Practique (as well as the colors, red and black), represents the club’s bold presence. Grotesque Light is a nice contraster and works as an easy-to read body copy.

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VELOCITYPractiqueABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

Grotesque MT Std LightABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

TOGETHER WITH SPEED

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For my chosen direction, I stuck with the original name, “North Stars.” This name reflects the club’s practice loca-tions (north of the Missouri River). It also straight-forwardly announces that the players are stars. In astronomy terms, the North Star is a star that sticks out among others as a guide. This club can also be viewed as a leader.

The mark is simply mimicking the lining of a volleyball. It showcases wholeness and support through the single shapes’ interaction with each other. The colors represent fun, enjoyment, and friendli-ness towards teammates.

There are six players on one side of the court at a time, and when you have six of these marks together, it creates inter-

twining unity. There’s even a little star that appears within the negative space!

The primary typeface, Aldo, is fun with an edge. Kozuka, the secondary type is modern and a little more simplistic.

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Aldo SemiBoldABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

Kozuka Gothic Pr6N ELABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

ONE HEART, ONE GOAL

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I realized thatthese colors are nice…

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…if I was branding

a carnival31

Who is it thatI’m designing for again?I suppose I had forgotten about my audience with my chosen design di-rection, when picking a color palette. Although the orange, teal, and yellow successfully reflected the attributes of family and fun, it did so in a childish way. This was a bad thing, not only because it doesn’t accurately North Stars, but because those are negative traits that no sports team would want to be associated with. I needed to take another look at my audience so I could effectively re-brand North Stars.

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family /friends of players

recruiters opposing teams

Parents are the ones pay-ing for their daughter/s’ position on the team, so it’s important to wow them. They need to know that they’re making a good investment.

Players need to have confidence in themselves as well as their team and the club. This new design should reinforce that.

Recruiters need to be able to access informa-tion quickly (web) and be able to identify North Stars and their players.

Opposing teams should be jealous of North Stars’s re-brand! They should be intrigued by this design, wishing it was their own.

players

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After that, I did a lotof this.

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After quite a bit of experimentation……I found that I was trying too hard to change things about North Stars’s look that didn’t necessarily need to be changed. The red & black color combination effectively demonstrates the attributes. I decided to add an-other color to the palette, since my logo calls for three colors. The gray is more of an accent color that adds some sophistication.

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Of course I had to get the perfect red-black-gray combination, so I did a lot of this too.

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The Future

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Aldo SemiBoldABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

ArchiveABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890

Kozuka Gothic Pr6N ELABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

ONE HEART, ONE GOAL

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.05 in

.05 in

Aldo SemiBold

Archive

Kozuka Gothic Pr6N EL

logotype

primary type: headlines, titles

secondary type: body copy

OKBOUNDRIES

solid gray

solid black

solid red

NOT OK

red, black gray clock-wise order

outlined

stretched

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logotype + logo

(position adjustment)

(color adjustment)

solid logo adjusted logo rotation + adjusted logotype colors. Logotype must always be 2 different colors (“north” 1st color, “stars” 2nd color).

Because there are 6 rotated (60 degrees each rota-tion) marks that make up the circle pattern, each of those 6 positions have the potential to be the logo.

NOT OK

OK

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Paper Products46

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NORTH STARSVOLLEYBALL CLUB

Laura Tomney18-1 coach

NORTH STARSVOLLEYBALL CLUB

Laura Tomney18-1 coach

Business Cards

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2556 W Almond StreetKansas City, MO 64128

8376 W Wickers StreetKansas City, MO 64128

LEAH CONNERY

Outside

Inside

Envelope

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Welcome to the Team letter Blank version

Letterhead

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Website (focus)

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Home page. From this page, the viewer can click on any of the links up top to navigate. “Quick Links” are located at the bottom and are changed out depending on the time of year.

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About page. The viewer can learn about who the North Stars are and what makes this club unique.

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Team list page. From this page, the viewer can click on any of the team listings to view individual team information.

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18-1 team page. From this page, the viewer can click on any of the players to see individual player profiles. The viewer can also view this team’s schedules and their coach’s staff profile.

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Coach’s profile page. The viewer can learn about each staff member by reading their profiles.

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Schedule page. The viewer can take a quick look at upcoming practices by toggling through the month buttons. The viewer can also look at a com-plete calendar, look at specific team schedules, or explore maps to different locations. There are also links at the bottom to both practice sites.

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Other Gear

T-shirt

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Warmup & practice balls

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one heart, one goal

18-1 team banner. To claim spots, this banner can be placed on the stands, or the team’s resting area during a tournament.

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Tournament trailer. This trailer is used for larger tournaments, where more “supplies” are needed. It would hold uniforms, warmups, and game gear. It’s also temperature-controlled, so food /snacks are stored in there as well.

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iPhone app. This app is available for players and parents /guardians to quickly view their schedules and news. Downloadable documents are also available.

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Jerseys. The simplicity not only follows volleyball guidelines, but gives the North Stars a bold presence.

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North Stars

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