In 1989, the Apostolic Christian Children’s Home changed it’s name to Gateway Woods, which was a necessary move since the ministry had opened up other services outside of just a home for children. I spoke with Tim Sauder, who was the Administrator at that time, and asked him about the process. He shared with me that it wasn’t an easy process and they struggled to come up with an adequate name. After cutting their list down from over 100 names to just a few they finally chose Gateway. Feeling it was a little too corporate a current resident at the time suggested the name, Gateway Woods, because of the large number of trees on our campus.

So here we stand in 2017, almost 30 years later. Why the new look? Why now? In branding 101, you want to make sure that your mission and your image resonate with your audience. If your image becomes stale, or worse, you start delivering a service or a product different then your mission, you have a big problem. After gathering professional feedback, we concluded that Gateway Woods has a strong brand and mission, however the logo appears outdated.

If you look at our existing brand you can break it down into four parts: name, icon, font, color scheme. After doing some user testing, the name had a great reputation with our audience. Secondly, the icon, much like the name, was what they recognized when Gateway Woods was mentioned. So that leaves us with the font and the colors. These are the two components that make the existing brand stale, so it was our goal to update the brand to make it fresh without losing it’s core integrity.

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10b

With the first stage of redesigning complete, the second stage to this rebranding process is implementation. We will soon be launching a new responsive website, literature, and signage. This has been a yearlong process and we are excited on where we are heading. The last thing we want this to be is a distraction to what God is already doing through the mission of Gateway Woods.

Thanks for your ongoing support and we value your feedback. If you have any questions or comments please contact me.