With open heart and mind

The Dehonians are a Roman Catholic clerical religious institute of pontifical right, founded in 1878 in Saint Quentin by Fr. Léon Dehon.

Order's rebranding:
Strategy

Brand analysis and diagnosis
Research, trends
Style and tone

Visual identity

Order’s coat of arms
Logo
Provincial signage system
Key visual
Illustrations
Icons and infographics
Motion design

Implementation
Material selection, technical preparation
Communication templates
Presentation templates
Informational material templates
Design system
Brand manual
Website

User experience design
Web design
Front-end development
Back-end development
System integration

Several versions of the order’s coat of arms were in use, some very interesting. However, there was no official version with historically justified symbolism. In collaboration with historian Fr. Prof. Dr. Józef Marecki and Centro Studi Dehoniani in Rome, we meticulously traced the history and origin of this symbol.

The inspiration for the contemporary stylization of the coat of arms was a stained glass window in one of the order’s houses in Austria. Based on this, with necessary corrections in the symbolic layer, we created the official coat of arms for the entire Congregation.

We developed the official symbolism of the order – the coat of arms, seals, and documents, as well as the less formal one built around the logo of the Dehonian cross and the motto “With open heart and mind.”

During the work on organizing communication framework, the Dehonians decided to develop a professional, unified Corporate Identity for the religious Congregation. The word “corporate” is quite fitting here – as this extensive, actively mission-focused Congregation encompasses 41 units spread worldwide.

One reason for the rebranding was to standardize the name (e.g., in the USA “Priest of the Sacred Heart,” in Spain “Reparadores,” in Poland “Sercanie,” etc.). The work covered both official symbolism and everyday communication. In addition to the coat of arms, the Dehonians use an unofficial but very liked symbol of the “Dehonian cross.”

The branding included a comprehensive key visual and graphic design for materials – both official and for everyday communication, color palette, typography, and a layout based on a unified grid.

The “Dehonian cross” symbol has become a popular, unofficial sign of the Congregation and has been used in various forms by all units for years. It was natural to treat it as a logo and develop a single “canonical” version. A unified naming system and a method of combining the logo with text – in different languages and alphabets – were also created.

An important part of the project was leaving room for individual units of the Congregation in different countries to manifest their own identity. This is enabled by the open compositional and color framework of the system, as well as space for typographic variations in communication: the Dehonian motto “with open heart and mind” is handwritten, differently for each unit.

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