As part of the Challenge Detroit project, our team was tasked with expanding Urban Alliance Detroit’s (UA Detroit) physical and digital presence. Despite UA’s deep connections with students and teachers throughout the city, we were surprised to discover their digital footprint didn’t match their impact. Inspired by the energy and passion of UA’s staff, our team embarked on a mission to bridge this gap through a refreshed brand identity and creative marketing concepts.

Our design prompt pushed us to close the gap between UA Detroit’s aspirations and its current state. We reimagined the UA logo to include a graffiti tag specific to Detroit beneath the parent logo—creating a bold system where each city UA serves can express its identity. We audited existing templates, streamlined processes, and sparked new ideas among UA staff with merchandising mockups: from tablecloths to quarter-zips and more sporting the refreshed logo and new taglines.

Our work not only made the idea of expanding UA’s physical presence feel accessible—but showcased how it could look seriously cool, too.

“Detroit culture means family and authenticity, and these values are reflected in UA’s programs where authenticity and bonding are huge.” – Current UA Student

Students are able to recognize that UA reflects the culture of Detroit so we wanted to make sure this was visually reflected in our Detroit branding and marketing materials.

The interviews we had gave us a glimpse into how Urban Alliance is perceived among students. They were looking for something that has a “cool” factor, and they were searching for an element of UA to have a greater sense of pride in. Our goal was to build a visual system that reflects Detroit and create a deeper emotional connection between students and the Urban Alliance organization. This way, alumni are more likely to reflect on their time in the program and speak to its effectiveness. Our results include a revitalized logo that reflects a cityscape, drawing inspiration from Detroit’s iconic Renaissance Center. We also created two taglines to appeal to two key audiences. “Get Ahead, Get Bread” is a slogan intended for student facing materials to draw attention to the paid internships, and “The Detroit Career Accelerator” is intended for partner facing materials to display a stronger sense of professionalism and to show the student impact. Overall, we created a comprehensive brand identity kit with a Detroit-specific logo, color palette, taglines, and guidelines.

The Detroit Branding Team would like to extend our appreciation to the entire Urban Alliance staff for welcoming us into their office for this project. Alphonso, Andrei, Keisha, and Gina were especially supportive as our liaisons, providing us with valuable feedback and insights throughout the entire process. They were open to our ideas and continued to encourage us to think outside of the box. Their dedication to the student experience was inspiring, and the connection between a cohesive brand identity and the continuous improvement of the student experience allowed our team to feel like our work was valued and impactful. Thanks to their support, as well as the insights drawn from other stakeholders including students and community partners, the Detroit Branding Team was able to confidently produce deliverables that reimagine a unique, Detroit-based identity for Urban Alliance.

For our fall project we partnered with Urban Alliance Detroit, the local arm of Urban Alliance (UA), a national nonprofit creating pathways for young people to achieve economic independence through skills training, mentorship, and meaningful paid work experiences. Our project was focused on capturing and sharing UA Detroit’s impact through storytelling to expand opportunities for Detroit youth. Teams of Fellows worked alongside the UA Detroit’s team – Alphonso Amos, Victor Robinson, Keisha Powell-Young, Tamia Cooper, Jazmine Banks, Andrei Nichols, McKenzie Reed, Rashad Dudley – as well as engaged with stakeholders, including UA Detroit’s advisory board, students, employer partners, school partners and a parent. 

See other team blogs about our project with Urban Alliance here.