Simple

On paper, Simple is a giving software for churches. More than that, they’re a trusted technology consultant, a committed partner. A team that is dedicated to the missions and ministries of their client congregations. 

From their founder Taylor Brooks, “Simple is a software company that just happens to do payments stuff rather than a ‘fintech company’ or a ‘payment processor and gateway.’ Those payment industry terms always made me feel a little uncomfortable.” 

Yeah, Simple builds giving software, but at the heart of it, they build relationships. 

Visit Simple

Simple came to Focus Lab as Simple Donation, and the name felt a bit limiting and overly complex. So we chatted about it and dropped the extra specifying noun. 

You’ll notice a through line with this project: simplifying things. 

During the strategy phase of the project Taylor and the team outlined Humble, Simple, and Relatable as their very fitting brand attributes. Through the communications work, Warm, Wise, and Witty were identified as the perfect tones of voice. While working through the visual identity design portion of the project, we wanted to continue to harmonize with that work. 

The Simple mark, nicknamed the Link, is an abstraction of overlapping threads. It symbolizes the unity of people, purpose, and ministry. At its center, a space representing the genesis of heartfelt giving — a space shaped like a home.

The lowercase logotype and the symbols hand-drawn essence ensure Simple doesn’t come across as bold or boastful.

Color for Simple couldn’t be too loud or poppy. Instead we worked towards a palette that exudes calmness. Navy grounds things. Olive, a color that calls to mind thoughts of generosity, differentiates from the competitive landscape. The somewhat muted mid-tones in the mauve and aqua give Simple some interesting contrast to the bright highlight of yellow and their warm-leaning light values. 

For the typography system, we chose Loretta from Nova Type foundry. It’s a beautiful, soft serif that is simultaneously straightforward and suave. Loretta connects well with our Humble and Relatable attributes. 

Secondarily, we chose Usual, a utilitarian sans. It’s perfectly neutral and pairs well with the more cordial Loretta. 

For visual language, we explored this idea of generosity by way of textural imagery. 

We pulled on prominent biblical analogies like daily bread and first fruits. Storing treasures in heaven and that notion of reaping what you sow. Once we sourced images that referenced each of these concepts, we treated them with an engraved effect in Photoshop. 

It was as if we had just found these perfectly-branded textural assets in an old, dusty manuscript. 

Additionally, the team contracted Nathan Yoder of Yondr Studio to develop a series of thematic and conceptual illustrations that further exemplify the brand’s attributes for use on the web. 

You can see more of Nathan’s work here. It was a dream to have someone of his caliber illustrate on this.  

Along with the logo, color, and type, we inject warm photography with natural tones of people interacting with the software when it makes sense. 

All of these design elements come together to create a system that hits on all of the brand attributes. The identity is unmistakably Humble, Relatable, and most importantly Simple. 

“I cannot express how grateful we are for Focus Lab and the work y’all did to help us level up Simple. We are thankful!”

-Taylor Brooks, Founder, Simple

This project was a really fun one, because while we worked hard, it never felt difficult. Taylor and Jeff, our client contacts, made meetings each week a joy and we connected on a very real level over college football and river walking, ripping some rainbow trout lips. That level of collaboration is evident in the final result.