Project Description

The International Training Institute (ITI) is the educational branch of the unionized sheet metal industry. It is jointly sponsored by the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation International Association (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA).

The ITI supports advanced career training for SMART members at more than 150 local training centers throughout the United States and Canada. When we began our engagement with them in 2009, we requested a shipment of all educational materials to enable us to perform a brand audit in which we evaluate the consistency and continuity of design and messaging. Within a week we had received three skids containing hundreds of training manuals, CDs, DVDs and other supporting collateral resources. It quickly became clear that this would be a major undertaking, as each individual piece looked like it came from a different organization, using dissimilar graphic styles, color schemes, font sizes, paper and cover stock, even logo versions.

Our first order of business was to create a standardized format to enhance the overall professionalism of the training centers. Today, all documents communicate the idea that they originate from the same institution of higher learning.