Disability-inclusive housing startup launches a new identity

The Kelsey, a pioneering California based housing organisation, worked with San Francisco-based design studio Landscape to launch a new brand identity that signals its disability-inclusive approach to housing and its community partnerships.

The Kelsey is a non-profit that centres on the lived experience of people with disabilities to innovate multifamily housing that is affordable. The new identity needed to signal the organization’s progress and engage a broad set of potential partners.

Centred around the idea of ‘building opportunity through inclusivity’, the rebrand grounds The Kelsey’s work in creating opportunity that benefits people of all backgrounds, including people with disabilities and positions the brand as an innovative and credible organisation.

“Our new identity reinforces The Kelsey’s mission to advance disability-forward, innovative, thoughtfully designed housing solutions,” says Micaela Connery, Co-founder and CEO of The Kelsey. The Kelsey recognise that disability-inclusion is a critical component of a thriving society and as an identity that is valued and visible.

The use of whimsical visuals, bold, universal typeface selection and a colour palette based on skin tones all reinforce inclusivity. The vibrant colours reflect the creative power of diversity and help the brand break the visual stereotypes in the non-profit sector, making its mission accessible to a wider audience.

“Our team worked with disability advocates and external consultants to ensure that the design of the brand and site, from the user experience to colours, images, and words was designed to be as accessible as possible to people with a broad range of abilities,” says Adam Weiss, creative director of Landscape.

Connery believes that the brand identity should be as inclusive and accessible as the buildings The Kelsey offer its community. “Too often beauty is dictated and is reserved for the select few, and not inclusive of the communities they serve. We don’t believe that should be the case.”