Services
Brand Strategy, Naming, Logo and Visual Identity
Sector
Nonprofit/Human Services
Asian Human Services was founded in 1978 by a small group of Cambodian men responding to the refugee crisis unfolding across Southeast Asia. Their original purpose was to help families escaping internment camps find footing in Chicago. Over the decades that followed, the mission grew far beyond its origins. The organization expanded to serve immigrants and refugees arriving from more than 50 countries, offering behavioral health care, workforce development, adult education, early childhood programs, and primary care. By any measure, it had become something much larger than its name suggested.
Asian Human Services no longer reflected who they served. For many of the families walking through their doors, the name created distance rather than welcome. For an organization whose entire purpose is to say there is a place for you here, that gap was an important one.
Impact
The results of the Trellus rebranding were tangible and immediate. Increased numbers in revenue, foundation grants, and volunteers were evident in the first year.
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Increase in contributions and grants after the first full year of rebranding
45 years
Building new beginnings for immigrants and refugees
+ 0 countries
Served by a singular mission and set of human services
Brand Vision
Substance developed the name Trellus, with the tagline Opportunities for life. A trellis is a structure that gives plants access to light, air, and space to grow. Trellus the organization works the same way: a framework where clients can put down roots, grow, and build lives on their own terms. The name celebrates diversity, connectivity, and forward motion.
The spelling is deliberate. Changing the last two letters from “is” to “us” carries a simple but meaningful idea: there is no “other” at Trellus. There is simply us.
The visual identity reflects the same values. Warm, welcoming, and human, it was built to work across a wide range of program materials, communications, and community touchpoints, serving an organization whose constituents speak dozens of languages but share a common journey.
Mental health care carries stigma in every community. It carries even more in immigrant and refugee populations navigating language barries, cultural differences, and the weight of displacement. The “Mental Health is All of Us” campaign met that reality directly, turning the “us” at the heart of the Trellus name intoa rallying cry for the communities they serve.
