Oak Theory redesigned GRIP's visual identity and marketing assets — logo, color palette, typography, and brand guidelines — delivering a cohesive brand ready for their end-of-year fundraising push.
Quick answer
GRIP Training Institute runs a rehabilitation program for incarcerated people across California called Guiding Rage into Power. But GRIP's old branding, inherited from a previous organization, didn't reflect who they'd become or who they were serving. The real challenge wasn't designing something pretty — it was designing something that could speak to completely different audiences: incarcerated people seeking change, families looking for hope, nonprofit allies, and policymakers. Oak Theory designed a new visual identity that felt authentic, empowering, and never institutional. The whole thing shipped two months early.
About
GRIP Training Institute needed one. They'd recently transitioned away from their former identity and were ready to signal that they were serious about who they are now — not who they used to be.
But GRIP's audience was fractured. The people in their program, incarcerated individuals, would rarely see the branding directly. The visual identity had to reach the people advocating on their behalf: families, survivors of violence, nonprofit partners, and policymakers making funding decisions. The brand needed to speak trust to the skeptical and possibility to the hopeful — at the same time.
Oak Theory partnered with GRIP as a branding partner for nonprofits to design a visual identity rooted in authenticity instead of institutional heaviness.
The challenge
Incarcerated individuals need to believe change is possible. Families need to know it works. Policymakers need to trust it's legitimate. Nonprofit partners need to feel like they're joining something with purpose. The old branding looked like everything else in the nonprofit and criminal justice space — serious, stern, institutional. Exactly what GRIP didn't want to be.
What we did
I've only had a few experiences with branding agencies, and they've all missed something critical — the heartfelt purpose behind what we do. Oak Theory approached it in a way that felt authentic and true to our people and our values.
Every nonprofit in criminal justice uses the same colors. Gray, navy, maybe a muted teal. It signals seriousness — but it also signals "correctional system."
We chose deep purple for resilience and transformation, gold for hope and optimism, stone and neutral tones for authenticity and grounding. The psychology is deliberate. When someone sees those colors, they shouldn't think "prison nonprofit" — they should think "people becoming who they want to be."
GRIP's materials end up in prison, where they need to be legible for people with reading challenges or visual impairments. They also end up on social media and donor letters, where they need to feel approachable, not cold.
We chose Roboto Slab as the primary typeface — structured and geometric, with soft curves that keep it warm. Archivo as the secondary adds friendliness without sacrificing clarity. Both were stress-tested for accessibility, not just aesthetics.
The new GRIP logo combines an upward arrow with a circle to represent transformation and growth. But it needed to work at tiny sizes, at signage scale, and in single-color versions printed on envelopes in a prison.
We tested the logo across all those applications, refining proportions and line weights until it stayed sharp and readable everywhere. That's the work nobody sees until it's wrong.
We built a photography style guide rooted in authenticity: candid, high-resolution images of real connection and collaboration. Diverse representation, confident subjects, natural lighting. No stock photography, no posed moments.
When GRIP's team posts using these guidelines, the images reinforce the brand voice more than any design system could.
Selected work
We were excited to see what Oak Theory would do, and they delivered. They didn't just refine our logo — they explored alternatives we could grow into. They proved themselves to be real partners who understood our mission, not just designers executing a brief.Sardara Tangirala, Marketing & Communications Director, GRIP Training Institute
FAQ
Oak Theory designs visual identities for organizations doing meaningful work — authentic, accessible, and built to last.
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