Introducing the New Look of EVAWI: The Philosophy Behind Our Rebrand

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If you have opened our newsletter, visited our website, or registered for a training recently, you may have noticed something new. EVAWI has an updated look.

Because so much of our work is about paying attention to details that matter, we wanted to share the thinking behind it.

Where This Started

Conversations about updating our logo began in December 2024, when EVAWI staff gathered for an in-person retreat and professional development event. Those few days gave us something we rarely get: uninterrupted time together to connect, reflect, and plan for the future.

Branding was not the reason we came together, but it kept surfacing. As we talked about the next chapter of EVAWI’s work, we found ourselves circling back to a simple question: Does the way we present ourselves match the organization we have become?

This summer, we finally sat down to answer it.

Our previous logo served us well for many years. It carried us through the growth of the Online Training Institute, the launch of Start by Believing, more than two decades of conferences, and countless training materials that have reached professionals across the country and around the world. It did its job, and it did it faithfully.

But organizations grow, and the places a logo has to live have multiplied, from full-size conference banners to social media graphics the size of a thumbnail. We were ready for a look that could keep up.

Here is what guided the update.

1. Stronger Acronym Recognition

In practice, the field knows us by our acronym: EVAWI. Colleagues say it in conversation, cite it in reports, and type it into search bars.

The new logo leans into that reality. It makes EVAWI immediately readable and memorable, and the shorter form holds up far better at small scales. A five-letter mark stays legible in places where our full name would compress into an unreadable line of text.

2. The “A” Creates a Meaningful Symbol

The detail we are most attached to is the upward arrow built into the letter A.

We wanted a symbol rather than decoration, something that communicates what this work is actually about:

• Progress
• Empowerment
• Moving forward
• Positive outcomes

Those four ideas describe what we hope happens in a community after our training reaches it. An officer changes how they open an interview. An agency changes how it reviews cleared cases. A survivor gets a response that helps instead of harms. The arrow is a small thing, but it points in the direction we are all trying to move.

3. Simple, Modern Design

We build materials for people who use them under real conditions: projected in a conference room, on a printed handout, in a slide deck assembled the night before a shift briefing. A logo that only looks right under ideal conditions has limited use.

So we tested the new design in the places it actually has to work:

• Printed signage
• Social media
• Slide deck presentations
• Training materials

The simplified form holds together in all of them.

4. Professional Without Looking Corporate

We also moved to a cleaner, simplified color palette. That choice was partly practical: a tighter palette is much easier to work into slide templates, publications, and co-branded materials with our partners.

But there was a second reason, and it matters more than it might sound.

EVAWI is a professional training and technical assistance organization. We are not a direct service agency although sometimes mistaken as one. A design that reads clearly and consistently as a preeminent training organization, however, provides more clarity around what we offer to both professionals and survivors. 

5. A Few Details You Might Not Notice

Every logo has decisions buried inside it that only the people who made it can see. Here is one of ours.

When we were selecting a typeface, we specifically wanted one that would give the letter I a serif, the small finishing strokes at the top and bottom of the letter. There was a practical reason: Without them, a capital I risks getting visually lost in the balance of the letters around it, particularly at smaller sizes.

But we also like what it represents. The I in EVAWI stands for International, and our international work matters a great deal to us. Giving that letter a little extra structure and presence felt right.

What Hasn’t Changed

A logo is the surface of an organization, not the substance of one. Our mission, our staff,  our training, and our commitment to the professionals doing this work are all exactly what they were last month.

You will see the new branding roll out gradually across our website, publications, training materials, and conference presence over the coming months. In the meantime, you may run into both versions out in the world. Our existing materials remain every bit as useful as they always were.

Learn More

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