The Guild

Polymode partnered with The Guild—a transformative community development organization based in Atlanta, Georgia—to design a new website with a flexible, evolving Visual Identity, Branding and Style System (Style Guide). Founded in 2015 as the city’s first co-living space for changemakers—including artists, entrepreneurs, and community organizers—The Guild emerged in response to the city’s rapid gentrification.

To support key initiatives like the Ground Cover Fund and other brand extensions to lay the foundation for future brand expansion, we developed a comprehensive system to unify and align The Guild’s brand equity. The identity and design process used custom type created by Polymode and the concept of living container to reflect The Guild’s core values: community co-design, anti-capitalism, worker ownership, collaboration, and transparency. We paired this with the typefaces Ballast by XYZ Type and ALT Riviera and colors that came from deep historical research of Atlanta’s communities of color. Through a deeply collaborative approach, our design strategy connects a wide range of stakeholders—from grassroots organizers and local residents to small developers, philanthropic funders, and Black/POC communities—all working together to build community wealth, power, and self-determination.

The ethos of the identity and the design process embodies The Guild’s values of community co-design, anti-capitalism, worker ownership, collaboration, and transparency. It speaks to and bridges multiple audiences of small developers, larger philanthropic investors, grassroots organizations, local residents, and Black/POC communities in order to build community wealth, power, and self-determination.