Goodwill is a non-profit charitable organization that helps people with disabilities, veterans, and others who have difficulty finding employment. Goodwill accepts unwanted items, clothing, furniture, and even automobiles from the public. As an incentive, Goodwill issues a receipt acknowledging the gift. By filing an annual tax return, Americans include information about their donations and receive tax benefits.
Goodwill is an American chain of luggage stores founded in the early 20th century. In a fairly short time, the network has expanded so much that in the United States, their logo and concept of work are known to everyone. References to them have even permeated popular culture: in some movies, you can hear parents scare children into giving their toys to charity if they don’t start behaving well. But Goodwill is not a scarecrow, it is a company that really does its best to help those in need.
By the way, speaking of which, the main activity of the Goodwill charity organization is the retraining and employment of people from a wide range of categories. Assistance is provided to people with disabilities, veterans, immigrants, and former prisoners. And to date, the organization has already retrained about 36 million people.
The logo of the nonprofit organization Goodwill conveys the friendliness and eagerness to help that are among its core values. A warm and welcoming visual identity is an important advantage for an organization helping people to get job training, employment, and take part in other community-based programs.
The original Goodwill logo reflects its religious origins. The organization was established in 1902 by the Reverend Edgar J. Helms of Morgan Methodist Chapel in Boston.
The centerpiece of the emblem was a large black cross. The word “Goodwill” was placed inside its horizontal part, while the lettering “The way” was placed inside its vertical part. The writing “Not Charity But Chance” encircled the cross.
In 1968, Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries commissioned graphic designer Joseph Selame to develop a new brand identity. Selame is known as the author of logos of Apple Bank, Kodak, and CVS Pharmacy, to name just a few.
According to the official website, the non-profit organization wanted the logo to represent “the many faces of self-sustaining and self-respecting people within Goodwill.”
The so-called Smiling “G” logo features half of a smiling face over dark blue background. If you take a closer look, you will notice that the face forms the lowercase “g.” This makes it serve a double purpose: to symbolize Goodwill’s core message and also represent the initial of its name. The full name of the organization can be seen below. The initial glyph looks the same as the face above but is smaller.
In the current general logo for Goodwill Industries International, the wordmark in large black letters is added to the right of the emblem. The lettering “Industries International, Inc.” in blue can be seen below.
Some members use an alternative cartoonish emblem. There are also several regional versions of the Goodwill logo. The retail version showcases a simple serif all-caps type. Here, there is no smiling emblem.
Goodwill’s affiliates often pair the Smiling “G” emblem with wordmarks in various typefaces, which can be disadvantageous for the organization’s visual brand identity.
Since 1968, dark blue, black, and white have been the main colors of the Goodwill logo. Alternative versions may feature lighter shades of blue. You can also come across additions to the palette in regional versions (for instance, red).