On Monday, July 12, 2010, after two years of partnership with Siegel+Gale, the Y rolled out their revitalized brand, which included a refreshed brand platform, brand architecture and nomenclature strategy, messaging, as well as a new visual system and website.

Since the announcement, online and offline communities have been atwitter about the bold step forward for the Y. From the mainstream press to business blogs to everyday people, like you and me, people have been excitedly inquiring about the strategy, name, logo and more. We thought we'd take this opportunity to answer some of these questions and continue the conversation.

The Y is so well-known, why did it need to revitalize its brand?

It's true that the Y has nearly universal awareness, but research—the most extensive ever conducted by the Y—shows that few people actually understand the breadth and depth of its impact. In fact, the Y is most commonly associated with swimming and fitness, and not as a nonprofit, cause-driven organization. With more than 2,600 Ys across the nation, the brand revitalization allows Ys—irrespective of location or offerings—to unify around a common brand platform; thereby elevating the nonprofit’s cause and areas of focus. As a result, the Y is now poised to make its impact more widely known.

What is the Y's cause and areas of focus?

While offerings differ from Y to Y, we discovered that one thing remains shared—a commitment to strengthening the foundations of community through three vital areas of focus: youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

With a renewed focus on nurturing the potential of children and teens, improving the nation's health and well-being, and giving back to our neighbors in need, the Y now has a clear framework to communicate the many benefits of its offerings and services it provides to individuals and communities.

Isn't the logo well recognized? What factors influenced the selection of the refreshed logo and visual identity?

We were keenly aware of the recognition of the Y logo; however, research indicated that the overwhelming perception of the Y was vastly different from the reality of what the Y really stands for and offers its communities. The organization needed a way to signal to the public that they're not just a provider of services, but the leading nonprofit committed to strengthening community through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. A logo change—particularly to a logo so well recognized—is one way to challenge misperceptions and get the public to reexamine the benefits of the Y.

Changing the logo was not done without rigor. A lot of time and effort went into developing just the right symbol, and extensive testing of the new logo (and other alternatives) took place before the new design was adopted. The test results were remarkable. The new logo far outperformed the current logo on every attribute examined. This is a highly unusual result as people usually assign higher scores to a design they know versus one they have never seen. This was an important finding that added weight to the ultimate decision.

In addition to testing, we worked with CEOs across the Y to ensure that the logo and visual identity were respectful of the organization’s rich heritage, but also looked to the future. To reflect the past, we retained the triangle, which honors the organization’s mission and has been a consistent element of the Y's identity throughout its more than 160-year-old history. To look to the future, we infused the logo with multiple colors to reflect the diversity, dynamism and optimism of the Y's many communities. Additionally, the forward and upward motion of the logo conveys that the Y is mobilizing communities to bring about lasting positive change.

The supporting visual system includes benefit-oriented messages, vibrant colors and a fresh and bold imagery style.

What factors influenced the decision to adopt "the Y" as the communicative name?

If you look at the prior logo of the organization, it was simply a "Y" resting on the letters "YMCA." After conversations with internal and external audiences, we realized that the name the public affectionately calls the organization is "the Y"—not "Y" or "YMCA." As an organization committed to strengthening community, it made sense to align the name of the collective organization with what the community calls it. However, despite media reports, the "YMCA" is not going away and will continue to be used as part of the formal name of locations, branches and camps. The use of a communicative name and a formal and/or legal name is a common practice that is used by organizations ranging from HBO (Home Box Office Inc.) to Deloitte (Deloitte Touche Tomatsu).

Hayley Berlent is a strategy director for the Siegel+Gale New York office.

Contributors to this article include: Rolf Wulfsberg, Nancy Hansell, Doug Sellers, Michelle Matthews, Lana Roulhac and Colleen Delaney