Where care meets trust — an identity shaped around the bond between humans and animals.
WAFA (With Animals, For Animals) is a youth-led initiative based in Mumbai, dedicated to street and companion animal welfare through volunteering, awareness, and on-ground support. When I first came across their work, the spirit was clear — genuine care, compassion, and a desire to help. But the identity they had created in their early days didn’t fully express that warmth or sense of connection.
This project was an opportunity to give their intent a visual form: a mark that feels welcoming, humane, and rooted in the trust animals place in us.
- Location
- Mumbai, India
- Industry
- Animal Welfare / Non-Profit
- Scope
- Logo, Visual Identity, Collaterals, Logo Animation
- Role
- Brand Identity Designer
- Type
- Self-Initiated Collaboration
- Tools
- Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects
Context
WAFA (With Animals, For Animals) began as a student-led initiative at Amity University Mumbai, created to support street animals through awareness drives, volunteering, and everyday acts of care. In their early days, the founder designed a simple hand-and-paw logo to represent the intention behind the work.
The meaning was right — but the identity needed more structure, clarity, and emotional depth to grow with the initiative. As someone who cares deeply about animals myself, this project felt personal. The goal was not to compete in a crowded space, but to help the initiative express what it stood for in a way that people could immediately connect with.
Old Identity
Problem
The original identity held sentiment but lacked the visual grounding needed for a growing non-profit.
The hand-drawn mark didn’t clearly convey the relationship between human and animal, the distressed type reduced legibility, and the overall form wasn’t scalable across digital or print touchpoints.
More importantly, the logo didn’t evoke the emotions WAFA was built on — trust, care, connection, and the warmth of helping.
The founder envisioned expanding the initiative over time, and the identity needed to support that ambition with a system that felt compassionate, contemporary, and welcoming to volunteers.
Approach
The direction centered around redefining the hand-and-animal relationship into a single, unified gesture — one that felt soft, modern, and emotionally grounded.
Instead of two separate shapes placed together, the mark needed to feel like a moment of connection: an animal looking up for help and a human reaching out with care.
Design decisions focused on warmth and approachability — soft silhouettes, calm colors, and a balanced upward orientation to express growth, trust, and hope.
The aim was to create an identity that someone who loves animals would instinctively feel drawn to, something that felt more like a symbol of compassion than a traditional NGO logo.
Solution
Logo System
The final mark unifies a dog’s gentle upward gaze with a human hand reaching toward it, forming a single silhouette that symbolizes trust and care.
Both forms tilt upward, representing upliftment and the way animals look to humans for help.
The logo works across multiple sizes, with simplified versions for small-scale use and stronger outer rings for visibility on digital platforms.
Final Logo
Logo Structure / Construction
Logo Variants
Monochrome Variants
Visual Language
A calm palette of blues and greens reflects safety, trust, and clarity — colors often associated with care-based initiatives. Rounded typography reinforces the approachable nature of the brand, balancing seriousness with warmth.
Soft, organic shapes and minimal line work create a clean, youth-friendly visual tone that suits the initiative’s student-led culture.
Color Palette
Typography
Applications
The identity extends into digital and on-ground touchpoints: stickers for volunteers, ID cards, stationery, social media templates, basic merchandise, and a clean logo animation for awareness campaigns.
Each application amplifies the same feelings — calmness, connection, and compassion — making the brand both recognizable and relatable.
Applications
Logo Animation
Outcome
The rebrand gave WAFA a professional yet heartfelt identity that communicates its mission without needing explanation. The founder now had a visual foundation strong enough to grow with the initiative, and volunteers could represent the cause with a symbol that felt meaningful and genuine.
Even though the initiative slowed down later, the brand work remains a reminder of how design can give shape to sincere intentions.
For me, the project reinforced a belief: people who work for a cause often already know exactly what they want to express — they simply need a clearer way to show it. My role was to help their purpose be seen.
Identity Evolution
Transforming a meaningful idea into a clear, unified symbol of care and trust.
