Strategy + Branding

CARE Communities

Heartside Hill is a community in Fort Collins built through partnership upon a foundation of care. Everything about the build has been collaborative, from donation of the land by Heart of the Rockies Christian Church to the selection of CARE Communities, Habitat for Humanity and L’Arche to build a diversity of affordable housing types for people on various income levels. The inclusion of a community center, an upcoming childcare facility, a community garden, playgrounds and other thoughtful gathering spaces for bringing people together creates a community that feels like home.

To tell the Heartside Hill story of collaboration, creation, community and coming home, Linden partnered with CARE Communities to create a “story wall,” to be displayed on the property in the community center, for all to experience.

After a brief Discovery phase, where we learned the history of Heartside Hill and the purpose of the wall, we began outlining designs that were:

Bright & Joyful

Undulating & Flowy

Energetic & Light

Connected – like a story; like a community

Colorful illustration featuring a woman with blue hair and nature-themed designs, color swatches, a dandelion, a sunburst, landscape thumbnails, and small figures exploring plants and hills.

Illustration of a woman using a laptop, a man digging with a shovel, a girl with braided hair, flowers, a bird on a branch, and colorful houses set in a nature scene with trees and hills.

Colorful geometric illustration featuring a yellow house, a pink and orange triangle, circles, a leaf, a flower, a bird, and three abstract portraits in varied bold colors and shapes.

Linden’s Design team created initial mood boards with a variety of concepts and imagery, which we worked with the CARE team to refine and narrow down.

Colorful illustration of people walking, biking, and enjoying nature among large flowers, plants, trees, and bright sun on rolling hills with abstract shapes and playful scenery.

Colorful illustrated mural with people of various ages and abilities among large abstract plants and flowers. The words “Building the Promise of Home” are written prominently in playful script across the center.

Colorful illustration with “Home at Heartside Hill” in bold letters, featuring diverse people walking, running, biking, and enjoying nature among trees, flowers, hills, houses, and a ferris wheel in a vibrant outdoor setting.

A Dream Realized Through Heartside Hill

The concept that was selected recounts a journey that begins with a dandelion, symbolizing a wish or a dream and hope for something more, which is realized at Heartside Hill. In the final design, a girl blows the dandelion, sending out wishes for health, growth and prosperity. Plants and blossoms grow high, the sky is blue and bright, and you can feel the warmth of the sun’s reaching rays. People are everywhere, in all shapes, sizes and abilities, experiencing life together in this dreamlike space, wrapped in its comfort and care. The phrase “Home at Heartside Hill” is woven into the design, showing the community as the natural place to be — the place where dreams and wishes for a good life are true.

Illustrated landscape with mountains, trees, flowers, and the sun. People are gardening, biking, reading, playing music, and interacting in nature. A central arch reads Home at Heart Spotlett. Bright, cheerful colors throughout.

With this design in mind, Linden visited the community center space to take pictures and measurements, and experience how community members would actually enter the space and engage with the story wall.

Six people wearing hard hats and safety vests stand together and smile at a construction site with scaffolding, building materials, and partially built houses in the background.

A construction site hallway with a newly painted beige wall, building materials and tools scattered on the floor, a ladder near glass doors, and ceiling panels partially installed.

A three-story apartment building under construction, with construction materials, equipment, and dirt in the foreground and a partly cloudy sky in the background.

Linden’s Production and Design teams worked closely to create a comprehensive design, including mock ups of the space with the design and details such as doorways and furniture, as well as notes about lighting. This led to decisions on what materials were best suited for printing and hanging the large-scale design.

We printed the storywall art with a long-time trusted vendor, who gave us expert advice on panel spacing and was also able to complete the install in the community center.

The Heartside Hill storywall was up and ready to experience in time for the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new community, an event Linden was happy to attend.

Informational poster with a mountain sunrise graphic, logos for Heart of the Rockies, Carr Foundation, Loveland Habitat for Humanity, and Foothills United Way, and a person hiking with a backpack and walking stick. Text introduces Heartside Hill.

A colorful mural features whimsical, stylized people and large flowers in a vibrant outdoor landscape, with hills, plants, and playful scenes, mounted on a modern wall beneath spotlights.

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