Refuge: digital visual identity.
Brand review and new digital identity for the UK’s largest domestic abuse charity.
We partnered with our friends at Rally to review and rebrand Refuge’s digital presence.
This project was a small part of the huge digital transformation project that Rally was running with Refuge. Our job was to give Refuge a strong, recognisable identity that would harness Refuge’s new strategy and inspire action in the digital space. At the end of the project, Refuge would have a set of approved visual guidelines for use across digital.
Stakeholder workshops.
The visual work was undertaken alongside work on Refuge’s tone of voice by Rally and Carys Afoko.
We conducted workshops with several groups of key stakeholders. With input from participants, these workshops explored the Refuge story, investigated key audiences and outlined the purpose and desired outcomes/actions of Refuge’s social media audiences. We were then able to create a brief, including a preliminary list of key content types.
Designs and Testing.
Designs began with a colour palette based on Refuge’s brand pink, which we tweaked for digital accessibility. We outlined clear usage guidelines to ensure future content would be WCAG AAA compliant.
Photography can be tricky with sensitive services, so we conducted image research and outlined briefs for key content types, including for the use of stock imagery and supporter imagery.
We designed key content types – these needed to be simple, warm, and show expertise to engage the public and service users.
An organisational voice.
The final document outlined a new, active tone of voice, an accessible colour palette, fonts and usage rules, as well as examples and templates. After rounds of testing, the new identity was rolled out across Refuge’s digital team. The visual transformation was expertly done – Refuge’s digital channels are on brand, engaging, and can react quickly now that there’s an approved brand document.
We’ve since translated the identity across all of Refuge’s comms, including their Facebook Challenges, fundraising packs, events, campaigns, merchandise, supporter communications, and reports.
