Norwich Doughnut Economics Group
BRAND IDENTITY PROJECT
The Norwich Doughnut Economics Group (aka Re-imagine Norwich) is a collection of citizens and organizations collaborating on ways to meet society’s needs within the planet’s limits. They are putting Doughnut Economics into local action in the UK. I worked closely with their team members to develop a visual language that reflects the values of the organization and positions them uniquely within the ecosystem of groups doing similar work.
I begin each brand identity project with a deep dive into understanding the client’s vision, audience, and unique value. I start by asking questions to uncover the core values and emotions they want to evoke. This initial phase of research yielded the brand vibe guiding words: community, reciprocity, connectivity, cooperation, well-being, reimagine, rethink, joy, justice, regeneration, resilience, care, thriving, sense-making, autonomy, conviviality, collaboration, and redistribution. I then presented color palettes and typography options that aligned with the communication goals of the group.
The group selected the color palettes City Songbird and Market Rain to move forward with (at this stage, choices in typography were still fluid). The next step in the process of developing the brand identity was to create logo options. Their work is focused locally, making it important for the brand imagery to reflect the city with specificity. For that reason, I chose to include the Norwich skyline, the canary that represents their football club, and the famous outdoor covered market—one of the largest and oldest markets in the country.
Additionally, it was essential for the logo to communicate its association with Doughnut Economics. Thus each logo option resembles the shape of a doughnut. This doughnut is a visual model for how we can promote human prosperity within a flourishing web of life.
Logo Directions
The skyline concept was the clear favorite logo direction. With input from the group, I landed on a typeface, selected the color palette, and made refinements to color placement. As much of the work being done by Doughnut Economics groups involves environmental stewardship, they requested the original skyline I designed to be modified to include some of Norwich’s iconic natural features. Thus I added imagery of the swallowtail butterfly, barbastelle bat, plane tree, and Kett’s Oak—an ancient tree that was the site of a 1549 rebellion over enclosure of the common lands.
The group requested an icon set to be used on flyers and social media graphics. I created this set of icons to work within the brand identity and to streamline communication with the group’s audience.
As the final piece of the brand identity system, I created a set of social media templates for use in a variety of communication situations—such as meeting dates, general information, and requests for input. These templates are formatted for Instagram and designed to be editable and flexible, so the group can easily make adjustments.