People first
Our approach involved putting people and their voices first so we conducted a kick-off workshop for members within the Trust to gain insight into feelings around the current identity and what can be improved upon, core audiences, and a consensus on where the Trust is heading for the future. Overall, it was agreed that the new identity should appeal to new audiences and be a timeless, accessible design to inspire people of all ages to protect and preserve the forest and it’s unique heritage and bio-diversity.
We then followed this up at the concept design stage with an online survey to gather the wider audience feedback on the initial three concepts we drafted in order to communally define the preferred direction.
At one with nature
Our findings from the kick-off workshop, along with consistent communication throughout the process, enabled us to establish four key strategic pillars: nature; people; heritage; and protection, along with the brand idea “A Forest For Everyone”. We then created a unique logomark based on the concept of tree rings to simultaneously convey nature and time. It consists of four interlocking parts reflective of each of the pillars.
Alongside the mark, we selected an appropriate sans-serif typeface to give it a fresh, modern feel whilst maximising accessibility, and developed a vibrant colour palette directly inspired by the forest itself. Finally, we created a flexible brand texture based on our initial logo concept of tree rings to convey a sense of nature. All the assets contrast and harmonise beautifully, perfectly representing themes of past and future, and humans in nature.
Our future-focused identity for Epping Forest Heritage Trust successfully ties together the key aspects of an organisation who wanted an exciting, modern feel with a clear reference to nature.
“It was great to work with Thomas.Matthews to develop our new brand identity. We are very pleased with the result, which is simple, impactful, unique, and strongly linked with our vision and strategy. Their creative approach brings out a future-facing organisation with rich heritage in a modern, balanced, and elegant way. The final deliveries were also thoughtfully and professionally developed, which enables us to implement the assets easily and effectively in-house with a small team.”
Amy Muyi Liu
Marketing, Membership & Fundraising Manager at Epping Forest Heritage Trust
