Right Aligned: A behind the scenes look at The Circle’s brand

Brand identity case studies that grace the pages of creative agency websites often showcase beautiful, polished creative work. Our team of designers, illustrators, artworkers and copywriters produce this type of eyeball-grabbing award-winning design, while getting under the hood of organisations to find out their real motivations and return on investment. We understand that to challenge and support a brand and its people to realise true purpose and potential means marrying great design with great direction. It’s at this point, where strategic thinking is coupled with creative solutions, the value of brand comes to light.

Pretty logos alone don’t make an organisation-wide impact. It’s the job of a design agency to partner with businesses to ensure there’s a positive return on investment through design as a system of growth. Brands increasingly need to show they stand for something, but to make a measurable difference in the world they also need to be profitable, have an ability to win capital, retain staff, build culture, acquire customers or attract an ambassador base to ensure the brand and its message is seen, heard and acted upon.

We were delighted to be invited by design platform, Right Aligned, to share our varied experiences of building brand identities. These discussions not only help us to share our process but also open up a wider industry conversation of how brand can open up business opportunities, deliver for clients and inspire people to move the dial on great design and creative direction.

When your brand is established by a pioneering female artist and activist trying to make global change to fight for gender equality your brand really can’t rely solely on style, it must be based on substance. That substance can only come from deep immersion into the organisation’s hopes and fears. Defining brands for a new chapter in an organisation’s history calls for a strategic phase of work that sets up foundations strong enough to carry an accessible yet bold unifying message. We are proud to say our work with global feminist group, The Circle NGO, has achieved industry-wide recognition winning two awards at Brand Impact Awards 2022, picking up Gold in the Social Impact category and Bronze for Not-for-Profit.

During our conversation with Right Aligned, we shared some of our learnings from our brand identity work with, The Circle NGO, founded by Annie Lennox, who’s ambitions for a fairer world for women and girls in the future gained traction with a brand calling for global feminism.

UnitedUs Co-Founder and Creative Partner Luke Taylor was joined by our Strategy Partner Natalie Burns to lift the lid on the realities of building brands for global organisations. They talk about all things creative process – from constant communication and total transparency to building solid relationships – sharing brand implementation best practices to ensure brand work is usable in the real world.

[quoteBlock quote=”During a brand identity project, you have to take the whole organisation with you and supercharge them. You need to shake the tree… Building a brand identity is not a top down issue, it needs to include everyone else in the organisation.” author=”Natalie Burns” jobtitle=”Strategic Partner”]

Right Aligned provides real world learning for the creators of tomorrow and plugs into the experiences of people in design, exploring authentic issues, common problems and relatable topics in the creative industry. You can open the studio door and step into the processes of globally respected designers in Right Aligned’s Masterclasses series starting in 2023 – sign up to join UnitedUs partner Natalie Burns for her Strategy Masterclass in March. You can also read more about The Circle project under the spotlight here.