With a history dating back to 1874, the charity was created specifically to support the local Mountsorrel community by providing financial assistance to people needing support in the form of grants, which do not have to be repaid. Renamed in 2021, Mountsorrel Community Support Fund (CSF) approached a number of organisations to respond to their initial brief, which was to create a refreshed brand identity that would reflect their new vision, mission and values as well as assist them in successfully implementing their long-term objectives; specifically developing the key areas of grantmaking and publicity. In April 2021, we were successfully awarded the contract to begin the work.

Given the heritage of the charity, the challenge would be to modernise their visual identity, whilst remaining relevant to, and without alienating, the local community. Mountsorrel has multiple community groups and as such was crowded with similarly named organisations. Gaining visibility and resonating with the local community was of paramount importance to assist with increasing awareness, whilst avoiding similarities with other groups. The community had already been involved in updating the name of the charity to reflect who they were, so creating a meaningful and authentic visual identity to support this choice was also a major factor in our initial thinking.

By working in partnership with the Chair and Trustees, we looked at how the charity wanted to be perceived in their local community and how we could align a visual identity with their values. This enabled us to come up with multiple creative options with a relevant meaning behind each. Two creative solutions were chosen for further development and the final selection was made by the Trustees, with some refinement. A suite of logo variations was supplied along with a set of guidelines, incorporating correct use of logo, colour palette, typefaces, accessibility.

So impressed were the Trustees, that we were immediately asked to put forward proposals to design, build and host a new website incorporating the visual identity, which the charity promptly approved.

By working collaboratively with different members of the charity, we were able to identify their expectations from a website were and how they wanted their users to experience it. Once we had this agreed, we looked at user profiles and created the best possible journey for them, creating a wireframe and site map. Our copywriters provided relevant content in an accessible format and the site was developed for client testing.

With the website nearing completion and due to the strong relationship we’d now built with the charity, we worked with them further to develop new external communications to relaunch the charity across the local community. These continued to be used for a sustained period as part of their longer-term objectives. The print and digital collateral also included social media channel updates, social media posts, posters, flyers, print adverts and out of home large format displays.

Through working as a collaborative partner with the charity, we were able to devise a new visual identity and update all of their customer touch points, positioning them as a forward thinking, accessible and relevant local charity to their users. This enabled them to meet their objectives to develop awareness and increase their grantmaking.