Bible Society of SA with new brand
In 2005 one of the largest book publishers and distributors in South Africa took a bold decision to reposition their organisation and rebrand.
Speaking of the rebrand, Mims Turley, head of communication for the Bible Society of SA says, “The organisation needed to transform ahead of the country's change in 1994. We needed to reconsider our target audience and develop an appeal to multiple cultures, language groups and a more diverse age group. Finding an agency that was prepared to hand hold us through this process was challenging, but we found a great fit with FusionDesign.”
“There was a lot of history within the organisation and we needed to ensure that our process was at all times nurturing of this culture, while at the same time being conscious of developing a corporate identity that would propel the organisation into the future. A lot of time was spent with the different internal stakeholders understanding their preferences and capturing the essence of the organisation and at the same time researching Bible Societies around the world, looking at international design trends and understanding the organisation's new positioning,” comments Carmen Lerm, CEO of FusionDesign.
“FusionDesign presented our team with 10 corporate identity options and allowed necessary time and consultation with everyone in the organisation before we finalised a way forward. We also approached our re-branding from a conservative perspective and it's taken us the better part of two years to change the Bible Society's identity, and we're only now rolling it out into the regional offices. It's a process that has worked well for us and although we considered that we might lose the impact of the rebrand, this cautious approach has allowed us to get everybody on board. We are ecstatically happy with FusionDesign as an agency, their consultative process and design capability has ensured a successful rebrand,” adds Turley.
FusionDesign developed the new corporate identity including the logo and tagline and have been commissioned to compile the Bible Society of SA's annual report. “The corporate identity we developed was based on a sound brand strategy that we also compiled. There were many practical implications for this corporate identity; the design had to be easy to reduce in size and able to print on different substrates like wood and different paper. We decided to continue using the influence from the parable of the sower but to emphasise the seeds and to make the person representative of all sexes. The new logo is woodcut inspired, stylistic and modern, to talk directly to a more youthful audience. The basket we designed was also rounder giving it a uniquely African feel. The colour blue was chosen for the new identity, not only because of its spiritual connotation but also because it's lively and can be visually appealing to this wider audience. The organisation name appears in lower case symbolizing that the organisation speaks to all people and that they are approachable. There is more maturity in the illustration, it's more flexible, flowing, showing more energy and life. We were really pleased with the outcome and enjoyed synergy with our client, an important aspect to the design work we do,” concludes Lerm.
Credits:
FusionDesign
Source:
Press Release
