Rebranding:
TREE AID
As part of a design course, I was tasked with creating a rebrand proposal for Tree Aid, an environmental charity operating in the Sahel regions of Africa.
This rebrand covered coming up with a new and distinct logo, visual brand system, and a cross-channel communication brief.
About Tree Aid:
Tree Aid is an environment NGO that focuses on stopping the desertification of the Sahel region. Their strategy, the “Great Green Wall” project, focuses on growing a wall of trees that act as a barrier to prevent the Sahara from continuing to spread.
The trees planted through the Green Wall project doesn’t just focus on reversing desertification. These trees, meant to survive under harsh, dry conditions, also provide local communities with resources to start their own local enterprises and increase food security. Tree Aid’s projects have led to increases in household income, job opportunities, food security, and women empowerment.
Initial Sketches and Concepts
I wanted to emulate the idea of growth and community through the new logo. Most of my initial sketches was inspired by the idea of a seed. I also took inspiration from the idea of empowerment and freedom, since Tree Aid’s work focuses on working with communities to build self-sustaining lives.
The Final Logo
I pushed forward with the concept of the seed (shaped as two people holding each other) growing a tree, reflecting a the emotion of nurture while staying true to the environmental aspect of the work that Tree Aid does. A bold, blocky logo font was designed to bring elements of sturdiness and make the logo more resolute and dependable.
Brand Colours, Typefaces, and Photography
Instead of going with the traditional greens that many environmental charities use, I wanted the main colours to be vibrant and distinctive, reflecting the diverse life and the emotion of empowerment.
The primary brand colour I selected with Deep Pink, with bright secondary colours of Tahiti Gold and Gorse. To bring back the resoluteness of the brand, I added some more deeper colours such as Black, Deep Teal, and Paris M.
I chose Nove, a fun and organic typeface, as a main header font to reflect the irregular, wood-cut feel of the logo typography.
I then toned it down with the sub and body fonts, sticking to simpler Sans Serif fonts like Neue Montreal Bold and Capitana for legibility.
I wanted the brand’s new photography style to exude vibrance and life. Instead of posed, portrait-style images, I decided to utilise more candid photography.
These high-saturated images reflect the movement in the lives of the people that were empowered through Tree Aid’s work.
Disclaimer: All photos on the right were sourced from the internet and belong to their respective owners.
Icons
I created 5 key icons based on keywords I felt reflected Tree Aid’s positioning: Growth, Sustain, Opportunity, Empower, and Build.
The icons were made to work in “stencil versions” and as individual blocks, where each block could be rearranged to create various types of fun imagery.
General icons for webpage use were also created. The icons were made to follow the wood-cut style of the logo, ensuring that they resembled the rest of the brand’s new visual identity.
