forpeople Partners with Tree Aid on “Resilient by Nature” Pro Bono Rebrand

forpeople, a global creative studio, has partnered with international development charity Tree Aid to deliver a comprehensive pro bono rebrand, unveiled today alongside Tree Aid’s new website launch.

Centred around how trees and people can thrive together, the bold new brand strategy and visual identity focus on highlighting and empowering the communities across Africa that are behind Tree Aid’s critical work.

The refreshed identity, which includes a digital texture generator that creates moving backgrounds responding to the bio-electrical pulses of living trees, reflects the trees and tree products that have been central to Tree Aid’s impact for almost four decades. The new brand positions the charity for its continued impact and growth.

Through an updated brand strategy and design system, Tree Aid’s new identity will enable the charity to better communicate its mission across all touchpoints, from its website and campaigns to global conferences, helping deepen connections with both new and existing audiences and future-proof its strategy. 

forpeople’s rebrand work encompassed a top-to-bottom refresh of Tree Aid’s vision, visuals and voice, including:

• A clarified strategy and renewed narrative
  A sharpened vision, mission and value set provide the charity with the clarity and consistency needed to communicate with donors, partners and policymakers. A new tagline “Resilient by Nature” captures both the character of the communities Tree Aid works with and the future the charity is helping to build.
• A new logo and visual identity
  The new logo brings together the forms of trees, people and growth in a simple, confident symbol. The colour palette behind the identity is rooted in the rich, natural hues found in the landscapes of West Africa and Ethiopia where Tree Aid works — providing warmth, specificity and authenticity across all channels. 
• A refreshed approach to imagery
  Photography now focuses on people and impact, reflecting Tree Aid’s evidence-led approach and amplifying the voices and stories of local communities.
• Innovative digital textures
  Visual textures derived directly from nature. The design team took rubbings, photographs, and patterns from real tree bark, shea nuts and foliage to incorporate tactile elements into the brand. forpeople also developed a unique digital texture generator that creates moving backgrounds responding to the bio-electrical pulses of living trees – a feature that literally brings the “heartbeat” of nature into Tree Aid’s digital presence.
• A bolder, more direct tone of voice
  The updated verbal identity has been crafted as thought-provoking, bright and clear – supporting Tree Aid’s ambition to communicate the urgency of its mission and the meaningful stories of the communities with which it works, alongside the scale of impact achieved.

forpeople worked closely with Tree Aid’s teams throughout the project, including extensive input from African teams. The studio gathered feedback to ensure the new brand authentically and accurately represents Tree Aid’s, values, its stakeholders and the very communities that it serves.

Sally Airey, Director of Communications Fundraising at Tree Aid, commented: “Our refreshed brand is centred on the essence of Tree Aid’s story and future. Next year, we celebrate 40 years of impact, a great milestone and testament to our teams and the communities we work hand in hand with. As we look to the future and the challenges and opportunities that it holds, we need an identity that will help us continue scaling up our work and impact , to show where we’ve come from and energise where we’re going. The refreshed  look and voice will form a critical part of our mission to help us reach more people and inspire them to join us. We can’t thank the team at forpeople enough for volunteering their creativity and insight to make this happen. Their talent and hard work has been transformational for us and they continue to support us in the long-term as a Tree Aid corporate partner.”

James Addison, Creative Director at forpeople, added: “We are incredibly proud to have partnered with Tree Aid on this rebrand and launch its new tagline “Resilient by Nature”. Our goal was to craft a brand as resilient and purposeful as the work Tree Aid does. The new identity’s elements, from organic textures to the bold logo, all stem from the simple idea that when people and trees grow and work together, remarkable things can happen. We even experimented with translating real bio-electrical signals from trees into digital patterns, literally letting nature contribute to the design. It’s been a rewarding creative journey for us at forpeople, using our skills for a cause that will have impact for decades to come.”

As part of the launch, Tree Aid is releasing a short film narrated by acclaimed actress and Tree Aid patron Adjoa Andoh MBE, bringing the charity’s renewed story to life.

The new Tree Aid website showcases the rebrand work, including behind-the-scenes insights from the forpeople design team and guidelines for using the new brand assets.

Source: forpeople

  Brand Identity, Branding, charity, forpeople, Rebrand, Tree Aid, Visual Identity