The Clearing brands charity set up by acid-attack victim

The Clearing has created the branding for the Katie Piper Foundation, an organisation set up by acid-attack victim Katie Piper.

Former model and presenter Piper set up the charity after having sulphuric acid thrown in her face in an attack arranged by her ex-boyfriend.The foundation aims to support burns rehabilitation centres across the UK and to help standardise treatment and the quality of care offered.

It follows donations made to Piper in the wake of a 2009 TV programme documenting her coming to terms with her injuries. Jonathan Hubbard, creative director at The Clearing, says that it was important to create a brand that didn’t use ’emotional blackmail or shock tactics’.

Hubbard says, ’Katie’s story is shocking, but what touches people is her amazing positivity and infectious personality. It was this that we wanted to capture within the brand.’ Research showed that charities make appeals on grounds of being a good cause or of having a personal significance to the donor.

Hubbard says both these audiences are drawn to Piper’s story, and burns victims can be ’lifted from the sense of isolation they feel’ hearing about her recovery. The foundations for a ’highly personal and confident charity brand’ were built on this, says Hubbard, who wants to position Piper’s organisation as ’offering a constant delivery of care with the support network at its centre’.

A typographic identity with a handmade look and feel has been created to ’look like something she [Piper] might have designed’, says Hubbard.
The look is ’professional and slick’, but not too corporate, Hubbard says.

Pink has been used to capture Piper’s character and warmth, with black used as a counterpoint. An associated campaign features an ampersand with blocks of colour to read ’Love from Katie &…’, designed to use Piper’s profile to help introduce burns victims to a support network of professionals and volunteers.

The campaign will roll out across stationery in coming weeks, with photography by Sarah Dunn. ’We wanted [Piper] to be shown in a positive light and always to be surrounded by people, where possible, to represent the network of support offered,’ says Hubbard.

The brand launch precedes another TV documentary on Piper, which airs this autumn and may feature The Clearing and its presentation of the new brand to Piper, according to Hubbard. The brand launches this week, and the charity’s new website has been designed by Tribal DDB.

Role model

Former model and television presenter Katie Piper (pictured with The Clearing team) was the victim of a sulphuric acid attack arranged by her ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch in 2008

The Katie Piper Foundation will raise awareness of burns victims and campaign for the specialist treatment Piper received to be made available widely

Piper’s profile and personality have been brought out in the brand to help facilitate the aims of the charity

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