Wolff Olins creates new National Trust identity

The National Trust is set to roll out a new identity, created by Wolff Olins, from the beginning of next year.

Wolff Olins has been working on the branding project for more than a year, having been appointed following a tender process, according to a National Trust spokesman.

The consultancy also worked on the National Trust’s last major branding project, in the 1990s.

The spokesman says, ‘Following research about the perception of the National Trust, we’ve decided to refresh the identity.’

He adds, ‘The main change is that the oak lead symbol will be bigger, bolder and brighter. They’re fairly subtle changes, but we hope they will make the identity fresher.’

The new branding will go into use for the first time in January 2010, with the release of the new members’ handbook, before being rolled out across the rest of the organisation.

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Comments
  • Joan-Marie Abley November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    It took them a year to come up with that!
    a rather weak effort and probably cost the Trust a huge amount of money, it would have been better spent on more worthwile causes.

  • Alastair Patrick November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Ground breaking!

  • Jennoir November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I need never doubt my own design skills again!

  • Kari November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I never through a clip art book could take that long to go through?! Let’s hope it’s not another 2012 disaster!

  • Porl Ferguson November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    A leaf? Looks more like a dog’s ***k to me adn every designer I know thinks the same. So who has got the negatives?

  • pat November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    A year to drop the ‘the’ and stack the logo… what did they do with the other 525,599 minutes?!!

  • Brian Minards November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Wow! That’ll funk up the membership… I’ve just stopped my direct debit for next year!

    Like all these things, it’s implementation that will make it work, not a dubious logo.

    Looks like a step back in time to student work of the 80s.

  • david j November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    in black and white it looks incredibly boring… must be one hell of a vi !

  • Bill November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    If you were more familiar with the corporate philosophy of the National Trust you wouldn’t be so surprised.

    It’s not unusual for large sums of money to change hands for so little among the big ‘charities’ club in the UK and their friends.

  • vicki lovegrove November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    hmmmm, lets change the font slightly and ta dah a rebrand. Obviously client led, but I wouldn’t shout about it. Good little earner though eh?

  • Ed November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Having seen both old and new guides, the refresh looks pretty strong and markedly different for the NT.

    You really can’t judge a whole visual identity system from one tweeked B&W logo, so don’t bother until you’ve seen the whole thing – You’ll only show yourself up as a shallow designer.

  • Keith ter Braak November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I quote.Not a “radical repositioning” but just a “fresh coat of paint”.

    For an organisation which has huge running costs and relies on donations and voluntary assistance to maintain its properties etc. – to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds in this way seems ill judged! The money – as we are continuously told – is urgently needed so why spend it on dubious window dressing??

  • Ed November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    It seems odd to me that often the same people bemoaning the lack of credibility given to the design industry – especially in terms of ‘value added’ for businesses – are saying that a potentially profile-raising, market-engaging and differentiating brand refresh is a waste of money.

  • gareth edwards November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    WOW! Ok, so the only reason I’m on this post is because I’m doing an ID for an environmental consultancy and wanted to refresh my mind with the NT id – I didn’t know it had changed.

    This has to be THE weakest rebranding exercise I have ever seen, ever, period. I think the correct professional term is ‘a piss-poor effort’ or ‘client rape’. Either way, seriously, this is a very poor job done badly. I can say this without feeling bad about what I’ve said because I know I am right. I know I am right because the new logo doesn’t look like a logo at the top of this article, it actually looks like a bit of clip art, accompanied by some random text that doesn’t align quite correctly and to make it worse, it actually looks like they’ve chosen a font that came free in a cracker.

    I know, posting on a 4year old article is a bit weak but I just had to.

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