PlaceShapers
Updated brand and messaging for greater influence
PlaceShapers is a national network of more than a hundred community-focused housing associations. Its members share a commitment to going beyond housing to offer customers and neighbourhoods extra support with education, skills, jobs, health, the environment, digital and financial inclusion. We’ve helped to establish, develop and promote the group for more than a decade (for example, through the #wework and #webuild campaigns).
At the beginning of 2021 PlaceShapers asked us to help refresh its narrative and possibly develop a new visual identity. We used our proven ‘5Ds’ methodology to discover what made PlaceShapers special and what members valued most. This involved structured, 1:1 interviews with the PlaceShapers executive, member representatives, the Regulator of Social Housing and key partners, plus workshops with the board and communications sub-group. We also looked in detail at the chair’s personal profile and how to align it more closely to the network’s core principles.
With an updated brand circle and compelling narrative in place, the client decided to go for a new visual identity to match. We undertook more consultation with members and partners to develop a colourful and striking look based around a circle motif. The patterns in the new logo reflect the diverse communities that PlaceShaper housing associations support, with people at the centre of everything. The refreshed identity was launched to considerable praise at the network’s annual conference in autumn 2021.
