Key

Co-creating a new brand identity with, and for, Key’s community.

Founded in 1992, Key is a local charity rooted in South Tyneside, they provide a range of housing advice, support and accommodation services to young people at risk of homelessness or experiencing hardship.

As well as aiming to prevent youth homelessness, Key work to empower young people by giving them support and helping to instil the confidence they need to live successful, independent lives and get back into education, training, and employment. The charity also founded and leads the partnership which deliver the Key2Life food bank, the longest running food bank in South Tyneside which plays a crucial role in supporting one of the most deprived areas in the country, needed now more than ever.

After a period of rapid growth as demand for its services increased during the pandemic and on the cusp of moving from a small to a medium-sized charity they were ready to review their brand and website. We were appointed to work with their organisation to refresh their brand identity, re-define their purpose and ultimately re-position them for this incredibly important phase of their journey.

Originally known as Key Project, the project had been set up almost 30 years ago and has very much grown from a small project supporting young people, to a region wide organisation supporting young people and families and working across housing, wellbeing, support and prevention of youth homelessness.

To truly create a brand that staff, young people and families could believe in, it was an essential part of our branding journey to include people, so the brand identity is designed with and for Key’s community. We visited a number of move on properties, their mixed accommodation spaces, head office as well as spending time at the foodbank meeting volunteers. Across all of these places we met with their inspirational community, from volunteers in the food bank, to young people Key have supported into a safe space of their own.

Young people told us ‘Key has helped us start to move forward’, ‘given me a purpose and a direction in life’, we had hoped to include 5 or 6 young people in the discussions but 10 young people turned up on the day and were just brilliant in helping us understand what they think the important attributes of Key were.

Staff told us Key always try to ‘find the root of the problem’ supporting families and young people to communicate and understand if or how they can build a better relationship to move forward together. They told us Key ‘promotes opportunities and direction to fulfill potential’ and is ‘all about positive change for the future.’ This insight helped influence the purpose we defined ‘Finding a way forward with young people and their families.’ An honest, real and meaningful purpose that very clearly echoes the beliefs of the Key community.

Charity branding

With this in mind, the creative builds and strengthens this idea visually. The logo marque reflects Key’s approach to working with young people and families to find a way forward. A way forward is different for everyone, it could be a safe place to stay, making friends or learning to cook a healthy meal through to building a better relationship with their family.

Through all of their activity, interaction and relationships with young people and families, Key support them to find a way forward. The guiding arrow is woven into the letterfroms, reflecting the connections and individual journeys of Key’s community as well as a focus on the individual, guiding them to future opportunities. It picks up on Key working with families to help identify and pinpoint where problems have manifested and where they could make change to move forward together.

The symbol comes to life in both static and animated formats. The communications echo the visual style and it translates boldly to the website as well as printed materials.

We also spent time with photographer Mark Slater capturing real people and moments across the organisation, giving Key a much more human and community spirit to their communications.

Charity branding
Charity branding
Charity brand guidelines
Charity branding
Charity branding
Charity branding
Charity branding
Charity branding