When was the last time your organisation had a brand re-fresh?

When your current brand proposition was created 37 years ago, some people might say it could be due a little re-fresh maybe. In 1987, when the logo and corporate identity for?the?Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) was created,?Dirty Dancing?was released in the cinema, the top selling single was?Walk Like an Egyptian?by The Bangles and The Simpsons made their debut. Even though all-things in 80s culture seem to be coming back in style, a few decades on and a new-look for the AEA was now needed.

We were delighted to be asked by the?AEA?to review and refresh their brand, by introducing clean and modern design principles that work across all channels. We had to ensure that everyone working and volunteering with AEA could easily apply the new style across different channels and templates.

Some members had described their 80s-created logo as old-fashioned but others were very fond of it. The brief was for a modern update, potentially retaining familiar elements. They had a basic style for all channels - their logo, main colour and Verdana as a font – but they had never developed a defined and universally-used look and feel. This did not properly reflect the professional and expanded organisation they have become in recent years.

Their main audience is their members - the professionals who work for UK local authorities to run electoral registration and election services. With a higher profile than ever before, they also wanted to make a good impression on wider stakeholders across the electoral, local government and political sectors, plus trade, regional and national media. While their core membership remains electoral administrators, they report to the local authority Returning Officer –often the chief executive or another senior manager. They wanted their material to look as high-quality as the content their team produces for it. Their new brand, created by Touch, needed to impress government, civil servants and the wider local government community, such as the Electoral Commission and Local Government Association.

After research, we presented multiple concepts for the AEA and worked with the client on the final design. We worked with the AEA to?develop their new modern brand identity and brand architecture including brand guides, logo and core messaging. We developed their brand proposition, visual elements and associated multi-channel style guides, including the creation of identity, colour palette, typography, look and feel. We applied this refreshed and, very importantly, politically-neutral brand across a wide range of marketing collateral including certificates, forms, flyers, emails, e-newsletters, name badges, newsletters, PowerPoint templates and social media artworks. We have provided editable templates across Microsoft Office, social media, and Canva. As per usual with our design work, we embraced all aspects of accessibility in our design work.