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04Work / Case study
Fair Carbon
Build the brand for where the organisation is going.
Fair Carbon was building a new kind of organisation around blue carbon, one of the most technically difficult areas of nature finance. The team needed a clearer way to explain its role, speak to very different audiences and build a brand that could grow with the organisation.
- Situation
- Brand evolution and relaunch
- Audiences
- Project developers, investors, policymakers, communities
- Leadership involved
- Founder, CEO and management team
- Work
- Strategy, research, identity, web, launch
The problem
The organisation had outgrown the experience around it.
Fair Carbon already understood that different people came to it for different things.
Its original platform had routes for project leaders, investors, validators and accreditation bodies, alongside maps, guidance, resources and project information.
The difficulty was how those pieces worked together. Navigation had become hard to follow, important information was spread across the platform, and visitors had to work to see where they belonged and how the parts of Fair Carbon connected.
The identity also needed more credibility as the organisation moved between science, finance, project development, policy and communities.
Fair Carbon needed a clearer centre and better routes through the whole organisation.
The strategy
Make blue carbon accessible and keep it precise.
Research and workshops with the team set out four things. That work became the basis for the story, the identity and the digital experience.
- 01Who Fair Carbon needed to reach
- 02What each audience needed from the organisation
- 03The purpose and vision behind the work
- 04Where Fair Carbon sits in the emerging blue carbon market
The position
Blue Carbon Market Builders.
Fair Carbon existed because the market itself was hard to reach. Knowledge was fragmented, project development was complex and finance was difficult to access, with the highest barriers for communities and smaller project developers. The role became clear. Help build the conditions for a high-integrity blue carbon market that works for more people. That idea gave Fair Carbon room to grow beyond any single programme or service.
The identity
More credible. Still recognisably Fair Carbon.
Fair Carbon wanted continuity with its past.
The existing identity already carried recognition, and the team wanted the new brand to keep that connection. The leadership wanted the brand to keep a feminine character that mattered to Fair Carbon’s culture, while staying open to everyone the organisation represents and works with.
The task was one of balance.
- Authoritywarmth
- Precisionhumanity
- Continuityevolution
- Femininityinclusivity
We evolved the existing visual language. The new system keeps a relationship with the original mark and adds a more sophisticated palette, stronger typography, clearer hierarchy and a broader visual world drawn from marine ecosystems, movement and natural forms.
The result gave Fair Carbon more credibility with technical, financial and institutional audiences, and the brand still feels human, open and recognisably its own.
The website
A clearer centre, with routes that connect.
The audiences were already known. We gave the site a clearer centre and rebuilt the routes so each group reaches the material it needs and sees how that material connects to the rest of Fair Carbon.
- Project developers needed guidance.
- Buyers and investors needed confidence.
- Policymakers needed evidence and market context.
- The wider ecosystem needed accessible knowledge.
The website became a platform for projects, resources, research and future programmes.
What changed
One system for a growing organisation.
Fair Carbon came away with a clearer account of its purpose and vision, a sharper understanding of its audiences and one visual and verbal system for communicating the organisation.
“The result is a distinctive brand and a dynamic new website that truly sets us apart, resonates with our team and gives us a robust platform from which to grow and expand our network.”
Since launch
A brand built to grow with the market.
Fair Carbon has since expanded around new programmes, including the Blue Carbon Academy, the Blue Catalyst Fund and policy work with governments.
It continues to use the identity and digital language created through the original engagement.
Services in this workBranding Websites Launch strategy
From the LibraryWhen to Evolve a Brand Instead of Replacing It
