Vision Australia puts its clients at the centre with new brand identity via Designworks, Melbourne

Vision Australia, Australia’s largest provider of disability services to people who are blind or have low vision, has launched its new brand to demonstrate the organisation’s commitment to putting its clients at the centre of everything it does.

Strategic brand and design agency, Designworks, was appointed earlier this year to shape Vision Australia’s brand strategy and positioning, full identity development, and architecture with the comprehensive rebranding programme taking around eight months.

Unveiled this week, the new brand expression evokes the idea of linking Vision Australia’s clients staff, volunteers, donors and community together in a way that benefits people who are blind or have low vision.  The rebrand also includes a new tagline, ‘Blindness. Low Vision. Opportunity.’ and is supported by a social media presence. 

Says James Sterling, creative director,  Designworks: “Refreshing the Vision Australia brand required creating a brand identity that was both easily accessible for people who are blind or have low vision and better represents the passion, commitment and exciting transformation the organisation is undergoing to improve service provision and support for its community.

“The key to the success of this project was the willingness of Vision Australia to fully integrate us into their organisation. We attended inductions, visited Vision Australia centres across Australia and were fully immersed in the research process. By the time we finished the project just about everyone in the organisation knew who we were.”

Megan McAlpine, chief marketing officer, Vision Australia said the new brand expression heralded an exciting way forward  for Vision Australia, at a time when the not-for-profit industry and funding  models were  under significant pressure and it was critical that Vision Australia drive brand awareness and differentiation from other disability service providers and charities.

Says McAlpine: “Our new look was developed to address a number of challenges. Our research indicated that many people did not know about Vision Australia or our mission to support people who are blind or have low vision to live the life they choose, so we needed to have a look that makes us stand out from the rest.

“Our new brand tells the story of how we put our clients at the centre of everything we do. We now stand out from other providers and charities and our new identity is easily translated across all Vision Australia branding platforms.

“Additionally our new tag line ‘Blindness. Low Vision. Opportunity.’ tells people what we do and showcases what we deliver. We are extremely excited about the new brand expression and the story it represents.”

Says Sterling: “Everything about the new brand identity meets best practice standards and therefore needed to be both easily accessible for people who are blind or have low vision and highlight the organisation’s ability to link all its key stakeholders together.

“The colours of yellow, navy and white are high contrast and provide best visibility for the people with vision impairment, additionally the font – sans serif – is spaced to aid legibility and most importantly the whole identity is simple so will be clear even on the smallest screen or mobile device.”

The new Vision Australia Seeing Eye Dogs logo and Vision Australia Radio logo also have the same illustration as the Vision Australia logo.