The work was for Women’s Health & Family Services (WHFS); a charity that’s been supporting vulnerable women in challenging circumstances for over 40 years operating in one of the most health deprived areas in the UK.

The name felt clinical and cold, at odds with the character and purpose of the charity itself; and an issue exacerbated by the fact that most of the women helped by WHFS don’t speak English as a first language.

The brand lacked a unifying identity. This meant the charity struggled to talk about their crucial work and reach two critical audiences: those who needed their services, and those who could help through volunteering or donations.

The project is a full rebrand, from the name and logo, to strategy, brand positioning, visual identity, website and launch campaign. There was no budget so everything was done via goodwill and donated media.

Women’s Health & Family Services is a charity helping women in challenging circumstances in Tower Hamlets, one of the UK’s most health-deprived areas.

We wanted to do justice to WHFS’s meaningful work. “Putting Women’s Health First” felt like the obvious strategy to underpin and act as a foundation to the design principles and offerings that followed; we wanted to ensure the same care, inclusivity and sense of safety that feels intrinsic to the charity.

This idea underpins everything from the visual identity, reflecting the diversity of the WHFS community, led us to the new name: Sister Circle. This name was developed through multiple focus groups consisting of beneficiaries, women who work in the charity and the charity’s trustees.

A modular design system, consisting of abstract geometric silhouettes represents the diverse women that make up the charity’s community, flexing to cover all their services.

Our brief was to create a new unifying brand identity that reflects the mission and values of the charity, as well as the diverse community of women who the charity exists to help.

The design system we created consists of abstract geometric silhouettes that represent the diverse women that make up the charity’s community. What’s more, the modular design system flexes to cover all of Sister Circle’s services, from their Maternity Mates Programme, to Female Genital Cutting support, from Healing Conversations to Group Peer Support.

The warm, soothing colour palette reflects a safe space; the geometric shapes representing WHFS’s diverse community. The approachable and clear ToV evokes simplicity, inclusion and trust, whilst a pared back, legible font communicates professionalism and clarity. All of which comes together in a truly integrated visual identity.

Sister Circle is a true grassroots charity. They don’t have a marketing person or marketing budget. All their efforts go into the services they provide. Securing donated media space was critical to driving attention to the important work the charity does. To gain attention with zero budget, we secured over £40k donated media space across Digital OOH, Flyposting and Digital banners. We needed to make people care, get them talking and motivate them to show their support:

Results:

3.19 million earned impressions

1268% increase in organic Instagram likes since rebrand launched (average over 2 weeks)

71% increase in Instagram followers, with an engagement rate increase from 2%-6% against zero social media investment

Perhaps the most tangible and valuable result was the charity receiving calls from people, who after seeing our OOH advertising, felt compelled to reach out to the charity and ask how they could help or volunteer.