“Identity is the cause; brand is the effect, and the strength of the former influences the strength of the latter” Larry Ackerman History books will mark 2020 as the year of global lockdown. The spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic saw the UK’s population confined to quarters, masked and socially distanced. For HarmonicaUK, the year saw the newly elected Committee meeting on Zoom, forging plans for the future and reflecting on the organisation’s purpose and appeal. Housekeeping projects were launched, including the unification of its two websites, automated membership and a restyling of Harmonica World magazine.
REBRAND 2021
As further projects emerged however, it became more and more apparent that HarmonicaUK was lacking a coherent brand. Its visual identity had fragmented since the days of the National Harmonica League (NHL), and its values warranted review. As Vice-Chair, Richard Taylor volunteered to develop a new brand for HarmonicaUK and drafted a phased plan that would begin with a thorough appraisal of the organisation’s core values and behaviours. Drawing from inherited documentation and HarmonicaUK’s constitution, and with extensive Committee consultation, the spirit of HarmonicaUK was identified as: · Serving the public and involving its membership · Documenting its past and shaping its future · Being inclusive and embracing diversity · Being fun, inspiring and evolving Added to this, HarmonicaUK’s behaviours were identified as: · Being welcoming and helping others · Being professional and showing integrity · Forging relationships · Being respectful and earning respect · Valuing innovation Subsequent phases of the plan provided a pathway to distil these values and behaviours into a professionally designed brand pack and logo. The outcome would be uniformly applied to all the charity’s activities, from its website and magazine, to routine communications, festival signage, trophies, and even merchandise. Just one problem remained; who was the right person to conceptualise the plans and convert them into graphic form. Professional branding companies were approached and trusted contacts in the design world were emailed when, unexpectedly, an in-house solution materialised in the form of Steve Pardue of Differentia Ltd.
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The magazine for HarmonicaUK
