Blue Patch has undergone a redesign and we thought the new year was the ideal time to tell you all about it. The original handwritten script logo is well-known but we wanted to refresh it and modernise it.
The ‘blue patch’ is now a square motif instead of the round ‘badge’ that many of you already know. The brand mark has a clean modern font and the contemporary blue ‘patch’ is the full stop.
Harrison Webb is our graphic designer and the brains behind the evolution of the logo and Positive Shopping design. He has been involved in the Blue Patch story for over 7 years so when he came up with the rebrand it was rooted in the ethos of Blue Patch.
He says, “As Blue Patch has developed as a business, new assets have been created in real-time, separate from one another. ‘The Patch’, as it has been affectionally dubbed, provides a consistent theme that will run across all graphic communications uniting the brand behind its mission. Conjuring thoughts of a ‘patch’ of land, rooted in place and provenance, or a patchwork quilt. It’s a graphic device, a container for imagery, but so much more than that.
The new wordmark features a bold friendly typeface in lowercase. ‘The Patch’ is included as a full stop. It’s definitive. This is THE place to come for sustainable products and services in the British Isles. It also ensures the brand is consistently presented when in the form of the web address, the main asset for the business. The brand development will continue into 2024 across typography, iconography, colour, print and hopefully so much larger campaigns.”
More than a design it’s a symbol – a square of blue sky, something hopeful that also connects people – just like a patchwork quilt. Harrison had an ‘epiphany of simplicity’ and is calmly directing the brand into something easily recognised.
For those of you who don’t know our story, the blue patch of sky occurred to Jane Langley, our founder, one weekend. While considering a walk, and looking out through the window at the endless clouds, the sun broke through and a bright blue patch appeared.
Jane says ‘it filled me with hope and positivity and I knew this was the spirit of our enterprise.”
The ethos behind the new brand is strongly tied to this sense of hope and positivity and the potential to make our world a better one.
“A window into a new, possible, sustainable world.”
The blue patch also refers to patchwork quilts. Jane says “I was interested in how social fabric is composed of elements that form a whole. A good quilt incorporates chance and imperfection, the finished quilt is a product of nurture and skill. Patches can be repaired or replaced, maintaining the life and evolution of the whole and this reminds me of how people can work collaboratively to produce something good in society too.”
Community collaboration is at the core of Blue Patch.
The square shape has been carried through to a new design for the Positive Shopping guide and will be filtered out on social media posts and printed materials for events.
The new brand will bring cohesion across Blue Patch’s communications. This is a positive step forward for the Blue Patch team and we’re excited about how the new look will work across all our comms.
We’ve combined the logo with the 100% for the planet strapline that we’ve been using for a while and Blue Patch community members can use it as a collective mark to show their commitment to the sustainable values that Blue Patch supports.
Blue Patch is evolving and the new brand mark is just one of the changes that will take place this year. More news to follow this year.
What doesn’t change is the fact that Blue Patch will continue to be a community of people who agree that climate change is happening and both individually and together we can make a difference.
Blue Patch is so much more than a directory, although the sustainable business directory increases brand awareness and showcases the talent within our community.
It is a supportive network that includes designers, creatives and artists, makers and manufacturers, brands and businesses who make sustainability a priority. We are all on a net zero journey together.
Blue Patch also shows its commitment to the environment by investing in local community energy projects. Community is important to us, as is making changes whenever possible to move away from fossil fuels. Community energy projects combine these two aspects and so they are the ideal vehicle for our commitment to sustainability.
If you run a business or organisation that agrees with our values, we would love you to join us.
