Designing for inclusivity: rebranding not-for-profit organisation, Spark the Noise, when its old form didn’t strike the right note.

What’s in a name? We’ve given brand name consultancy to many companies over the years, and we usually tell them one thing: once that brand name is decided and out there, it loses its potency. It becomes a sound, a mnemonic for its organisation, and not a meaning. Look at Carphone Warehouse. We’ve absentmindedly accepted what the name means, although their offering has obviously changed over the last 30-odd years.

But there’s always one exception. The name has to be appropriate. When the name stops serving you as a business, it’s time to re-think. That’s what happened with Spark the Noise, formerly Girls Rock London. The name was limiting in its audience and its geography, so they decided to rename, and with it, they needed a rebrand and a new website.

Spark the Noise was a new chapter for this non-profit organisation, the name itself being intentionally more inclusive to a non-binary and trans audience, but it also needed to be musically neutral in its design. Where Girls Rock London had the punky ‘zine vibe the name suggested, we gave Spark the Noise a genre-agnostic, versatile visual language. We experimented with texture — considering music wave forms and distortion — and went bold with various colourways. With the strong wordmark and central components of an exclamation mark, we were able to work with infinitely adaptable elements that kept the branding feeling fresh on every asset.