Settle Stories Receives a Fairy Tale Makeover from Ellipsis

 

Storytelling charity Settle Stories has received a brand makeover from the design agency Ellipsis as part of our ongoing collaboration through our Year of Great Marketing Karma. We've taken a moment to catch up with the agency and the cause to hear about the result of their exciting work together.

The view from Ellipsis by Glenn Dane:

The design request

Settle Stories is a charity that seeks to harness the power of stories and storytelling to build community. They aim to lift the spirit, engage the mind and stimulate the imagination through the presentation of all forms of storytelling to a wide audience of all ages and backgrounds.

Ellipsis was approached to help with the creation of a clear and recognisable new set of branding materials, which would give Settle Stories communications a consistent and professional look, while still maintaining a sense of fun and subtly referencing what they do.

 

The solution

The logo design has two separable elements – the Settle Stories name is modern, bold and simple, easily read and reproduced. This is then enclosed between two quotation marks, each with a dot which turns the mark into a face profile with an eye and mouth. These then give the appearance of speaking the words ‘Settle Stories’, emphasising the that Settle Stories is all about the spoken word. The second element of the logo is an icon made up of the two quotation marks. It can be pulled out and used on its own where space is limited or as a symbol for the brand. When the two quotation marks come together, the face then appears to be head on, with two eyes and a welcoming smile. The main logo colour is green to give a bright and friendly feel and also reflect the Yorkshire Dales landscape where Settle is based. A secondary blue colour was then added to represent the W.R. Mitchell Archive and a monotone version where only black and white printing is available.

Once the logo had been designed the branding was rolled out across all materials, including Word templates, compliments slips, business cards, email signatures and web banners, thus creating a consistent, clean and recognisable look and feel.

Finally, we produced a set of brand guidelines that helped to give clear instruction on how to use elements within all communications and merchandise.

Working with Sita at Settle Stories was a pleasure from start to finish. We were initially impressed by the variety and quantity of activities that Settle Stories arrange, and were inspired by Sita’s passion for everything they do. The original brief was clear and the response to designs was always very positive and precise, helping us to find a natural solution quickly and efficiently that everyone was very happy with.

Response from Settle Stories by Sita Brand:

Settle Stories is an organisation whose activities centre on the oral tradition of storytelling. Ellipsis really took the time to understand the nature of what we do; they produced a clear brand identity that ties the multiple strands of our work together and offers a strong indication of the importance of speech within our work. This new branding will allow us to more easily communicate our identity, whether we’re delivering our Storytelling Festival, promoting the W. R. Mitchell oral history archive, or communicating the power of storytelling to others.

We can’t thank Ellipsis enough for their time, dedication and being great to work with.