The brief required that the brand should appeal to a diverse audience; it should open up the world of chemistry to younger visitors while sitting comfortably with the serious academic values of the Society. Our solution was to develop an engaging, confident and contemporary graphic language that positions the Centre as a modern public facility brought to you by an established organisation.

In addition to a new logotype and bold colour palette, a central ingredient of the brand identity is a graphic device based on rudimentary Bohr atom symbols. This flexible illustrative element can be used decoratively on its own or in conjunction with imagery. The brand identity will be applied across a wide range of promotional material as well as signage for the building and internal environment, which includes a research library, conference space and a cafe.

A crucial part of the marketing and design strategy demanded that the Centre be clearly promoted as a public destination. The consistent copy structure for headlines that reads: ‘...at The Chemistry Centre’, allows the name to be highlighted in all communications.

To enable the RSC’s in-house design team to easily generate publicity materials going forward, we built a comprehensive kit of brand assets and digital guidelines.