Wash Studio delivers new look for Active Lancashire

Active Lancashire, a prominent advocate for healthier lifestyles in the county, has rebranded to support its business strategy to enable and empower local people in accessing the benefits of a healthier lifestyle.

The updated visual identity of Active Lancashire, which includes a new logo, typography, refreshed colour palette and supporting graphics, was developed in collaboration with Preston-based marketing agency Wash Studio.

The rebrand aims to help the business further engage individuals, communities and partners in line with their Decade Of Movement business strategy, ultimately enabling and empowering more local people to enjoy the benefits of active lives.

Adrian Leather, chief executive of Active Lancashire, said: "Our new brand aims to reflect our vision of a more active and inclusive Lancashire. We listened to feedback from both the public and colleagues, and as a result have made changes.

"These will help ensure our branding is more inclusive and people-focussed, to engage both local communities and our partnership network in championing the many benefits of a healthier lifestyle - reducing demand on our local health service, supporting environmental initiatives and creating happier, healthier and more prosperous lives.

“As our new brand is focussed on Lancashire’s people, we wanted to ensure this project remained local. As such, we selected Wash Studio in Preston to collaborate on delivery of our new visual identity with input and feedback from our marketing team. As a result, Wash have created a brand identity that is brighter, more dynamic and made to visually represent movement.”

Lynsey Thompson, managing director of Wash Studio, said: "It's been a real pleasure to work with Active Lancashire on repositioning their brand to better align with their vision. The process was a truly collaborative one and real testament to the passion and spirit of their team. We engaged key stakeholders through a series of workshops, developing a new logo mark with a more rounded structure. This not only gives a softer and friendlier look, but enhances the flow, movement and connection between each component, while splitting the ‘ribbon’ with a white line creates a subtle nod to the old logo.

"The icon itself in its most obvious form represents the A from the name, but when turned signifies an arrow for movement or a heart for health. We also used colour theory to develop a more vibrant and positive colour colour palette which works harder across the whole range of communication channels."

Active Lancashire is known for a diverse portfolio of projects and strong partnership networks across the county, resulting in positive impacts within local communities through collaborative efforts with businesses, schools, local authorities, and other charitable organisations.

As part of the new brand’s launch, Wash also produced an animated video alongside Active Lancashire’s marketing team for an ongoing campaign called “#WeActivateLancashire.” This campaign aims to encourage the charity’s large partnership network to consider the role they play in improving the county’s health and feel a valued part of the journey as Active Lancashire’s business strategy is progressed.

Notable initiatives run by Active Lancashire include the co-delivery of employment projects for local councils in Pendle, Rossendale and Preston, behaviour change projects, and the award-winning Active Cycles project, recently honoured with a BBC Lancashire Make a Difference award.