A photo of two indigenous women is taken mid dance. They are then outlined red lines that increasingly move out from them in 100px increments

Exposing the industries fuelling the climate crisis

Global Witness
Our rebrand of climate NGO Global Witness comes at a time when the world, more than ever, needs a strong voice to help tackle environmental destruction. Investigations by Global Witness inform the news we all consume, and the impact of their campaigning and policy work, is felt across the world. We supported them in solidifying their purpose – to expose how the industries fuelling the climate crisis are profiting from destruction and ensuring that the voices of those on the frontlines are heard. From the brand articulation, language principles and visual identity system, we created a platform to share stories in a unified, powerful voice.

Brand articulation
Visual identity
Verbal identity
Campaign direction
Motion principles
Guardianship

A universal, recognisable symbol to ‘see and speak the truth’. A logo to represent both the investigative and campaigning roles of Global Witness.

  • A mock up of what one of their Defenders Reports could look like with the new branding applied. This design consists of having the new logo in the top corner. Two further bits of information in the bottom and top right, and then centrally a large speech bubble with defenders names from start to end (this takes up approximately 5/7ths of the design as a whole)
  • An annual report mock up shows a business suit with a pipe pumping toxic fumes standing front and centre. There is a white cross through it, and the whole design is set against Global Witness red
  • An indigenous woman stands front and centre of another mock up of a Defenders Repot. This image takes up much the same 5/7th as the speech bubble. Here there are corners on the bottom left and top right of the image, as if to graphically frame their image, without it being an enclosed shape. On top of the image there is text saying: "We stand together"
Large text in white, backed by a red strip reads: "No power other than persistence". This line is layered on top of the image of an indigenous woman among some foliage, picking berries. The Global Witness logo is placed in the bottom right

The new design system is grounded in an editorial-like approach that gives clarity and space to every issue. It highlights what’s important, alongside in-depth analysis – helping to make information, however complex, easier to engage with and understand.

The brand always works in service of the real human story. Flexible design tools allow it to speak with authority, or sit back and support. Everything respects the urgency of the climate crisis: not by trying to shout loudest, but by meticulously presenting hard-hitting evidence and insight.

Font choice and typographic sensibilities are crucial to a brand that uses words to such powerful effect. The pairing of Klim Type Foundry’s modern sans ‘Founders Grotesk’ with elegant serif ‘Tiempos’, strikes a balance of personality and impact, with maturity and legibility. They’re capable of delivering serious facts and pointed opinions in equal measure, from headlines to longer reads.

Showing the application of their website would work, this example shows the way information could be compacted on mobile. The mock up is set on a red background
Showing the application of their website would work, this example shows the way information could be compacted to either be two columns when on the website. The mock up is set on a red background
A stack of printed posters with one of the peoms comission from Thomas Sharp can be seen on a red background. This one reads: "And as you go about your life, elsewhere, in their quiet administrative banality, in their growth growth growth, in their valuing of shareholders' returns over all else, the shadowy mass of profiteers, the dark gravity of could-not-care-lessers, the vandalisers of Earth, continue maximising, giddy in their money. We get in there. We get in their public accounts and their private boasts. Their plots and manipulations. We get in their heads. We untangle the data and manoeuvrings and the portable corporate darkness which enriches not life, not humanity, but the already very very rich. We get in there. We witness. We cause change.

As part of the launch campaign, we collaborated with writer Thomas Sharp to develop three emotionally arresting pieces of creative language for a series of posters and digital campaign assets.

A single page set with text that is black with a cream background, and the ending line highlighted in red for emphasis, holds the second piece done by Thomas Sharp. It reads: The future does not exist and so cannot be stolen, says legislation, unwilling to dream. The future does not exist and so cannot be stolen, say corporations, immune to concern. The future does not exist and so cannot be stolen, says money, voting for the silkiest present. The future does not exist and so cannot be stolen, say governments, sluggish and dull. Your future does not exist and so cannot be stolen, says violence, in moments shaded and sad. And yet, say people, you are wrong. The future exists and the future will be protected.
All three pieces written by Thomas Sharp are on display in the tube, side by side, as a tram speeds past and we see the trailing light
A lanyard for COP30 is shown against a grey background. There are two cards connected by a clip, the one is red and has the Global Witness logo, with COP30 underneath; the other has the personal ID card with a persons name on it, and their position
We see a mass demonstration of defenders and activists protesting as Ferdinand Marcos Jr gave his first State of the Nation Address as the leader of the Philippines. The image is landscape and surrounded in a red boarder, with the Global Witness megaphone icon placed above copy saying: "The future exists and the future will be protected

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