World Scouting unveils new identity as part of rebrand
Founded in 1907, the organisation is aiming to future-proof its legacy by modernising its visual offerings, including an update to its emblem for the first time in 55 years
In recent years, many youth organisations in the UK and abroad have turned to design agencies to refresh their often age-old branding, hoping to keep up in an increasingly digital world. Last year, we covered an extensive redesign for Girlguiding, and over the last few years we’ve written about several branding projects that sit within the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), including its latest programme Squirrels.
As the world’s biggest youth movement, WOSM boasts over 57 million participants around the world, from young people to volunteers. As it seeks to continue growing, the organisation has now initiated another, much bigger, design endeavour in the form of rebranding to World Scouting.
Eager to ensure that its 116-year history is not lost in today’s chaotic online landscape, the leadership team reached out to independent global agency Dragon Rouge to find a way of translating its previous identity into something more current and adaptable. The agency’s designers have framed this project as “a rearticulation of Scouting, not just in young people’s lives, but also to society at large”.
In order to achieve this, the team has developed a design concept that bridges the gap between the brand’s new central premise and tagline ‘Shaping the Life you Lead’ and the way in which the brand expresses itself physically and digitally.
The resulting identity is centred around an extensive system of shapes, inspired by the original Scouts badge, and graphic stitches that “create a rich tapestry of assets for all to use”, according to the agency.
Along with a vibrant colour palette, revolving around the brand’s historic shade of purple, its iconic fleur-de-lis emblem has also been “sensitively evolved” for the first time in 55 years to make it more digital-friendly. As with much of the refresh, respecting the organisation’s long heritage, including its visual history, was paramount here, and Dragon Rouge has taken extra care to ensure these elements are not lost.
It has also worked on a new tone of voice for World Scouting, with the communications prioritising accessible and encouraging language to engage emerging and established generations of followers. Lines such as ‘Ready for more, ready for good times and ready for life’ and the brand’s key tagline ‘Woven through life’ evoke notions of positivity and self-improvement. These help to reinforce the idea that scouting can prepare you for whatever lies ahead and, importantly, you can have fun whilst doing so.
The identity is being launched in Cairo with the help of outgoing chief scout Bear Grylls, and will then be rolled out across World Scouting’s website, social media and wider communications, as well as across National Scouting Organisations around the world in the coming weeks.
