Clouds of uncertainty still hang over Britain’s future relationship with the EU. The extended confusion over Brexit – which came after the UK voted to leave the EU in the referendum of June 2016 – has resulted in a negative image for politics.
In recent months the situation reached fever pitch, with a series of rejected ‘meaningful votes’ on Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal, and Brexit now being delayed until October.
Almost half the country (47%) think politics is currently working very poorly, according to a YouGov survey. The results promoted the pollster to say that for many Britons ‘politics is broken’.
Online print company Solopress is hoping to inspire parties to boost that image with Politics Rebranded. The campaign reimagines the brand identities of the main UK political parties, including the newly-formed Change UK, alongside the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour, Plaid Cymru and the SNP.
Graphic designers and experts were brought on board to analyse and assess the current branding – and propose an alternative. This included award-winning freelance creative director and graphic designer Radim Malinic and Middlesex University Professor of the Creative Industries, Phil Cleaver.
Professor Cleaver said: “In a crowded marketplace of brands, people place high value on perceived authenticity. Aligning your political message to appropriate visual communication helps to strengthen the credibility of your claims. Which, in turn, can hopefully lead to the trust of your voters.”
Mr Malinic explained the current situation, saying: “The UK political parties’ design systems seem too disjointed, inconsistent and lacking the full impact they could have.”
He suggested political parties could learn from household brands and various mass-fan following sports. He made reference to the Premier League, which underwent a successful rebrand in 2016 from San Francisco and London-based agency DesignStudio.
“This is where tribalism and sense of belonging comes to real life,” said Mr Malinic. “This is the field with a strong sense of identity. Even small teams have solid design systems where they can communicate clearly with their fan base.”
Brand consistency and overall impact were considered as part of the research and analysis. The Politics Rebranded package includes new logos for each of the parties, as well as posters and business cards.
Simon Cooper, Managing Director of Solopress, said: “The current state of British politics inspired us to imagine how political parties could connect better with voters. Branding is so important to other big businesses and why should it be any different for political parties?”
He continued: “While major brands sell products, parties are selling policies, both need to have a strong and coherent message and that begins with the branding.”
The Politics Rebranded team created bold, modern looks – influenced by 2019’s top design trends – for each party, aiming to illustrate how parties can regain the confidence of the public through good brand design. Explore the designs.