The New Zealand Law Society desired an update to their current branding. Through a review we have identified core values of our organisation, and a series of refinements to better align our brand with these values. These include

• The inclusion of a te reo Māori name in our logo for the first time.

• Greater emphasis on Māori design in our logos.

• Changes to our family of logos to address functional limitations necessary for the redevelopment of the Law Society’s website.

• A revised palette of colours.

The desire from the Executive and Board was specifically a brand refresh rather than a rebrand. They wanted to keep the existing logo but improve it to fix technical problems and include the new te reo Māori name. The aim was to change and improve other aspects of the design to strengthen the brand overall.

The new website is the centrepiece of our updated branding and design. We have used design patterns and components from the website, and applied them to all our other branded material, including stationery (business cards, letterhead, compliment slips), brochures, forms, and email templates which has improved overall quality and consistency.

We have also incorporated illustration where possible to introduce a feeling of warmth and approachability to our design. The colour palette we use has been updated, with a slightly tweaked main Law Society blue, updated section brand colours, and the introduction of an accent colour palette for illustrations.

While the overall design components were a team effort I personally owned all the stationery and print design; including magazines, brochures, Word letterhead templates, and compliment slips to name some.

I also did all of the illustration editing required after receiving them from the illustrator. This included modifying illustrations to different orientations, and merging and editing existing illustrations to create new hero images.

Brand strengthening

A change of governance in mid 2022 lifted previous restraints and allowed for a development in the brand to better represent our people and New Zealand Aotearoa. This included swapping illustrations for photography, introducing more use of darker shades of blue, and launching new brand marks. The current brand is still in this transition stage with myself as the sole designer.