We were approached by Gingerbread, the leading charity working with single parent families, to refresh their visual identity and tone of voice to help the charity to reach more single parents and be bolder in its campaigning. The past decade has been particularly hard for single parents and the current cost of living crisis has made things worse for them and their children.

A refreshed purpose to ‘create a society where all single parents and their children thrive’, is underpinned by a brand idea, ‘Single, together’. 

Gingerbread’s new identity is centred around an iconic logo. The logo adopts a characterful gingerbread twist on the asterisk device, to unlock an approach to messaging that reframes preconceptions. Bringing wit and challenge gives the identity a personality which can shift from a sensitive tone to something more upfront.

When not fulfilling its role as an asterisk, the gingerbread shape can be used in other ways:

— As a shape to hold imagery
— To signify community
— As a background pattern

The Gingerbread shape can also act as a messaging device with a unique voice when used as a piece of punctuation. When used in this way, the ‘asterisk’ can reveal the hidden struggles that single parents often face, or highlight the help that’s on hand through Gingerbread’s numerous services.

Taking further inspiration from the Gingerbread shape, a series of ‘cutters’ were devised that communicate a wide range of messages and tell stories across all materials.

The chosen typeface is the bold and characterful Multima. It has both sharp edges and rounded curves, pairing perfectly with the Gingerbread shape. It has been used large in order to create impact.