Informed Decisions, Positive Design
(Overview)
Cornerhouse is a Hull charity that has supported young people and vulnerable communities since 1988. With a 35-year history and a growing range of programmes, the charity recently welcomed new joint CEOs, Viv Blackledge and Jenna Little, who were keen to refresh how Cornerhouse presented itself to the world. They came to Umber Creative for a rebrand and a new website that could carry the charity's full story forward.
Read more
(Challenge)
Cornerhouse do a lot. Flipside, Reach Out, the Parents Project, LGBT+ support, the Rainbow Flag Award and a busy training arm all needed to live under one roof without losing their own identity. The brand had always been a blue circle, and there was real value in that recognition, but the new leadership wanted something more colourful and more fun whilst flexible enough to sit alongside partners and sub-brands. Everything had to feel welcoming and completely non-judgemental, with nothing gendered and no assumptions made. On top of that, the old website was dark and rigid, and a charity built on trust needed a site that felt open from the first click.
(Approach)
Keen to support Cornerhouse as they embarked on this new chapter, we offered our time and expertise to help shape the project from the ground up. We kept the blue circle and gave it room to breathe, introducing the squircle as a brand device. A hybrid of square and circle, it holds its structure while staying soft and open, a quiet metaphor for an organisation that holds space for the people it serves. We built out a warmer, brighter palette and a tone of voice to match, landing on "Informed decisions, positive steps". The new website is built on a flexible page builder so the team can shape pages around each programme, with a cleaner, lighter feel, a blog, and a timeline to tell their trailblazing story. We also gave them brand guidance they could actually use day to day, so everything they produce feels part of the same set.
(Outcome)
Cornerhouse now has a brand that feels as open and approachable as the support they offer, and a website that builds trust before a young person, parent or professional ever picks up the phone. Each programme has space to stand on its own while still belonging to the whole, and the team have the tools to keep producing their own materials without the brand drifting. We're already working the new brand into Cornerhouse's printed literature, and continuing to support the team as the brand beds in and grows across the organisation. It's a flexible, colourful foundation for a charity with a long history, and plenty more still to do.
We commissioned Umber to redevelop our website and rebrand our small local charity earlier this year. They came highly recommended from other organisations and we've had a great experience with them also.
We're so pleased with the work that Luke and Kevin have undertaken for us, really taking the time to listen to us talk about our organisation, history and values, which we could very much see that this had all been taken into consideration in the delivered product.
Really nice, genuine team who go above and beyond, even got a few brews out of them which is always a bonus :) Thank you for all your support with this project!
It was important to us that this new brand built on Cornerhouse's legacy rather than replacing it. Viv and Jenna are bringing a real sense of professionalism and fresh energy to the organisation, and we wanted the brand to reflect that - supporting their vision for the future while staying true to everything Cornerhouse has stood for over the last 35 years.
