Organisation
Spirit of Adventure Trust
Category
Brand Development, Visual Identity
Role
In-house, Full-time
Delivered
July 2025
01. The Brief
“To empower young New Zealanders to reach their full potential through the challenge of the sea.”
Spirit of Adventure Trust runs multi-day sail-training voyages for young New Zealanders. The brand had gone stale, reading as dated to the young people it needed to reach and to anyone forming a first impression of the charity from the outside.
I revitalised the identity, carrying forward what still worked and rebuilding what didn't: logo lockups, colour, type, a hand-drawn icon set cut in the same style as the original mark, and a photography direction built around what a voyage actually looks and feels like. It's documented properly, so it holds together whether it's on a 21-page guideline or a single Instagram tile.
I led it end to end in-house at SOAT, full-time, before Busch Studios existed.
The identity has been adopted across the Trust's communications since, from the website through to on-water signage, replacing a system that no longer matched who SOAT was reaching.
02. Identity System
Personality
01
Sincerity
Honest and down to earth, the same trust SOAT asks parents to place in it.
02
Excitement
The energy of a voyage, built into how the brand looks and speaks.
03
Ruggedness
Built to survive salt water, not just a screen.
Colour
Primary
Sailor Navy
#292F51
Citrus Orange
#D8852A
Sail White
#F6F5EE
Secondary
Typography
Primary / Display
Gibson
Headings & commercial titling
Secondary / Body
Ciutadella
Body & supporting text
Iconography
Hand-cut to match the lino-print grain of the original logo, at the actual size they ship at, not scaled down from something bigger.
Full set
03. System & Application
Hand-Drawn Icon Set
Every icon was hand-cut to match the grain of the original logo, not redrawn clean in Illustrator and called close enough. That same rough, considered line runs from a 21-page guideline down to a single Instagram tile.
Bilingual Lockup
A primary lockup built to hold its own in both English and Māori, used everywhere from formal documents to a single social post.
Photography Direction
Trainee-led and always moving, so the imagery feels like being on the water, not just looking at it.
Original logo
Hand-drawn by Dick Frizzell
Deliverable
21-page brand guideline, July 2025