What changed
A foundation they keep building on
The team has grown, and what once took a lot of explaining is now a set of guidelines ready to go at any time, for a new team member or an occasional contractor. Funders who speak on their behalf know what to say.
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Case study: Risk Pool Alliance
Translating complexity into clarity
A grant-giving organisation doing complex, sensitive work needed a brand as warm and clear as the people behind it.
Client
Risk Pool Alliance
Sector
International development
Services
Brand strategy, visual identity, website, annual report, social media
Duration
12 weeks, then an ongoing partnership
SDGs supported
"Adele helped us find a way to communicate quite a complex and unusual proposition simply and confidently, and gave us a brand that we can continue to grow into. Her work has had a lasting influence on how we think and talk about Risk Pool Alliance, not just how we look."
Victoria Tayler, Executive Director, Risk Pool Alliance
The challenge
A clear mission, with no short way to say it
Risk Pool Alliance knew exactly what they did and why it mattered. But the work sits in a complicated spot, between funders and implementers, discretion and transparency, speed and rigour. Explaining all of that concisely, to a partner or a brand-new team member, was hard work.
The existing black and red identity felt harsh, and the organisation is anything but. They needed something that reflected who they actually are: kind, practical people who handle sensitive situations with care.
What we uncovered
Discretion isn't just how they work. It's why they're chosen.
The strategy workshops kept circling the same theme. Implementers need a safe space to share problems without fear. Funders need confidence that difficult situations will be dealt with and kept out of view. Risk Pool Alliance sits between the two, holding an enormous amount of trust, and nobody had ever put it into words. Once we named it, the rest of the strategy came into focus, and the short way to say it finally existed.
How we worked together
Strategy first, then everything it touches
Strategy
We worked through vision, values, positioning and audience, then messaging, tone of voice and brand archetypes. The output was a full strategy document, and a one-page blueprint the whole team could use.
One area of impact has become four: impact areas: health, education, economic empowerment and humanitarian aid. Each has an identity of its own, based on the original, so the brand is ready to grow with them rather than just reflect where they are now. And the work continues: the annual report, the carousels, the email newsletters, all made on the same foundation.
Visual identity
The identity caught up with who they are
The new identity is calmer and kinder, closer to the organisation people actually meet. There's room in it too, for whatever they need it to do next.
Since the rebrand
The identity now carries every single touchpoint
A strategy is no good sitting in a drawer. This one shapes ideas, guides growth and helps the team make decisions: the thread that brings everything together. The visuals are a direct expression of all that work, as the reports and carousels below show.
The 2025 annual report
The report turns a complex funding model into a story funders can follow. It's designed on the new identity and it's digital only, so nothing was printed that didn't need to be. Where print was needed, for business cards, we chose paper made from recycled coffee cups.
The brand in use
Out on LinkedIn
We still work together, rolling out the brand on LinkedIn with carousels for reflections from events, impact stories and report launches, and every post is recognisably theirs.
In under a year, followers are up by nearly 40% and the newsletter has grown by more than 60%. The LinkedIn newsletter, The Resilience Lens, launched with the new identity.
"[I'd recommend Adele to] everyone! But especially small comms and marketing teams who may be feeling a bit out of their depth or need some one-on-one guidance to create a cohesive and recognisable brand. In my experience, Adele is an invaluable support, providing professional and comprehensive solutions and ideas and a welcome sense of calm to every project we undertake."
Davina Jogi, Communications Director, Risk Pool Alliance
