Purple rebuilt The Peel's identity from an illustrator's 1940s annual-report lettering

Give an old, respected social charity a brand world that captures its purpose and personality and represents the Clerkenwell community.

Mine the charity's own archive and rebuild the wordmark, illustrations and call to action from drawings Fougasse made exclusively for The Peel in the 1940s.

Purple extracted and refined each of Fougasse's hand-drawn letters into a new wordmark with flowing, interconnected Es, and created illustrations, expressive marks and borders. It added the strapline 'The heart of the community since 1898', a human photographic style, and revived the slogan 'Up The Peel'.

The Peel's CEO says the identity is already helping the charity look more professional and join up fundraising; no figures were given. The identity went live in January 2026.

According to LBBOnline, Purple Creative refreshed the brand world of The Peel, a Clerkenwell, London social charity founded in 1898. The Peel approached Purple, described as a local neighbour, for a look that was more relevant, meaningful and connected to its vision and values.

Researching the charity, Purple became fascinated by its annual reports, some more than 100 years old. In the 1940s collection it found drawings by Fougasse (Cyril Bird), a well-known British artist and Punch cartoonist, made exclusively for The Peel. Creative director Gwyn Edwards says the team knew it had found the big idea.

From Fougasse's hand-drawn aesthetic the team extracted and refined each letter for a warm, friendly wordmark with flowing, interconnected Es. The annual reports also grounded the identity in illustration; a range of subjects, expressive marks and borders let The Peel's own team roll it out simply.

The refresh covered everything from logo to letterhead, with a new strapline, 'The heart of the community since 1898', a more energetic palette and typography, and photography of Clerkenwell residents. Purple also revived Fougasse's slogan 'Up The Peel' as a flexible call to action for communications and merchandise.

The raw material was the charity's own history, so the new look feels earned.

A hand-drawn alphabet gave a small charity a wordmark no stock font could match.

Reusable illustrations let a small team apply the identity without an agency.

A resurrected slogan became a call to action across fundraising and merchandise.

An organisation's own archive can be a more distinctive source for a rebrand than any new concept, and it comes with a story built in.

The new identity was due to go live in January 2026. CEO Paddy Radcliffe says it has already put the charity on a more professional path and made its fundraising more joined up.