ZSL's rebrand puts an eagle, lioness and shark inside the S of its logo, in seagrass green

Coinciding with its 200-year anniversary, the Zoological Society of London wanted to shift strategy and 'capitalise more on the brand'. Rebrands in 2003 and 2015 had tried but ended up creating identities for every activity because of the master brand's weakness, said Rbl creative director Adam Concar.

Make the logo's S a journey of recovery with animal silhouettes, and build a circle-based graphic language that stands for whole ecosystems.

Rbl, a Leamington Spa studio that won a competitive pitch, worked with lettering artist Rob Clarke on a logo whose S features silhouettes of an eagle, lioness, shark and banana leaves. The circle became the key graphic device, framing imagery and patterns as ecosystems. The master typeface is Proxima, with hard-edged Proxima Nova for science and conservation and warmer Proxima Soft for the zoos, and the logo is seagrass green.

Design Week's report, published 23 February 2023, says the identity launched internally and on ZSL's website and would roll out over the coming months. It gives no results; TPXimpact designed ZSL's updated website.

The Zoological Society of London marked its 200th anniversary with a repositioning by Rbl. Previous rebrands in 2003 and 2015 had tried to strengthen the master brand but ended with separate identities for each activity, so the new job was to bridge ZSL's science-driven conservation work and its long history.

The logo's S carries silhouettes of an eagle, a lioness, a shark and banana leaves, which Concar described as representing 'a journey of recovery' and reconnecting with the heritage in a contemporary way. One of the trickier tasks was giving the silhouettes enough craft not to look like stock imagery, so Rbl worked with type designer and lettering artist Rob Clarke.

The circle became the key graphic device, standing for whole ecosystems. Proxima is the master typeface, with sharper Proxima Nova on the science and conservation side and softer, family-friendly Proxima Soft for the zoos. The logo is seagrass green, chosen because seagrass absorbs carbon and is vital to marine life, and it holds together the rest of a vibrant palette.

One flexible master brand replaces a separate identity for every activity.

Animals from air, land and sea in one letter express interconnected work in a single mark.

A circle device makes any image or pattern read as a habitat.

Two weights of one typeface let science and zoos sound different but belong together.

When earlier rebrands failed to unify sub-brands, build one master brand that can flex, with a distinctive device and one typeface family tuned for different audiences.

ZSL's updated website was built by TPXimpact, which Rbl worked with early so the graphic language would translate to digital touchpoints.