EAPF
Pension scheme branding
With almost 40,000 members, £3.7bn in assets and a 95% participation rate, the EAPF is a major and very successful fund. However, for some time the EAPF did not put a large focus on the way it spoke to its members and there was no real attempt to modernise the look of the EAPF brand. It was clear that this needed to be redressed with an overhaul to the way the fund was presented and how it interacted with its members.
This was achieved with new branding, completely redesigned newsletters, a new website and new email messages regularly keeping members up to date throughout the year. Far more emphasis was placed on communicating to members via digital methods, helping to keep engagement up while also cutting printing costs for the EAPF. This also assisted in their goal to be as environmentally sound as possible.
The new branding was created to be simple and easily read for all age ranges, making use of colour coded member audience groups. It could be easily translated for both the English and Welsh members which was a key component of the brief. The jade green strip above the logotype is a reference to the work that the Environment Agency handles, calling to mind both the green land of the nation and the fact that a lot of their work can occur under the surface or behind the scenes.
Great care was taken to make sure the language used in member communications was down-to-earth, simple, and without jargon. This clear and friendly approach was mirrored in the rationale behind the look of all EAPF output, in that it had to convey information simply and quickly. The uncluttered type and white space helps readers of all ages and abilities stay up to date.
The old design of the newsletter shown on the left gives information to the reader in one large run of text with no cover, no easily discerned headings and no imagery beyond the abstract header. I chose to make the layout far more like a magazine with easily identified sections, multiple columns to aid reading and relevant imagery to keep the work of the EAPF and its benefits in mind.
The new website keeps the colour coding shown above and acts as a large information hub for all visitors wanting to learn more about their pension. There are a number of documents to download and constant updates keep the home page relevant.
