Asha & Co led this piece of work for us and spent time with people who use our services , those who work and volunteer for us , and commissioners who know us well – along with those who don ’ t . They conducted one-to-one and small group interviews to explore in detail perspectives from a diverse group of people across a number of different roles , as well as undertaking broader research , review and reflection work .
The feedback from this initial phase was really clear and consistent . People told us that they wanted a name that was more discreet , that was simple , clear and not tied to any particular geography or substance . Importantly , they also told us to reflect our humility in our name and brand , that the work we do is inspiring , but that claiming this in a name can be off-putting and doesn ’ t really reflect the way in which we already communicate . So , the task for any new name and brand was not a simple one and came with many requirements , including not losing the legacy of the last 30 years and our development over time .
Via reflects that we are part of a journey , that everyone ’ s journey is different , and that we work with people along their individual route .
Our new name and brand were developed by Asha & Co , utilising the research they had undertaken , and the strong perspectives communicated from many different voices . Critically , while our senior team and board of trustees have known about the new name and brand for several months now , other than participating in the final approval process , our influence over its development was no more significant than anyone else who contributed to the original research phase . This was important to us – we wanted a name and brand that really reflected who we are , not what I or we as the ‘ senior team ’ thought it should be .
OUR NEW NAME IS VIA
Via reflects that we are part of a journey , that everyone ’ s journey is different , and that we work with people along their individual route . Our logo reflects that too . You ’ ll see that it changes , signalling the different paths that people take and choices that can be made .
You ’ ll also see that our logo is black and white . It is clear , simple and easy to recognise in its different forms . It changes as you click through our new website and on our different service materials , but it is very clearly us .
The colour in our brand comes from photography . That photography reflects the real world , not a perfect world . Our headline photographs purposefully don ’ t include faces , as we think that can feel limiting or excluding and so instead the images reflect moments , beauty in the everyday and people connected to the world that they live in . In effect , real life and lived experiences .
The way that we ’ re using photography means that over the next 12 months we want to move to a position where all of our headline photographs are taken by the people who use our services , or who work or volunteer for us . We want to have a brand that can really feel owned by those who are central to what we do . That ’ s something we ’ re really excited by and I hadn ’ t anticipated that a change of name could bring such compelling opportunities to connect our work .
The new name and brand also support changes across our service premises . We aren ’ t just changing the external signage but are taking the time
Concept artwork
‘ The way that we ’ re using photography means that over the next 12 months we want to move to a position where all of our headline photographs are taken by the people who use our services , or who work or volunteer for us . We want to have a brand that can really feel owned by those who are central to what we do .’
to enhance our internal spaces too . Many already have murals that have been co-developed with people who use our services , so we ’ ve thought carefully about how the new brand works with those spaces and we ’ re excited about how it all comes together to support safe , welcoming and positive service environments . There has been lots to do to implement this initial but big change , and we ’ re really lucky to have had a great team of people to make that happen . We ’ ve got an exciting programme of work ahead of us , building on much of the progress that we ’ ve been making over the last few years . It ’ s important that we don ’ t lose sight of that , and that we continue on our really exciting and important journey too . This includes completing the implementation of our women-only inpatient detoxification unit ( more to come on that soon ) and a new learning and development offer , which builds on the work we ’ ve completed to shape our values and approach very explicitly into our employment offer .
You can check out our new website here – www . viaorg . uk – which includes links to our social media channels , a short film that explains our decision to change the organisation ’ s name and why we think Via is a good fit for us . And , as always , if you ’ ve got feedback about what you like and don ’ t like or suggestions about next steps , please get in touch . We hope that you like our new identity as much as we do !
Anna Whitton is CEO of Via
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