Project Overview

The Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW (EWON) is the government approved dispute resolution scheme for New South Wales electricity and gas customers, and some water customers. EWON was founded in 1998 as an industry-based Ombudsman scheme, to independently resolve complaints about members of the scheme.

EWON engaged Butterfly to create a new brand and visual identity, with the aim of the rebrand being to achieve a more approachable, less bureaucratic feel.

Project Commissioner

Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW

Project Creator

Butterfly

Project Brief

EWON was seeking to establish a new visual identity and refresh its branding assets. It was desirable that the new visual identity felt fresh and dynamic so as to appeal to the broad audience and stakeholder groups.

The new identity has been applied across a range of EWON’s customer-facing print and online collateral, including their annual report, email newsletters, and a stepped guide, as well as providing a style guide for the newly developed EWON public website.

The branding process started with the development of a brand essence for EWON, where key attributes and personality traits were uncovered, and then needed to be translated visually.

These key attributes include: dispute resolution; outreach and awareness; and influence policy.

These personality traits include: approachable; informative; ethical; effective; and progressive.

Project Innovation/Need

The rebrand included a fresh approach, dropping the acronym and moving towards an emblem. The summarised brand essence of ‘progressive independent dispute resolution’ is at the core of the design, which resulted in the creation of an emblem that encapsulates the meaning of the industry without using literal icons or pictures.

When deconstructed, the series of arrows are symbolic of the progressive nature of the organisation. The curve in the emblem is suggestive of energy and when you look at the shape from a diagonal perspective, you can see a silhouette of water.

Overall the emblem design is harmonious and soft with it’s organic rounded edges and is partnered with the typeface ‘Varela’, a san serif font that conveys a sense of authority, whilst still feeling approachable.

Design Challenge

As an organisation dealing with a large spectrum of the population, the branding had to visually incorporate Australia’s indigenous audience. Butterfly’s designer worked to incorporate traditional drawings into the collateral, provided by an Aboriginal artist. Working with traditional artwork presented a challenge in that there was a need to balance the new, fresh concept with the historical symbolism provided, whilst not disrupting the meaning of the indigenous artwork.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of a project speaks volumes when it is from the project initiator's point of view. In the words of Janine Young, Ombudsman, Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW, "EWON is re-energised! Our fresh and contemporary new logo wonderfully conveys EWON’s progressiveness with it’s arrow-like shapes radiating towards the sky. Our staff and stakeholders’ engaging response to our new colours reflects their vitality and relevance to our role. The brand translated very effectively across all of our online applications, resources and collateral. We also love the way that our values and our Aboriginal design are reflected in our new brand."