ZSL London Zoo

London Zoo lacked a strong brand identity. Its look was dated and in danger of perpetuating the idea that zoos are old fashioned, full of concrete enclosures and out of touch.

The zoo attracts a wide and varied audience, far beyond the family audience one would expect. It has been undergoing many changes to allow visitors to get closer to 650 different species of animals. As one of London’s most visited and popular attractions, with an assortment of wild and wonderful animals, London Zoo is a hive of activity – stimulating minds and indulging senses as the many species of animals are explored. So picking one animal to represent the zoo in a logo would’ve felt rather pedestrian.

Working with the nice people at advertising agency CheethamBell JWT and brand alignment company Brand Vista, Barraclough created the new identity for ZSL London Zoo. Keen to distance our mark from the old and rather dated logo, we strengthened the typography, using a more organic and almost leaf-like font, combining multiple animals into the type rather than predictably plonking them on top.

We also created the identity for sister attraction Whipsnade Zoo. On a far bigger scale and home to some of the biggest, rarest and most majestic animals alive – including cheetah cubs, elephants, tigers, lions, rhinos and giraffes…. and 2,500 more! Using a similar technique, we combined a different set of animals into large, chunky, wood type inspired letters.

The ‘ZSL’ mark was created by Landor London.