About Us

Take a fresh look at RNIB

Summary: An introduction to RNIB's new corporate identity.

• How has RNIB's look changed?
• Why are we doing this?
• What else are we doing?

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We want everyone – blind and partially sighted people, our customers, staff, volunteers, supporters, partners, members, stakeholders, the general public – to understand:

• the dramatic impact blindness and partial sight has on people’s lives
• that sight loss can happen to anyone and that around 100 people each day begin to lose their sight
• what RNIB does and that we are here to help blind and partially sighted people.

We know from research that currently these things are not always properly understood. We've taken this to heart and are addressing it in a number of ways including updating RNIB's look.

How has RNIB's look changed?

• RNIB’s name has changed to: “Royal National Institute of Blind People” (RNIB abbreviation remains the same).
• A clear consistent description of our role - “Supporting blind and partially sighted people” - accompanies the logo.
• We have introduced new audio, tactile and visual logos.

In addition to the national RNIB logo we have also developed versions for RNIB Scotland, RNIB Cymru and RNIB Northern Ireland. These are essential in helping people access services in their UK country, and emphasise that RNIB services are available throughout the UK.

Why are we doing this?

If we want people to understand us, use our services and support our work, we need to help them understand what we do and why it’s important as clearly and consistently as possible. In-depth customer research in 2006 indicated a lack of understanding about the impact of sight loss on people’s lives and how common sight loss is. The research also showed a lack of awareness that RNIB is for blind and partially sighted people. We’ve taken this feedback seriously and acted now to strengthen understanding of how blindness and partial sight affects people's lives and how RNIB can make a difference.

The new logo is clear and bold – a celebration of accessible design. We will no longer use the image of the person with a white stick - this was seen as stereotyping in the research. The new description of our role, “Supporting blind and partially sighted people”, will appear next to the logo to emphasise our cause and that we are here to help blind and partially sighted people.

What else are we doing?

Updating our identity with a new name, logo and clear description of our role is a small but significant part of work we are doing to increase the profile of sight loss and improve the way we communicate what we do. Together with other initiatives, we want to bring about a dramatic change in how people think about sight loss and RNIB.

In addition RNIB is focusing on:

• improving our customers' experience
• improving how we communicate what we do
• ensuring that RNIB’s people - our members, staff and volunteers – have the information about all the ways RNIB can help so that we can give the best possible service to our customers.

Want to know more about why we've made the changes and what other actions we're undertaking? Take a look at these frequently asked questions about RNIB's updated identity.

Read this description of what RNIB's new logo looks like.

We've also updated RNIB’s audio brand. Listen to our new audio logo to hear the new sound.

Content author: publishing@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 20/11/2008 11:13