Templo rebrands charity Survivor of Torture with help from asylum seekers and students

London-based studio Templo has created the identity for new charity Survivor of Torture inspired by asylum seekers’ journeys to the safety in the UK. The creative work was co-designed with torture survivors themselves, who traced out their migration route over world maps to create a series of curved lines used throughout the identity.

Survivor of Torture offers people that have experienced torture or sexual violence short-term and long-term help when they reach the UK, from clothing and food to counselling and training.

“Having worked directly with the survivors we could see that the charity was a lifeline,” Templo founder Pali Palavathanan tells It’s Nice That. “It was the hub for everything in their lives from getting clothes and learning English to therapy and building a community. With this in mind, we wanted to create distance between positivity of the word ‘Survivor’ from the negativity of ‘of Torture’ and reflect this new life they are trying to build.” Elsewhere in the campaign words like “father” and “son” and “mother” and “daughter” have been connected by the journey lines to show how the impact of trauma can pass through generations.

Templo also developed a series of flashcards, which will help volunteers to communicate with asylum seekers who cannot yet speak English. The icons include a range of medical complaints (from nausea to headaches) as well as symbols depicting logistical necessities like telephones, trains and buses.

Templo picked an orange and blue colour palette and friendly and approachable sans serif typeface Volte to use across the identity. “Branding for charities dealing with refugees and asylum seekers are weirdly gloomy and often dehumanised," says Pali. "To counter this, we were curious to see if we could take contemporary, minimal, sans serif typeface, flat graphics style commonly used for tech and fashion brands and apply it to a more serious and pressing issue.”

The concept for the identity was developed alongside students at Arts University Bournemouth, who worked on the project as part of their studies. Students interested in the brief formed groups and then pitched ideas to a panel of tutors, client and members from Templo. Once the idea was selected by the client Templo then worked with the AUB students to bring it to life in the studio. “We’re finding more and more students studying design subjects are seeking to work on projects with social impact. We wanted to commit a studio project to the students to give them this opportunity and give them an insight into running a live studio brief in real-time.”