Building a Unified Brand for Emphasis CIC and the Sports Coaching Group

When Emphasis CIC and the Sports Coaching Group approached us, the brief was clear but ambitious: create a refreshed, modern brand identity that not only elevated each organisation individually, but also clearly connected them as part of one cohesive group.

This wasn’t just about designing logos, it was about building a visual system that reflected movement, education, inclusivity, and community impact, while remaining flexible enough to work across multiple platforms, backgrounds, and audiences.

Creating One Group, Not Separate Brands

One of the strongest themes in the brief was consistency. With Sports Coaching Group, Sportscape Education, and the newly formed Emphasis CIC all sitting under one umbrella, it was essential that they look related at a glance.

To achieve this, we focused on:

• A shared modern sans-serif font family, chosen specifically for its versatility (light, regular, bold, and italic variations)
• A unified design language that could be applied consistently across Canva, InDesign, Mailerlite, and social media
• Logos that feel individual in purpose, but collective in structure

Using a single font family across all brands instantly created visual harmony, helping the organisations feel like different branches of the same tree rather than separate entities.

Movement as a Core Design Principle

Given the group’s deep roots in sport, education, and physical activity, movement became a central concept in the logo development.

Rather than using literal sports imagery, we explored how movement could be suggested more subtly, through shapes, angles, spacing, and flow. This led to a key realisation: almost every sport takes place within a defined playing area.

Courts, pitches, pools, they all rely on boundaries and structure.

This idea became the foundation of the logo system. Elements inspired by playing areas were incorporated into the designs, creating a sense of:

• Direction and progression
• Energy and momentum
• Structure, safety, and inclusion

The result is a set of logos that feel active and purposeful without being tied to one specific sport.

Designing the Emphasis CIC Logo

The Emphasis CIC logo needed to do something particularly important, to visually unite the group.

The brief specified that it must incorporate the colours from:

• Sports Coaching Group
• Sportscape Education

Care was taken to balance these colours so none dominated, ensuring Emphasis truly felt like the guiding foundation, rather than another standalone brand. Minor colour tweaks were introduced where needed to improve contrast, accessibility, and consistency but always staying true to the original palettes.

The logo reflects Emphasis’ mission: providing strategic and operational guidance while empowering communities through education, mentoring, health, wellbeing, and inclusive sports participation.

Reflecting the EMPHASIS Values

The acronym E.M.P.H.A.S.I.S represents a powerful and wide-ranging set of values:

• Education
• Mentoring
• Physically Active
• Health & Well-Being
• Achieve
• Sports Participation
• Inclusive
• SEN support

Rather than overloading the logo with meaning, these values were embedded into the structure of the brand, which are strong foundations, flexible layouts, and a design that feels open, welcoming, and adaptable across many services and audiences.

Flexibility Across Platforms

Practicality was a key part of the brief. The final logo suite includes:

• Full-colour, white-on-black (WOB), and black-on-white (BOW) versions
• Shape variations optimised for social media profiles and digital platforms
• Designs that work seamlessly on light and dark backgrounds

This ensures the brand remains strong and recognisable whether it’s on a website, social post, presentation, uniform, or marketing material.

A Brand Built for Growth

This project was about more than visual polish. It was about creating a brand system that can grow alongside the organisations it represents.

By focusing on movement, shared structure, consistent typography, and thoughtful colour use, the new identity gives Emphasis CIC and its adjoining companies a clear, confident, and connected presence. It reflects their commitment to education, inclusion, wellbeing, and positive change in local communities.

It’s always rewarding to work with organisations whose values are so deeply rooted in impact, and this project is a great example of how strong branding (rebrand) can help tell a much bigger story.

“Get in touch today and see what we can do with your brand”.