A Living Brand System

For the better part of the last year, we’ve been working toward the manifestation of this philanthropic organism that is Biome Trust, with the purpose of gifting financial energy toward planetary health and regeneration. We see this organism as something beyond an organisation - something alive, evolving and adapting.

The name Biome Trust is a calling to the greater awareness of our relationship to nature. The word biome has several meanings, from rich biological communities characterised by their plants and animals, to life at different scales such as the tiniest microbiome in the soil or in the digestive system.

A brand is simply a method of connection and communication. We think of our brand as part of this philanthropic organism – a living brand system. Never static, always growing, adaptable to constant change and keenly aware of its relationship to the environment.

Intention

There’s clear intention at the heart of our efforts. Intuitive internal guidance drives our work and our action, which can be described as follows:

Humble Stewardship - With humility, we see ourselves and nature as one and the same, and as such, we understand we have an important role to play as stewards and practitioners of self care.

Rooted Relationships - All communities of life are based on intricate layers of interconnectedness. We support rooted relationships between people and place and seek ways to cultivate symbiosis.

Courageous Action - We live in a time of great uncertainty and change. We believe that the courage to take action as a guardian of the planet and all of its biomes is of great importance.

Brand Mark

Our brand mark is our tribute to Earth’s biomes and a symbol of our actions toward their health and regeneration. Its forms are reminiscent of roots, branches and river systems. Water, the source of life, is present in the shape of a single drop.

Our brand mark in black

Patterns

The organic shapes and forms of the brand mark are echoed throughout our visual language in the form of natural patterns. Nature’s  innumerable markings and repeating flow help us convey the concept of life at many scales.

We feature the macro and microcosm with natural patterns

Colour

A black and white palette plays a supporting role in communicating our focus on nature. It’s also a nod to the brand colours of  New Zealand. We use colour harmony ratios to create a balance between light and dark.

Our base color palette is black and white

Photography

With a minimal brand palette as a canvas, we can create vivid contrast by selectively featuring colour that focuses us on the natural world and helps us convey our intention to see ourselves and nature as one and the same.

Selective use of color for contrast in our photography

Symbols

The simplicity in our symbol design helps us convey various human concepts such as gifting, action and stewardship. Using simple shapes, lines, movement and relationship, we juxtapose the organic forms found in nature’s biomes.

Our minimal symbols convey human themes

Typography

Our primary typeface is a contemporary sans serif called Jost. We use it in primary headlines in all caps with wide letter spacing and secondary headlines in sentence case. We use Source Sans as our do-all secondary typeface.

Primary and secondary type faces

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The work of growing our living brand system from the seeds of our intention has only just begun. We’ll be evolving our visual and verbal communication as we go and updating our brand guide along the way. It's our hope that our efforts are, and continue to be, resonant with our community.