Business NSW rebranding
Visual Brand Lead · Business NSW · Sydney
6
Months delivery
9
Regions trained
7+
Template types
1
Brand system
The Brief
Business NSW, one of Australia's longest-standing business advocacy organisations, needed a complete visual overhaul. The existing identity had grown inconsistent across teams and regions - mismatched colours, dated icons, and generic stock photography that did not communicate the scale or credibility of a statewide organisation. The goal was a cohesive brand system that every team, across every region, could apply consistently across all touchpoints.
The Challenge
The previous palette was built on saturated primaries that made balanced layouts difficult to achieve. The icon set was limited in style and restricted scalability. Photography relied on generic stock images skewed heavily toward Sydney, overlooking regional NSW businesses. With no template system in place, there was no unified visual system across formats and regions.
The Work
As Visual Brand Lead, I developed the full rebrand from the ground up, covering a new colour palette, icon style, photography direction, and a complete template system built to scale across nine regional offices.
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The refreshed palette moved to navy and mid-tone blues, slate greys and warm neutrals, improving contrast ratios and overall legibility across print and digital formats. Icons were redrawn in a thin-line style, creating a scalable icon library with room for future expansion. Photography direction shifted to location-specific imagery of real NSW businesses and members, with clear guidelines for regional teams to source and apply consistently.
The template system covered the full communications toolkit: PowerPoint decks, Word documents, and Canva templates for eBanners, social media tiles, website assets and welcome screens, all built for simple regional adaptation without breaking brand consistency.
Brand guidelines were produced and an internal rollout was led across all nine offices, training teams to apply the brand consistently across all formats using the new Canva templates.
Key Improvements:
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Refreshed Colour Palette: Introduced confident blues, slate accents, and warm neutrals to improve professionalism and accessibility
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Photography Direction: Shifted to authentic, people-focused imagery showcasing real NSW businesses
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Stamp Logo Variant: Introduced a corner stamp-style version of the logo to act as a visual sign-off or endorsement
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Template System: Developed cohesive templates for social media, reports, presentations, and marketing assets—designed for simple adaptation across different regions
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Brand Guidelines & Training: Created resources and led internal roll-out to ensure consistent adoption making the new assets straightforward to implement while maintaining a fresh, current design
Refreshed colour palette and thin line icon style
Introduced a new set of icons in thin line style
Photography focused on authentic members.
New template system with clear balance typography hierarchy
The Impact
The rebrand delivered a consistent visual identity across all channels and regions, giving teams a clear system and the tools to produce on-brand materials independently.