Pentagram’s Michael Bierut and his team have created a new identity for the Wildlife Conservation Society. The designers say the new branding is built around a “friendly and accessible” mark that is designed to appeal to everyone from park visitors to policy makers.

The Wildlife Conservation Society currently manages the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park, Queens Zoo, New York Aquarium and conservation programs in nearly 60 countries.

Bierut and his team say they worked closely with WCS leadership to develop the new look. The designers first redefined the organisation’s brand strategy with a new tagline: “We stand for wildlife.” The new identity subsequently aims to visualise this with a stylised “W”.

The mark can appear in linear form or contain different colours and images of animals.

“The overlapping shapes convey the comprehensive scope of WCS and have a dimensional depth that hints at the physical places where the organization works (mountains, oceans). The full-colour version of the symbol appears in five shades of green and blue that reference the land, skies and seas where animals live,” explain the designers.

The symbol is accompanied by the organisation’s full name or the acronym “WCS”. The vertical acronym version fits into a perfect square, so that it can also be used as a social media icon. The system will be integrated into the graphics for the different parks and programs, where the mark appears alongside the zoo name. Typography is set in Futura.

The new website, meanwhile, was designed and built in collaboration with interactive agency, Viget.

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