Global Vision International (GVI) is an ethical volunteering organisation that sends over 2,000 volunteers away each year to locations all over the world. Since their inception in 1998, GVI has been guided by a commitment to its partners and its volunteers, who fill critical voids in the fields of education, conservation, environmental research and community development.
After nearly a decade, GVI decided their company needed a redesign as they felt (in their words) ‘it was time to freshen up and keep moving on.’ Sound in Theory embraced the challenge of redesigning such a respectable and worthwhile company, who we could see achieve such remarkable things all over the world.
GVI’s branding had originally indicated the travelling facet of their company well, in muted colours that featured plenty of detail. Yet we felt this did not stand out in the competitive volunteer travel market, nor captured what makes GVI unique as an ethical volunteering company – the validity of their programmes and the importance of each GVI volunteer, without whom GVI’s worthwhile projects, courses and expeditions would cease to continue. Sound in Theory created a far more recognisable, up-to-date brand and a simpler, more transferable logo that places the volunteer at the centre GVI.
Sound in Theory has applied this brand throughout all of GVI’s websites: GVI (UK and US versions), GVI Careers Abroad, GVI Charitable Trust, GVI Corporate Alliance and GVI STA Travel. In each website, the brand has been adapted to suit the division – featuring individual colour palettes, layouts and images that have been designed and developed to represent the division’s purpose. With a focus on careers and courses, the GVI Careers Abroad website emphasises learning and professionalism, using a richer, more heritage colour for the logo. The GVI Charitable Trust raise money for various conservation and community projects worldwide, so we adapted their branding to invoke a more grassroots, wholesome feel. GVI Corporate Alliance work with corporations to send their employees to volunteering projects; the branding on their website is a more solid and clean.
Each GVI website originally offered a comprehensive amount of information, which was ever-increasing as the amount of trips they run continues to grow. We embraced this heritage in the new websites we created for GVI, but made them more engaging, easier to navigate and far easier for GVI to update. An extensive bespoke CMS system was designed and built to house all non-operational (display only) project data, making the data easy to manipulate. This was linked into the bespoke office software built to look after GVI's customer and financial data – software also built by Sound in Theory (in a separate 12-month project). By linking these two systems with the website, we enabled GVI to massively increase their efficiency in dealing with the volunteer sign-up process, whilst streamlining the process of keeping the project information up to date, both operational (e.g. prices) and display (e.g. descriptions). Any information needs to be changed only in one place to effect anywhere that information is used.
GVI’s brand overhaul included redesigning their existing printing materials, including brochures, mini-brochures, a variety of business stationery (from letter-heads to business cards) and in-field apparel. The printed materials are now more visually striking, streamlined and in-line with GVI’s attempts to reduce printing material. We fashioned more coherent, stimulating editorials that bring information to the surface, rather than forcing readers to look for it, and by reducing their original 115-page brochure to 36-pages, we also saved GVI money.
Both GVI’s online presence and printed material included a range of new images that our resident photographer took on location. These fresh new photographs incorporated the new branding beautifully, featuring young GVI volunteers in the new GVI apparel, helping on a GVI Costa Rican conservation programme.
Sound in Theory was also commissioned to revise GVI’s extensive amount of existing copy, and create the country and region descriptions for each destination GVI operates in. With over a decade of volunteering history, the content often needed researching and updating, as well as proofreading. It also needed to fit seamlessly with the GVI brand. The content now flows, reads enjoyably, and a large amount of search engine optimisation work has greatly enhanced their ranking on Google and other search engines.
By using Sound in Theory’s branding, web design, printing, photography and copywriting services, GVI’s redesign has been successfully implemented with complete cohesion, and is something both GVI and Sound in Theory are extremely proud of.
Client Testimonial
Thank you very much for a truly wonderful website, database and everything else you have all worked so hard on for the last few months. It is a great achievement and I really believe we have the best website out there amongst our competitors.
Richard Walton, Founder and CEO | Global Vision International
Responsibilities for Global Vision International