FAQ

Restless Development Brand - Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

 

Our Rebranding Process...

Why did you decide to change your name and brand?

We decided to change our name and brand for three primary reasons:

1. We wanted a name and brand that more accurately captures what is most unique about us, our combination of youthful passion and serious professionalism. Our old brand SPW sometimes made people think we only worked with students, or that because we had a name with “students” in it that we were somehow “amateur”.

2. We wanted a name and brand that helped us address and reshape perceptions of young people and their role in society – challenging negative stereotypes about young people as passive victims or dangerous threats, and proving that young people are an asset to their societies. 

3. We wanted a name and brand that would help us grow into the position of global banner carrier for youth-led development, giving credibility to youth-led development approaches.

Did you involve young people in the rebranding process?

Of course we involved young people at every stage. We worked on the rebrand for 3 years, and had six rounds of creative workshops with young people, our young staff, plus current and former volunteers in every country we work in around the world. In the final year, we had a committee of 10 people working together to finalise the new brand, and this committee was made up mostly of young staff from our UK, African and South Asian offices (5 of them being former volunteers themselves), as well as a Trustee representative (a former volunteer), our Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive. And when the new brand was mostly finished, we went back to all of our young staff around the world to get them involved in refining it – developing translations of key brand messages into local languages, deciding what double words we should use, etc.   

How much did you pay to get the rebrand done? Was it a good use of charitable money?

We were extremely fortunate to have committed expert partners providing pro bono support to us throughout the branding process – this meant that we did not spend any money on the rebranding process and the design of our new website. The only costs that we incurred are those that we would normally encounter on a regular basis such as printing t-shirts, printing our annual reports, etc. 

 

Our name and strapline...

Restless Development is very different from Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW), why did you choose it?

Restless Development is a big, and exciting, change for us. We chose this name for several reasons:  

1. It's honest. Young people are restless, they do not stand still. Young people are restless because the problems of the world persist and we want to resolve them. Young people around the world share this restless determination to make things better. When we channel this energy in development work anything is possible.  

2. It speaks straight to the role of young people. Restless can mean something very positive. Tireless and committed, wanting to change the status quo. Restless can also mean something edgy and uncertain. This is true of how young people are perceived too – there are both negative and positive perceptions and we have to be honest about that. Young people are restless. But if you do engage young people, positive things happen. We know how to engage young people. We have a new, youth-led way of doing development.    

3. It stands out and makes you think. Most people are surprised when they first see the name Restless Development. It makes you take a deep breath, and think “wow, that is different.” The truth is that no one in the development sector uses these words together. It catches your attention. It stands out. It is different. Just like we are. It gives us a way to catch people’s attention, and creates an opportunity to tell our story, which is what we need to do.

Why did you choose “The youth-led development agency” as your strapline?

We decided to go with a straightforward strapline that says exactly what we do, who we are – this is designed to help balance a new name that is so different from our present one. Our strapline indicates our ambition – “The youth-led development agency” – the one that sets the standards, that shows the way, that’s what we want to be and this brand is designed to help us get there.

Isn’t "restless" a negative/ threatening word?

Yes, “restless” can have a negative meaning as well as a positive meaning.

1.    Positive: Restless can mean something very positive. Tireless and committed, wanting to change the status quo.

2.    Negative: Restless can also mean something edgy and uncertain.

This is true of how young people are perceived – there are both negative and positive perceptions and we have to be honest about that. This is at the heart of our story – there are so many young people, and they are going to do something (you can’t stop young people from being active). If you don’t engage with young people, negative things can happen. If you do engage with young people, positive things happen. This is the story we want to talk to people about because we know how to engage young people to make the world a better place. 

That is a long name, what do we call you for shorthand? Restless? RD?

We do not use a shortened version of our name, or an acronym, because the full name is important to our mission and story – it is important that we capture and combine the youth-led passion and energy (Restless) and the professionalism and commitment to deliver results (Development). So we encourage everyone to call us Restless Development.

Will we translate the name for local languages?

Many of the people we work with do not speak English (or not as a first language). We have decided that we will not literally translate “Restless Development” as it is almost impossible to communicate exactly the same meaning by literally translating the two words. Instead, we have formed up groups of young staff, volunteers and young people to develop agreed translations of how to explain our name and work in 1-2 simple sentences (communicating that we are about channelling the energy of young people for positive results) in each country for each of the local languages we work in. This will make sure that we are communicating clearly and consistently, especially for people who are not English speakers to make sure the meaning of our name and brand is correctly understood.

I know that SPW used to use different straplines (e.g., linking learning to life, Making things happen, etc.) – will you still be using these?

Because our new brand is such a big change, we want to make sure that we are communicating clearly and consistently to all audiences, so we will only be using our new strapline for at least the first year or so – “Restless Development, the youth-led development agency.” We want everyone to know exactly who we are and what we do – youth-led development – and this will help us communicate that.  

 

Our look and feel...

Why black and white?

We chose black and white as our primary colours for a few reasons.

1. Just as black and white contrast, so we want to contrast perceptions and reality, to show transformation. We use black and white to highlight the positive message we see in every situation, and especially in young people.

2. White and Black also provide a powerful contrast when we do use colour (like when we use photos showing young people leading development on our website and annual reports, they literally jump off the page).

3. Black and white is less expensive than colour, meaning that we do not have to use money on marketing – as we would rather use our money on working with and for young people.

4. Most importantly, black and white is practical - it doesn’t mess around or try to look pretty, just like us. Black is available as a colour for printing everywhere, easy to find paint for, easy to use on a chalkboard, even in the most remote places which is where a lot of our work happens. 

What is the idea with the negative/ positive words?

Our mission and work seeks to address and reshape perceptions about young people – transforming negative stereotypes into positive perceptions. In order to do this, we need to bring these issues to the surface so that people, communities and governments can deal with them, and these double words help us do that.

Our double words are a unique way of communicating the transformative nature of our work – by literally rewriting words – changing negative concepts to positive ones – we are showing how we change perceptions of young people.

Just like our work, we show that young people are guided, not misguided. Capable, not incapable. Inspired, not uninspired. Professional, not unprofessional.

Using this device on our annual reports, business cards and t-shirts will show that we are about transforming perceptions, make people interested and give us a reason to talk to people about it.

Why do you put your logo and photos of young people on an angle?

The 10 degree angle we use is another simple way we have developed to communicate our mission and aims to change the perceptions of young people. The 10 degree angle is something that we use only sometimes, to place a bit more emphasis on a specific photo or element of a publication or website, and we use it because:

• It stands out and draws your attention
• With photographs, it literally shows that we see young people from a different perspective, and we are making others looks at young people differently too, to help them see things from our perspective.

With our logo, the 10 degree angle gives our name and strapline an upward trajectory from bottom left to top right - indicating a positive direction, which is also what our work is doing. 

Where did you get the font from?  Can we use it?

We have been very fortunate with our font – Restless Brauer Neue. We were looking for a font that would be bold and confident, but also round and welcoming. We found one called Brauer and wrote to the company that owns the font telling them about our work and asking if we could use it. They were so inspired by our work with young people that they designed a special font for us – called Restless Brauer Neue – and gave it to us!

Unfortunately, because the font was made and given only to us, we can not let others use it without a license. If you would like to use the font, write to us and let us know what you would like to do and we can talk to you about whether this would be possible.

 

Our organisation and youth-led work...

Is your work going to change? Are you going to do different programmes and initiatives because you changed your name?

Though we have changed our name, we will continue to deliver what we have become renowned for, as well as exploring new areas for the future.

We will continue to deliver the same high-quality youth-led development programmes and initiatives that everyone knows us for, only now under the name Restless Development. We will still recruit, professionally train and support young people to lead development at a community level. We will still train and support young people to engage in advocacy initiatives and policy discussions at local, national and global levels. We will still provide technical support and training to partner youth-led organizations around the world, and to our major government and institutional aid partners to help them work more effectively with and for young people. And we will still support our alumni as they go on to become leaders in the public, private and civil sectors of their societies to lead change with and for young people.

This new name and brand give us a fresh new way to tell our story: a new, honest and powerful way to challenge and change negative stereotypes of young people into positive perceptions. Our work will of course expand and evolve over time, as with any organisation, and we are confident that under the name Restless Development we will increase and improve the many different ways we deliver our youth-led development mission, and the valued partners we work with to do that.

Will your legal status change with the new name?

No, we are remaining the same organisation, with the same legal status in each country. We will of course be changing our legally registered name in each of those countries, and in fact are in the process of doing that now.