Let there be order: Motherbird’s rebrand gives ISO’s identity the organisation it sorely needed

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent and non-governmental organisation that develops and publishes reliable and high-quality International Standards, ensuring that global products and services align with specific health, safety and quality requirements. However, in a somewhat ironic twist, despite ISO’s meticulous approach to their work, their pre-existing brand system was feeling disorganised. Australian creative studio Motherbird sought to bring order with a new and meticulously crafted brand system. Working with a focus group, a comprehensive brand audit was conducted, leading to the creation of a robust brand strategy, identity and guidelines capable of handling ISO’s extensive collateral. To retain the equity created in the brandmark, Motherbird opted to leave it largely unchanged. The only adjustment, however, was to make it square in shape, aligning with the identity’s new grid system. “ISO’s work is specialised and has a broad impact that reaches all corners of the globe,” Partner & Creative Director Jack Mussett explains. “We wanted a visual tool to represent ISO’s status as an international entity that collaborates with a network of standards bodies worldwide. Thus, we introduced the concept of longitude and latitude lines.”