Earlier this year, the Exec consulted with members about whether it was time for a BIG rebrand and over 95% of them agreed that the Exec could proceed. The case for looking at a rebrand was multifold:

• To reflect our evolved membership – we are no longer simply about ‘interactivity’

• The name was limiting and may alienate potential new members and reinforce the false perception that we are about science centres

• The 'OOC' logo was not representative of what we do and confusing

• There were always inconsistencies in typeface and logo reproduction.

We were aware that we had established brand, which is well-regarded and that the BIG name runs across other sub-brands (BIG-Chat, BIG Event etc). Many refer to us as simply “BIG” and the perception of this acronym is favorable. The full name is more misleading and alienating than the initials so we decided to retain some of the original brand and become simply, BIG, as this is how we are referred to colloquially anyway.

The name 'BIG' alone needed to sit with some kind of 'descriptive strapline' so we decided to shorten our existing mission statement to "STEM Communicators Network" and thus the design of a new logo and a visual identity refresh was commissioned.

After discussing various concepts, the Exec eventually settled on the new logo, which we know could be seen as a 'nurturing embrace' or 'a person lugging equipment' (Boxes and Gear). Whatever you see in the design, we are encouraged by the positive feedback we've had so far. The logo is here to stay and the new brand is being rolled out across our various media and literature over the coming weeks.