The Brief
Growth Animals
Growth Animals launched in 2020 as a B Corp-certified brand strategy consultancy, helping ambitious organisations achieve sustainable growth through strategic brand thinking.
Founder Chris Thornhill partnered with Melbert Creative to develop a visual identity that reflected the consultancy's positioning: intelligent, credible and distinctive enough to stand apart in a crowded market while remaining warm, approachable and human.
As the business evolved, so did its ambition. Growth Animals expanded beyond brand consultancy into people development, creating the Animal Instincts® personality framework, workshops and leadership programmes. The brand now needed to feel bold, energetic, memorable and genuinely different.
The Approach
The original Growth Animals identity centred around a simple origami bird — a simple, clean symbol of transformation and growth. Combined with a confident slate blue palette, warm amber accents and clean, considered typography, the identity struck a careful balance between authority and approachability, immediately positioning Growth Animals as a credible, modern consultancy.
Paul extended these principles across every customer touchpoint, from brand guidelines and stationery to a fully bespoke website, creating a consistent and distinctive brand experience from day one.
However, with the launch of the Animal Instincts® personality framework and a growing focus on workshops, leadership programmes and people development, the brand needed to evolve to become bolder, more energetic and more emotionally engaging.
Rather than starting again, Melbert Creative evolved the existing identity, introducing the distinctive origami animal illustrations, injecting greater colour, movement and personality, and creating a visual language that reflects the playful confidence of the methodology while retaining the credibility established by the original brand.
The Outcome
What began as the branding for a strategic consultancy has evolved into the visual platform for a distinctive intellectual property-led business, centred around the Animal Instincts® personality framework and its growing portfolio of workshops, leadership programmes and digital products.
One of the most consistent pieces of feedback the Growth Animals team receives is how memorable, approachable and engaging the brand feels. Whereas many personality assessments are presented through traditional corporate identities, Growth Animals and Animal Instincts® stand apart with a visual language that feels human, playful and instantly recognisable, encouraging curiosity and making the methodology accessible to a much wider audience.
The evolved identity now appears consistently across all customer touch points, helping to establish Growth Animals as a bold challenger brand that combines commercial strategy with people development.
Perhaps most importantly, the brand has never needed reinventingPaul's original thinking created a strategic foundation strong enough to grow with the business, while each iteration has ensured the identity remains fresh, distinctive and aligned with the company's ambition.
Testimonial
We've had the pleasure of working with Paul, founder of Melbert Creative, for over 10 years. We first worked together in-house on the Goodwood Estate's brand and marketing, and for the past five years Paul has been the creative force behind Growth Animals' visual identity, as well as a highly valued extension of our team, supporting many of our own clients.
We've had the pleasure of working with Paul, founder of Melbert Creative, for over 10 years. We first worked together in-house on the Goodwood Estate's brand and marketing, and for the past six years Paul has been the creative force behind Growth Animals' visual identity, as well as a highly valued extension of our team, supporting many of our own clients.
Paul is far more than a designer who fulfils a brief, as he thinks with us as a consultant, taking the time to understand not only who a business is today, but where it wants to go and who it needs to influence. That strategic thinking is reflected in everything he creates, from distinctive visual identities to high-impact marketing collateral that we're proud to put our name to and, most importantly, that deliver meaningful commercial results.
Paul also created the original Growth Animals brand and has continued to evolve it as our business has grown from a strategic brand consultancy into a people development business, centred around Animal Instincts®. Rather than reinventing our identity, he's helped it evolve with us, ensuring it continues to reflect who we are and where we're heading.
Melbert Creative is our go-to creative partner because we trust Paul implicitly, with our own brand and with our clients. He cares deeply about the work, obsesses over the detail and always strives to get it right. That combination of creativity, strategic thinking and commercial awareness is incredibly rare, and it's why we've continued to work together for so long.
Chris Thornhill
Co-Founder & CEO | Growth Animals