The Royal Society of Chemistry sought clarity for its brand. Spencer du Bois stepped in with a flexible, vibrant rebrand. Brittany Golob considers the rebrand on an elemental level

We needed a flexible brand that could speak to the commercial world, scientific community, members and above all make chemistry desirable and exciting for a younger audience

The Enlightenment, in the broadest terms, was a period of knowledge expansion on a global level. It induced scientific learning, philosophy, education and social progress. Amidst this explosion of academic and professional development was the Chemical Society of London. An organisation founded in 1841, the society’s goals revolved around scientific progress; It received a royal charter just seven years later. Almost 170 years hence, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), as it is now known, has undergone a brand review and refresh that intends to promote the society’s ongoing goals of education and scientific advancement.

“This wasn’t about fixing a broken thing,” Max Du Bois, executive director at Spencer Du Bois, says. The RSC has overseen a massive amount of change over the past two centuries. Its existing branding, dating back about seven years, was not unsuitable, merely outdated and outgrown. “The Royal Society was there to pioneer mankind’s exploration into the chemical sciences, which was one of the most fundamental breakthroughs of the Enlightenment.”

For the Royal Society of Chemistry, an organisation involved in academia, education, science and public advocacy for science, a muddled brand could wreak havoc on reputation. It, however, shortened the somewhat lengthy moniker to the abbreviation of RSC. This, while logical, caused problems for the society. Not only did this lead to confusion with other organisations – namely the Royal Shakespeare Company – but many members and affiliates both at home and abroad were unaware that the C even stood for ‘chemistry.’

For a sprawling organisation like this, particularly for one that deals with a variety of disparate audiences, brand confusion on such a basic level is disadvantageous for obvious reasons. One of the first changes Spencer du Bois, the agency tasked with managing the rebrand, made was to readopt the ‘Royal Society of Chemistry’ title.

Claire Biscard, creative director at Spencer du Bois, says the use of the prestigious full name of the organisation was a step toward engaging with the brand’s heritage while making it relevant and understandable to a modern audience. “Heritage is important and they have heritage within their name,” she says. “But they needed a modern and engaging brand.”

Lynsey Thorpe, brand review project manager at the Royal Society of Chemistry, agrees. “We wanted to create a stronger brand that reflects our ambitions and keeps us relevant to all those we reach out to, who come to us and who work with us. The Royal Society of Chemistry has experienced huge growth since we last reviewed our brand seven years ago.”

One of the ways in which the organisation has changed has to become an international force. The society is not the world’s largest – that honour lies with the American Chemical Society – but it is the most renowned. With six offices sprawled across the globe, the RSC’s audience is as strong, if not stronger, in places like China and India, than it is in Britain.

When the society and Spencer du Bois surveyed more than 7,000 people involved with the organisation around the world, it was clear that the royal connection was an important element for former countries involved in Britain’s imperial past – particularly China. However, that audience was often unaware that it was using the society’s products and services due to poor links between the Royal Society, its subbrands and the use of the RSC acronym.

“Our community is also increasingly diverse and international,” Thorpe says. “Over time, we had become fragmented in how we present ourselves to the audiences we communicate with. We were losing the beneficial link to our core brand with some of our products and services.” She says one objective was to create a brand hierarchy that established clear relationships between the central Royal Society of Chemistry brand and its subbrands.

The society is responsible for a number of products and services, including publishing journals, acting as a professional body for chemical scientists, educating chemistry students and advising governments on policy in regards to the chemical sciences. This range of activity and services had become lost under the previous brand system.

Du Bois says, “People didn’t know when they were using Royal Society of Chemistry products, so they were essentially invisible.”
Thorpe adds that the research conducted internally and externally helped to shape the brand positioning. “We wanted a clear articulation of what we do, why we do it and how we do it. The words ‘community’ and ‘connecting’ came through really strongly in the focus groups.” Both the messaging and visual identity reflect this. The strapline, ‘Advancing excellence the chemical sciences’ acts as an overall description of the society’s objectives. Further communications represent the values addressed by the research stage.

The visual identity developed by Spencer du Bois helps to draw these ideas together. The core brand is comprised of a big C comprised of a graphic representation of the bottoms of volumetric flasks. The design can be amplified or scaled down to suit its application and is implemented in a wide colour palette that reflects the diversity within the chemical sciences.

Biscard says the new brand “brings clarity to complexity.” Its flexibility allows for subbrands to maintain their own identity without compromising their links to the Royal Society’s core brand.

The growing relevance of chemistry’s applications has allowed the society to reemphasise its values to suit    the modern world and the modern chemistry industry – one that is as strong in Brazil or Japan or India as it was in Britain today or 176 years ago. Du Bois says the positioning brings a sense of excitement back into the sector. That excitement extends internally as well, to the 1,000s of people who look to the Royal Society of Chemistry as a leader in the industry.

“Once we described the brand positioning, quite serious academics turned round and said we’re really excited by what this organisation can do, but we look at its standard bearer and there’s just no excitement there, no energy, nothing about the nature of the organisation, its community and chemistry,” du Bois says. That has radically changed since the new brand was implemented last month. Thorpe points to the internal engagement with the brand as one of the markers of its success.


Biscard adds, “We needed a flexible brand that could speak to the commercial world, scientific community, members and above all make chemistry desirable and exciting for a younger audience. The visual brand helps to capture some of this dynamic energy and passion.”

The rebrand, while useful on an internal level in terms of clarifying the brand hierarchy and reenforcing the Royal Society’s role within the scientific community, was equally responsible for promoting the chemical sciences. Manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, energy and nearly any other industry relies upon chemistry or its applications. This concept had been lost in recent years and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s rebrand sought to highlight chemistry’s undeniably essential role in the modern world.

“Why does this organisation exist?” du Bois asks. “It’s not just about advancing excellence in the chemical sciences. At its heart, it stands for advancing science and tackling the big issues in today’s society. A lot of the solutions in climate change and sustainability come through chemistry and engineering.”


But the brand transcends the Royal Society itself and is flexible enough to represent the relationships the 176-year-old organisation has with governments, the commercial world, other scientific and academic communities and non-scientists in its six home territories and beyond.

Du Bois highlights the society’s public affairs activities when describing the benefits of the new brand system. “They have a very big knowledge dissemination role,” he says. He points to the recent phenomenon of the favourability of products specifically marketed as ‘chemical-free.’

One of the RSC’s roles is to explain why chemical applications are necessary, relevant or even safe in manufactured products or in other incarnations.

“When did chemicals and chemistry become bad for us? When was the PR battle lost? The brand wasn’t helping to promote their work,” du Bois asks.

With a vibrant, clear brand full of personality, the Royal Society of Chemistry is now better armed to engage in all of its activities and to promote chemistry around the world.

The Chemical Society of London, and its compatriots the Royal Society for Analytical Chemistry and the Royal Institute of Chemistry, which ultimately became the Royal Society of Chemistry, all came to being during the Age of Enlightenment.

This period of burgeoning knowledge, intellectual excitement and massive academic and social progress gave birth to the modern chemical sciences. But the Royal Society of Chemistry does not live in the past. Its role, while rooted in history, is to promote the present and future advancement of science.

In this age of technological development, communication and global knowledge sharing, chemistry plays a huge role. More than a century-and-a-half after its founding, so too does the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Peer reviews

Peer review Daniel Kay, marketing executive, Endpoint

The landscape of the modern education sector has changed dramatically over the past decade. The way students, academics and professors source materials and view information is constantly evolving and in order to maintain a position as a leader in their field, education providers need to deliver a modern and unique brand that adds real value to the institution.

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a prime example of an established institution adapting to the modern educational environment. It’s refreshing to see such a contemporary brand identity. It would have been very easy for the RSC to ‘play it safe’ and design something that plays heavily on the ‘Royal’ aspect of their brand. But they have been quite daring and created something completely new. The use of the big ‘C’ in its layered blocks is eye-catching and it creates real impact.

The RSC have also been bold in their use of an engaging colour palette, although I don’t understand from just looking at the logo what each colour represents. It will be interesting too see how the different coloured logos are used.

It’s important that the RSC apply this new identity to all of their collateral and communications. And they should do it as quickly as possible. Already looking at the new logo on their website, there appears to be a disconnect with the rest of the site. Only by bringing the new brand identity to life across all of their communications will it truly to be successful and firmly cement its place as a modern educational provider.