New Economy Hub (African Climate Foundation)
Client: African Climate Foundation
Period: 2023
Sustainable development
01 The sneak-peek
A brand for the economy South Africa needs next
The African Climate Foundation needed a brand for its new entity, the New Economy Hub. BBA Liminal built one — an Afro-futurist identity, animated for movement, launched at COP28 to make the case for a decarbonised economy and a just society for South Africa.
02 The liminal moment
The New Economy Hub exists to imagine, and argue for, a different future: a decarbonised economy and a just society for South Africa. That work sits squarely on a threshold — between the carbon economy the country has and the one it will need next — and it asked for a brand that could make that future feel not only necessary but possible.
The African Climate Foundation tasked BBA Liminal with developing the brand for the new entity, ready for its launch at COP28. It had to support the Hub's mission, feel related to its mother brand without disappearing into it, and carry a sense of optimism — a positively framed vision of the future rather than the usual register of climate alarm. We developed the identity along with a website, social media profiles and print collateral for the launch.
03 — The transformation
We made it an extension of the mother brand. The New Economy Hub is its own entity, but it had to feel of the African Climate Foundation. We achieved that with a related, extended colour palette — distinct enough to stand alone, familiar enough to belong.
We pictured a hopeful future. We developed an illustration style rooted in Afro-futurism, picturing the decarbonised economy the Hub hopes to see in South Africa — making an optimistic future visible, and specifically African.
We gave a movement brand movement. To carry the brand's spirit of action and momentum, we animated the brand mark for digital applications — energy and engagement built into the identity, so a movement brand actually moves.
04 The craft
A vision of the future, made to feel possible
Afro-futurist, optimistic and in motion: an extended palette that ties the Hub to the African Climate Foundation, an illustration language picturing a decarbonised South Africa, and an animated mark that carries the spirit of a movement.
Brand & communications strategy
Audiovisual & motion
Publication & editorial design
Brand identity design
Brand platform development
Positioning & narrative
