Fight for Sight, which funds scientific research and social change projects for people who are blind or vision-impaired, has changed its logo as part of a rebrand that has a focus on accessibility.

The rebrand includes a new logo and visual identity that the charity’s chief executive, Keith Valentine, said was “aesthetic, accessible, and paired with a distinctive tone of voice, which denotes an optimistic future for us as a charity”.

The charity said its rebrand was a “wrapper for an ambitious five-year strategy” that evolved from its merger with The Vision Foundation in April last year.

It said the new brand would “act as a vehicle for us to share a message about the urgent need to better fund scientific research into the understanding, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of eye disease”. 

The new logo represents a pupil and an eyelid curved below it. Sarah Kidner, head of communications and external affairs at Fight for Sight, said the upward curve “also represents arms outstretched”.

She said: “The upward movement has a sense of positivity, optimism and inclusion that speaks to the core of our brand values.”

The charity’s rebrand also includes a new tagline: “Save sight. Change lives.”

Valentine said that tagline was the charity’s “north star” throughout the rebrand process.

He said: “When you receive a diagnosis of vision loss, you face two profound questions: Can this be stopped? How will I live my life?

“Our organisation is uniquely placed to answer both positively. ‘Save sight. Change lives’ encapsulates that vision without using jargon.”

The charity chose its font, National, to make sure there was a clear distinction between the letters “i” and “l” and its colour palette, which includes dark navy and aqua, was chosen to meet accessibility guidelines.

The brand was co-designed in partnership with the design agency Studio Texture and the accessibility and inclusive design strategist Gareth Ford Williams. The charity spent a total of £66,000 on the rebrand – which it said represented about 1 per cent of its planned charitable spend for this financial year.

Kidner said accessibility was “at the heart of this rebrand”, adding that Studio Texture brought onboard an accessibility expert to ensure the new identity was inclusive. 

The charity said it also consulted people who are blind and vision-impaired at key stages of its brand development and had the support of its executive group, half of whom are personally impacted by sight loss.

When the charity first revealed its logo, it was also embroidered on a cushion so vision-impaired colleagues could feel and envision its shape, Kidner said.