‍General principles ‍

What kind of organisation are we? What do we do? What do we stand for, care about? And how do others perceive us? 

The first three questions are at the heart of what makes us tick. But if that’s not how we’re perceived, we may lose influence, trust and thereby the space to do more good work. The last question above is italicised because it is, in essence, what these guidelines seek to address.

Now that the Trust has taken over the running of Crystal Palace Park, communications with the local community, stakeholders and partners are at a premium. We will be many things to many different people in many different contexts: we’re multifaceted, just like individual people. Nevertheless, across our diverse communications we can present ourselves in a self-consistent, concerted fashion.

Accordingly, the aim of these guidelines is to promote communications that are:

• recognisably ‘us’ (this helps us establish and develop relationships and dialogue);
• clear, clean, and concise (the attention span of our audiences is limited);
• friendly, open and transparent (the embodiment of our charitable mission);
• authoritative, accountable, reliable and precise (to promote confidence);
• efficient, effective and timely (using our limited resources wisely).
  

Key points to remember:

• think of our communications as an ongoing dialogue, not a series of one-offs;
• our origins are as a community group, which is core to our ethos and principles, but now that we are running the park full time we must be seen to be professional and effective in representing the best interests of the park and its users, so we must look and sound the part;
• we should define the audiences for all our communications clearly and, where possible, aim to measure the success of each outreach.

Making the most of our brand assets

We already have many brand assets: re-usable resources and repeatable processes that help us to present, structure and formulate the Trust’s communications, in line with our brand values and the aims and objectives of the Trust more generally. These will range from the highly visual (logotypes, etc), to the verbal (key messages, etc). 

Our brand assets will broadly help us fulfil these aims by providing: 

• resources that help us deliver distinctive, clear, engaging and consistent communications that project our personality, or brand; 
• processes that provide a focus and framework for these communications, offering ease-of-use, efficiency and repeatability; 
• guidance that supports best practice in a manner that is appropriate to the tasks at hand.
  

Keeping it simple

We have relatively simple identity and guidelines. Through simple, unfussy implementations we afford ourselves the opportunity pay attention to detail. Such detail may be taken as evidence of care and professionalism (or vice-versa).

With all of these, a view needs to be taken as to appropriateness, both in terms of our intentions and in our ability to implement them. Try to work within the established realms of our identity and design. Remember that reinventing the wheel can be costly and counter productive.

Please see the list of topics below for further information on the main principles and starting points for our communications.