CLAPA

Every day in the UK, three babies are born with a cleft, and one in 700 babies will be affected, with lifelong implications for feeding, speech, hearing, dental health and wellbeing. Founded in 1979 by parents and healthcare professionals, Cleft Lip and Palate Action (CLAPA) is the UK’s leading cleft charity, providing trusted information, emotional support and community connections for people affected by cleft from pregnancy through adulthood.

CLAPA works closely with specialist NHS Cleft Teams, research organisations and a national community of more than 20,000 parents, patients and health professionals. CLAPA offer everything from specialist baby bottle services to online groups, events, an adult conference and ‘Camp CLAPA’ weekends for young people.

As an independent charity receiving no NHS or government funding, CLAPA relies on donations, grants and partnerships to continue its vital work. So, how it shows up in the world really matters. When CLAPA approached us, their brand no longer reflected the scale, ambition and lifetime nature of their impact, despite being well‑known, well‑loved and highly respected within the cleft community and beyond. We saw an opportunity to help them tell a clearer, more confident story. A story that matched the depth of what they do – and to do it in a way that felt optimistic, human and unmistakably theirs.

CLAPA’s existing identity – centred on a child‑like, smiley‑faced logo that had represented the charity for over 40 years – carried deep recognition and affection. However, it was increasingly dated and, crucially, off‑putting to some adults born with a cleft who were seeking support. The organisation had grown from a modest “association” into a national charity offering unique lifetime support to people directly and indirectly affected by cleft, yet the brand still suggested something smaller, niche and primarily for children.

CLAPA needed a brand that matched their ambition and clearly communicated their purpose. It also needed to raise their profile with new audiences—from new parents at the point of diagnosis to adults who had never accessed support, as well as younger supporters, funders, and trusts and foundations not directly affected by cleft. At the same time, it was vital that we didn’t alienate or dilute the equity they had built with their existing community of families, NHS teams and researchers, for whom the current identity was deeply familiar.

The core challenge was to move CLAPA from a modest, somewhat child‑centric association to a clearer, unapologetic and confident charity – without losing warmth, approachability or the sense that they are “there for a lifetime, not just the moment”.

We began by asking simple but searching questions: who is CLAPA really for, what makes their support so distinctive, and how should that feel across a lifetime with cleft? Working closely with CLAPA’s team and drawing on lived experience within our own studio, we sharpened their story so it could work harder for both the people they serve and the partners they need to reach.

We reframed CLAPA from a modest, niche association into the only UK cleft charity that understands, empowers and champions people with cleft, their families and networks, wherever they are on their journey. From this, we developed a brand platform that rewrites the story of cleft and makes CLAPA’s role unmissable, anchored in the promise “we’re there for the lifetime, not just the moment”, with an unapologetic and optimistic positioning of “championing difference” and a personality we defined as the resilient optimist. This strategic clarity gave us a considered foundation for design and language, ensuring every decision – from typography to photography – worked hard to express lifetime support, confidence and joy without tipping into pity or sentimentality.

Throughout, we stayed inquisitive and collaborative, testing thinking with CLAPA to protect the trust they had earned over decades, while opening up new, bolder ways for them to show up in the world.

Translating strategy into design, we created a new visual identity that is bolder, more vibrant and more confident, while still unmistakably CLAPA. We combined two typefaces to create a bespoke CLAPA display font with thread‑like curves, visually representing the thread of lifetime support that weaves in and out of an individual’s life at whatever point they need it.

This “thread for life” idea was inspired by surgical thread used in the first operations to close a cleft, and is reflected in the new logo – particularly in the L and P – bringing equal emphasis to both “Lip” and “Palate” and signalling a more modern, precise expression of who CLAPA is.

We refreshed the colour palette to inject energy and self‑expression while retaining the core blue that holds so much recognition and equity within the community.

Photography was reshaped around dynamic, real‑life images of CLAPA service users that show cleft in a positive light, avoiding any intentional evocation of pity or sadness and instead celebrating individuality and togetherness. Alongside the visual system, we supported a significant shift in name – from The Cleft Lip and Palate Association to Cleft Lip and Palate Action – better reflecting the charity’s proactive, campaigning role as the voice of the UK cleft community.

The refreshed brand has positioned CLAPA for its next chapter of growth, giving the organisation a clear, confident foundation to speak with greater impact and consistency. While the rebrand has only recently launched, it has already equipped CLAPA with a cohesive identity and narrative that clearly communicates their unique role as a lifetime support charity, strengthening understanding across audiences old and new.

Early internal and community response has been overwhelmingly positive, with the brand resonating strongly with those at the heart of CLAPA’s work while creating clearer cut-through for future supporters, partners and funders. The new platform provides CLAPA with the tools, confidence and flexibility to raise awareness, engage new audiences and grow long-term support, ensuring the charity is better prepared than ever to champion people affected by cleft for a lifetime.

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