The Environment Agency. A brand new way forward.
Role: Art Director. Agency: Storycatchers
Context
The Environment Agency needed a clearer and more consistent identity that could help restore trust, build pride and unify communications across the organisation. Under constant scrutiny from the public and politicians, the Environment Agency’s comms had become inconsistent, reactive and often impersonal. The goal was to create a cohesive photographic style and brand narrative that would help internal teams communicate the truth of what the Environment Agency really does: quietly, expertly and often unseen.
This project was about empowering people within the Agency to tell their story honestly, confidently and with consistency.
Creative Strategy and Direction
I led the development of a new photographic and visual style for the Environment Agency. This was a strategic, long-term approach to how the organisation represents itself rather than a single campaign.
The work was rooted in the Agency’s mission and values of care, protection, collaboration and transparency. From this, we established a set of guiding creative principles:
Authenticity over perfection – show real people doing real work in real conditions, because truth builds credibility.
Action over stagnation – a focus on activity, purpose and progress rather than posed or polished imagery which feels fake and engineered.
Micro, mid and macro – combine detailed close-ups with mid range action shots and expansive landscapes to show the care, the action and the scale of the Environment Agency’s work.
Balance – represent environmental challenges alongside optimism and recovery.
Reportage, not corporate – use a documentary tone that feels human, relatable and true.
These principles formed the foundation for all future photography and visual decision-making, creating a shared creative language that connected internal photographers, designers and communicators across the Agency.
A central part of my role was supporting the Agency’s own people to elevate their photography and storytelling.
I developed practical frameworks, tonal image guidance and image selection checklists to helps teams improve their visual storytelling making it more strategic and purposeful, for example by creating sequences of photography using the micro, mid and macro rule creates a tangible story in the audience’s mind.
Empowering internal teams
Integration with Brand Narrative
The photographic direction was developed alongside a refreshed brand narrative that aimed to align everyone in the organisation behind a single, confident story: who the Environment Agency is, what it stands for and why its work matters.
By pairing this narrative with clear and emotive visuals, the Agency can now speak with one voice and present a more confident and coherent identity to the public, stakeholders and government.
The Brand Book
To bring everything together, we created a beautifully designed brand book that captures the tone, vision and visual standards of the refreshed identity.
The book showcases the new photography style in action and demonstrates best practice for how the Agency can visually express its purpose, from flood management and biodiversity restoration to lab analysis and community collaboration.
It celebrates the often unseen work that the Environment Agency carries out every day and gives staff the tools and inspiration to share those stories with confidence and consistency.
Outcome
The result was a unified and authentic visual identity that redefined how the Environment Agency communicates both internally and externally.
By shifting focus from polished perfection to truthful action and embedding a consistent photographic language across the organisation, the Agency was able to:
Strengthen public trust through honesty and transparency.
Build internal confidence and cohesion in how it tells its story.
Empower teams to produce imagery that feels real, grounded and human.
This work was never just about improving photography. It was about helping the Environment Agency speak proudly and truthfully about the critical work it does to protect the environment and the communities it serves.