United Utilities Group PLC is a water and wastewater company serving around eight million people and businesses in the North West of England. The company was founded in 1995 through the merger of North West Water and NORWEB, and by the end of 2001 the earlier North West Water and NORWEB branding had been phased out in favour of the single United Utilities brand. [1]
Design and History
In 2016, Manchester-based creative agency Music completed a brand refresh for United Utilities. The project involved refining the company’s brand strategy and applying it to guidelines and key touch-points, ahead of a new five-year business plan. Music’s creative director Adam Rix described the goal as “organically evolving and refining” the UU brand, with a focus on making it “a brand about people not pipes.” [2]
The refresh introduced new photography centred on people, an illustrative style intended to establish clearer connections with people’s lives, a typeface described as “contemporary and accessible,” and clear, succinct messaging. The work was applied across customer and employee communications, construction site signage, and the interior design of UU’s Integrated Control Centre at Lingley Mere in Warrington. [2]
Meaning and Symbolism
The United Utilities corporate brand guidelines specify a distinctive blue and green colour palette. A design case study from Parker Design, which produced materials for United Utilities following the corporate guidelines, references “the distinctive corporate blue and green colours” used in the brand’s visual system. [3]
Typography and Design
As part of the 2016 brand refresh, Music introduced a new typeface for United Utilities. According to Music creative director Adam Rix, the typeface was chosen to feel “contemporary and accessible,” supporting the broader goal of clearer, more transparent communications. [2]
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