Fusion energy might just be the key to an entirely new era of limitless, clean power – and the team at Among Equals had the daunting task of shaping that future with a brand to match. In this exclusive interview, Co-Founder and Strategy Director Ollie Burch reveals how his agency tackled the colossal challenge of repositioning STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) with an identity as bold as the groundbreaking science behind it.
From capturing the star-like energy of fusion itself to channelling space-age inspirations like NASA mission patches, Ollie shares a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process that could inspire generations to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow’s most ambitious energy revolution.
What was the brief for the rebrand?
STEP (short for Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) is a UK led, world-leading programme to develop fusion energy, and scale it. Essentially building an entire new industry that will provide virtually unlimited, safe, low carbon energy. If we crack fusion power, it will be a huge breakthrough for mankind.
The client wanted a brand that would match that level of ambition and excitement. The project involves a lot of very complex science and technology. They needed to find a way to simplify this complexity into a clear, compelling brand that would resonate with and excite diverse audiences - which is where we came in.
Describe the purpose of the brand and its target audience
STEP is an all-new organisation, a partnership between government and industry, so it needed an all-new brand. The target audience is initially people who will be working in and with the fusion industry; engineers, physicists, project managers, investors and similar B2B and expert audiences.
In the longer-term fusion has revolutionary potential and could grow to be a very large industry, so there is a need to have a wider appeal to the general public - particularly to young people interested in the sciences who might be encouraged to pursue a career in fusion.
What was your thinking behind the rebranding solution?
The key thinking behind the rebrand was to capture the incredible ambition of STEP’s mission while making it comprehensive and inspiring. We also wanted to temper that ambition with a sense of pragmatism and practicality. There is a lot of hard work to be done to make fusion power a reality.
We wanted the brand to reflect the program’s ambition and forward-thinking technology by using clear visual cues and accessible language that captured the essence of fusion in a way that lots of different audiences would understand.
What was the biggest challenge? How did you overcome it?
Fusion is enormously complex, and STEP is a complex project in itself. Multiple stakeholders, multiple audiences, a complex rollout and development. Turning all of that into a simple visual identity and messaging that would work for a wide audience is a potentially daunting challenge.
Also, none of it exists yet! Assembly of the STEP plan won’t start until the 2030s as there are so many engineering and technology details to work through first, so there isn’t much in the way of potential photography to include in the brand.
We honed in on the aspects everyone can understand and be excited about - the sheer ambition of STEP and the shared mission the people working on it feel. That, along with some elements from the technology, gave us the core of the brand which is pretty with greater complexity behind it for those audiences that need it.
What visual influences fuelled your solution?
We took inspiration from space exploration and other ambitious tech brands from past eras like NASA and Concorde. This is where the idea for STEP’s ‘mission patches’ came from, which were inspired by the badges worn by astronauts. Each patch uses STEP’s distinct colours and descriptors to celebrate the teamwork and shared mission driving the project.
The other big source of inspiration is fusion itself. The logo, typography and colour palette are all inspired by different aspects of fusion and the planned STEP power plant. You can see this very clearly in the emblem. It’s an abstract S with a star at its heart.
The curves of the S echo the shape of the “tokamak” at the heart of the planned STEP fusion energy plant, and the star at the middle is a reference to how fusion power works. Fusion is the process that powers the sun and other stars, the STEP reactor will be recreating that process.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
Projects like this are rare - and STEP marks a return to the sort of scientific ambition of the Apollo missions. Just as kids wear NASA t-shirts today, we hope the STEP brand will have that same level of iconicity to inspire and excite future generations. Ultimately, we want the brand to be a rallying point for the fusion energy movement.
How do you ensure consistency in brand messaging and visual identity across various channels and touchpoints?
Both the brand messaging and visual identity centre around STEP’s mission to establish the UK as a leader in next-generation technology. Its tagline, ‘The boldest endeavours start with practical steps,’ alongside visual emblems such as the mission patches, work together to celebrate the teamwork and ambition driving the project.
Can you discuss any innovative or unconventional approaches you took in developing the rebranding solution?
We worked very closely with the client to reference certain technical aspects of fusion in the brand. We wanted the visual identity of the brand to defy typical energy brand conventions but ensure there was a strong logic behind that defiance.
As well as the space age inspirations we also have a bold palette with pink and blues taken directly from colours in a tokamak fusion reactor. This took quite a lot of technical conversations with technicians working on STEP!
We also sourced ideas for the brand from engineers and others working on STEP. There was an incredibly enthusiastic response to this with dozens of ideas from sketches on napkins up to quite well realised concepts to help us create a brand that reflected the work they are doing.
Can you share any behind-the-scenes anecdotes or memorable moments from the rebranding project?
The energy and enthusiasm of the team behind STEP is incredible. People have been working on Fusion as a theoretical science for decades, but now it feels like fusion as a practical power source is within reach.
The STEP team’s attitudes reflect that - huge ambition and enthusiasm, but also very practical mindsets knowing that it won’t all be straightforward and there is a lot of hard work to be done over quite a long period of time. We left our immersion process with them inspired and determined to produce a brand that would reflect all of that.
The first creative presentation of the route that went on to become the STEP brand identity was a big meeting with a lot of stakeholders present. When we got to this route in the deck the response was instant and palpable. There was a unanimous and incredibly enthusiastic agreement that this was the right route for the brand.
