Charting a clearer course for sustainable fisheries

The Situation

Since 1988, the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA) has brought together national fish and seafood trade associations from the world’s major fishing nations. Its members represent countries that harvest more than 85 percent of the globe’s fish, giving the coalition real weight in conversations about sustainable fisheries management and global food security.

But ICFA’s public presence hadn’t kept pace with its influence. The existing logo, a small globe icon paired with a long line of text, was hard to read at small sizes, awkward to place vertically, and easy to mistake for any number of other international organizations. There were no brand guidelines in place to keep future materials consistent. And ICFA had no website at all: no place to explain who its members were, what the coalition stood for, or how to get in touch.

That gap mattered because of who ICFA needed to reach. Its most important audiences, government bodies and international organizations like the UN, CITES, and the FAO, needed to see a coalition that looked as credible and organized as the industry it represented. Without a strong identity or a public home online, ICFA was leaving that first impression to chance.

The Goal

Baytek’s job wasn’t only to design a nicer logo. It was to give ICFA a full identity and website that could carry the weight of its mission: sustaining oceans and nourishing the world.

Success meant:

• A logo and visual identity that felt professional, global, and instantly recognizable, at any size and in any orientation
• Clear brand guidelines that set a consistent standard for every future piece of ICFA communication
• A brand statement, grounded in ICFA’s own words, that captured why the coalition exists and where it’s headed
• A new website that speaks first to the government bodies, international organizations, and fishing industry members ICFA relies on most
• A foundation flexible enough to support ICFA’s work for years, not just for one launch

Most importantly, every piece needed to tell the same story: a coalition sustaining oceans and nourishing the world, one unified voice at a time.

The Approach

Starting with why ICFA exists

Before any design work began, we worked with ICFA to define its brand statement: a definition, vision, and mission that could anchor everything else. The vision, Sustaining Oceans, Nourishing the World, became the throughline for the whole project, a promise to balance biodiversity conservation, sustainable resource use, and global food security. Every decision that followed, from the logo to the website’s homepage, was built to support that same idea.

Designing a mark that works anywhere in the world

The previous logo carried real technical problems: an intricate globe icon that fell apart at small sizes, and a wordmark that was about as generic as it gets. We designed a new abstract mark instead: 16 fish-like shapes arranged in a circle, facing inward to suggest collaboration, with the overall form reading as a global symbol. Paired with a friendly light blue and a more authoritative navy, the mark needed to hold up as a full lockup or as a stand-alone icon, horizontal or vertical, in colour or in black and white. We built four official versions (horizontal and vertical, with the full name or the acronym alone) so ICFA would always have the right option for the touchpoint in front of them.

Setting guidelines that protect the brand long-term

With the identity settled, we documented it: a full set of brand guidelines covering the logo’s acceptable and unacceptable uses, a primary and secondary colour palette, typography (Okine Sans and Open Sauce Two, with Arial as a fallback), and supporting graphic elements like a wave pattern and layered circles that could frame photography or stand on their own. The guidelines gave ICFA’s team, and any future partner, a clear reference for keeping every piece of communication on brand.

Building a website around ICFA’s real audiences

Because ICFA had no existing website, we started from a planning session focused on one question: who is this for, and what do they need to do? Government bodies and international organizations ranked as ICFA’s top priority audience, followed by member associations, potential members, and media. That priority order shaped the entire information architecture: a homepage built around ICFA’s value proposition and proof points, an About section explaining who ICFA represents, a News and Resources hub for positions and publications, and a Membership section built to turn interest into action. Copy across the site was written short and scannable, in keeping with how time-pressed policymakers and industry leaders actually read online.

The Outcome

The rebrand gave ICFA a visual identity built to represent a truly global coalition: a mark that reads clearly on a business card or a conference banner, a colour palette and typography system the team can apply with confidence, and a brand statement that gives every future piece of communication the same starting point.

The website launched, giving ICFA something it never had before: a public home that explains who its members are, where the coalition stands on the issues that matter to them, and how governments, industry, and media can engage directly.

Together, the new brand and website give ICFA a more polished, professional presence, one built to reach a wider range of decision makers with the same clarity and credibility the coalition brings to its work on the water.

“The ICFA website has given the organization a stronger, more professional voice on the global stage. It better reflects who we are, makes our work more accessible, and has become an important tool for engaging members, policymakers, and stakeholders around the world.”

Morgan Bell
ICFA Secretariat