40 years of brilliant work, but no words to describe it – until now
Christian Youth Enterprises (a sailing and activity centre on England's south coast) thought they knew who they were. After nearly 40 years, they had a mission statement: Share the gospel, enable people to develop, equip Christians to be disciples. Sorted.
Except when Mark Sheldrake, Centre Director, attended training on measuring impact, he had a stark realisation: "That's a mission statement, not a vision. We don't have values. We don't know what the outcome should look like."
The uncomfortable truth? They'd never been able to succinctly articulate who they were.
"I knew what CYE was all about but found we didn't have words to describe it," Mark admits. "We'd stumble through it – oh, we're the sailing centre, the Christian good place, there are trainees... I could never really land it."
This clarity gap showed up everywhere, particularly online:
- Website stuck in the "dark ages" – cluttered, embarrassing
- Built by multiple people over time, it had lost all coherence
- Out-of-date information and hard-to-follow instructions
- People kept calling with questions the site should have answered
CYE had expanded beyond traditional sailing - assault courses, tunnelling, family faith weekends, leadership training – but had no language to explain what connected it all.
When legacy funding became available, they were ready to scrap the website and start again. But they were about to discover the website was just a symptom of a much deeper problem.
What Upshot Did
Brand foundations first
When CYE came asking for a website, we said: "Ok, but we start with your brand." Through collaborative workshops, we articulated four brand pillars that captured CYE's essence: Perfectly Imperfect (welcoming everyone as they are), Deeply Championing (building people up for the long run), Wholeheartedly Joyful (going all in with playfulness and energy), and Genuinely Compelling (creating magnetic, transformative experiences).
"The process felt incredibly safe," says Mark. "There was a lot of listening – questions that teased out who we are. We wrestled with words until we found the right ones."
A bold visual evolution
With brand clarity in place, we evolved their visual identity.
This required courage. Their logo had been in place for ages. It frustrated them, but people were attached. The original brief was evolution, not revolution. But it was clear the old look was not only limiting their creativity, it represented a version of themselves that they'd now outgrown and re-articulated.
The new direction was bolder than anyone expected, but it matched who CYE actually is. A new suite of complementary colours were required to feel Wholeheartedly Joyful, and uneven typography represented Perfect Imperfection. We designed a custom pattern graphic full of shapes converging on a central point to point towards something magnetic and compelling and the full design system was built to add flexibility, personality and practicality for the team rolling it out.
A website that works
The old website was beyond out-of-date – cluttered, embarrassing, stuck in the "dark ages" with information nobody could find and a user experience that didn't reflect what CYE is actually like.
We designed and built a new site on Webflow that's professional, intuitive, and actually enjoyable to use.
"Within half a second, visitors understand what CYE is about," says Mark. "The old one was embarrassing. The new one is something we're proud to share."
The site works across all their audiences – schools booking residential trips, families finding weekend activities, young adults exploring leadership opportunities – with clear pathways for each.
The Impact
The transformation changed how CYE operates and how they're perceived:
Confidence and clarity
Staff can now articulate who CYE is and why they exist. "Everyone is pulling in the same direction really confidently," says Mark. The brand language shows up everywhere – recruitment, performance management, sessions with young people, strategic decisions.
"I could hang my performance management tools off those things now," says Mark. "I could change how we recruit, how we do appraisals."
Professional credibility
The old website was embarrassing. The new one is something they're proud to share with funders, schools, and families. "It just looks so professional," says Mark. Parents, teachers, and young people can now find what they're looking for – and actually enjoy using it.
Authentic buy-in
Because CYE wrestled through the brand work themselves – exploring terms, testing words, discarding what didn't quite fit – the values feel genuinely theirs. "We lived that wrestling so that now when we talk about it with anyone, it's in our blood," says Mark.
The language lands right because they worked for it. "Once you've articulated those things, you can't bear to be without them. It would pain me to see that go."
Why this matters for charities like CYE
Most organisations know what they do inside out. But knowing what you do isn't the same as articulating why it matters – or capturing the magic that makes you remarkable.
CYE had run brilliant programmes for 40 years. They could list activities, recite their mission statement, describe their facilities. But when it came to explaining what connected it all, or why families chose them over other activity centres, the language wasn't there. The magic got lost in translation.
What changed for CYE:
- Wrestling through brand foundations gave them words for things they'd always felt
- Clear values became decision-making tools (recruitment, appraisals, strategy)
- Their refreshed visual identity finally matched their bold organisation
- The brand new website gave them confidence to share their story
Getting crystal clear on who you are isn't cosmetic. It's strategic infrastructure. CYE can now expand their reach, demonstrate impact to funders, and welcome new audiences because they can finally articulate the magic they've had all along.
