Justified Studio on its work for The Earthshot Prize

Urgent times demand urgent action. In the face of the climate emergency, The Earthshot Prize is a rallying cry for global action. Founded by Prince William in 2020, the global environmental award – rewarded to five winners each year – invites innovators to repair the planet by tackling one of five Earthshots – Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate. If achieved by 2030, these simple yet ambitious goals will repair the planet before the damage is irreversible.

London-based creative agency Justified Studio, tasked with tackling the rebranding of such a pivotal and prestigious initiative, understood that the identity had to be as ambitious as the mission itself – “compelling, enduring, and adaptable.” It had to tread the careful balance of conveying urgency and impact and, as Design Director Will Whiting explains, reflect the gravity of the mission while ensuring accessibility and clarity, making complex ideas feel actionable. “Our design approach was guided by the need to balance prestige with approachability – creating a system that feels authoritative yet inspiring,” he tells us. “We developed a brand identity that amplifies the ambition of the Prize while remaining adaptable for different audiences, from world leaders to grassroots innovators.”

At the centre of it all is, fittingly, the world. A globe motif acts as a unifying symbol (as well as a framing device across various touchpoints), representing the challenge’s magnitude and the collective effort required to address it.

With a sense of momentum, Justified Studio designed it as a dynamic, evolving mark (rather than a static emblem) featuring a motion system emphasising the Prize’s global reach. “It works on both a macro and micro level,” Whiting notes, “zoomed out, it reflects the vast, interconnected systems that shape our planet; zoomed in, it highlights the role of individuals within this network of changemakers. This dual perspective is crucial to The Earthshot Prize’s mission – showing that while the challenges are global, every individual action contributes to meaningful change.” Inspired by natural systems and scientific advancements, the animations’ movements are fluid yet structured. Transitions expand and contract, reflecting how local innovations can ripple out into global change.

For the typography, the studio opted for Grilli Type’s GT America as not only the wordmark typeface but the entire typographic system. “As a contemporary reinterpretation of classic American and Swiss grotesques,” says Whiting, “it carries both the gravitas of a prize with global significance and the clarity needed for broad accessibility.”

Functionally, its range of weights and styles was the perfect pick for maximum flexibility across all touchpoints. As Creative Director Josh Ogden notes, this range allows for a seamless transition between bold, attention-grabbing statements and refined, informative text, including engaging headlines and legible body copy, “engaging audiences across different platforms, languages, and levels of formality.”

Scalability was a key consideration of the design process, where it had to accommodate everything from high-profile global events to hyper-local initiatives, from large-scale organisations to individual changemakers. With a flexible typographic and layout system and a “clean, quiet” design direction, the look allows the groundbreaking work of Prize Winners and Finalists to take centre stage while ensuring longevity and room for evolution for the brand itself. “The Earthshot Prize is about amplifying solutions, not overshadowing them,” says Ogden. “By stripping back unnecessary visual noise, we created a space where stories of innovation and impact can shine. This ensures that whether a winner is a multinational enterprise or a solo innovator, their story is given equal weight and visibility.”