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Xplode to Youth Leads UK – Your Questions Answered

3 minute read

We have a vision of a country where youth leads. A country where young people feel listened to, part of their communities and ready to make a change because when youth thrive, so does society.

In 2011, we set out to challenge the negative stereotypes of young people in the media – we were often seen as the enemy and 76% of headlines about young people were negative. 8 years on, we’ve achieved a lot: 

  • Positive attitudes towards young people have increased; 
  • Over 5,000 teens have been upskilled and; 
  • Helped to embed meaningful youth voice amongst public sector organisations. 

Xplode Magazine will rebrand to Youth Leads on September 13, 2019. Here, we aim to answer the frequently asked questions about our exciting rebrand.

Why the new identity?

As a way to future-proof the organisation we have sought to create a brand that is universally understood to all key audiences: young people, adults, statutory services and funders. Because we are no longer just a magazine, we needed an identity to reflect everything else that we do.

How did you arrive at the new identity?

We consulted our amazing volunteers, young trustees and supporters to decide on the name and the visual identity. The new name and logo accurately reflects everything that we’re about. We want to see more young people take the lead and we want to see society offering more opportunities for young people to lead.

Is it just a new name and logo – Are you going to be changing what you do?

The new name and logo set the foundations for what we’re doing and this rebrand also gave us a chance to look at what we deliver. For the moment, we’re not changing what we do – instead we’re adding to what we do. We will continue to publish the magazine, run our successful volunteering programme and influence decision making across society and we’ll be adding exciting new programmes that help get more young people ready to take part in leadership opportunities and serve as charity Trustees and School Governors.

What happens to the name Xplode Magazine?

The organisation will be known as Youth Leads and our publication, Xplode Magazine will sit under that – so we’re keeping the name for the magazine!

How do you describe yourselves now?

We describe ourselves now as ‘Youth Leads – the charity supporting more young people to take a lead in their communities.’

We will make it clear that Xplode Magazine is ‘Published by Youth Leads’

Is there anything I need to do because of the rebrand?

Apart from updating your records to reflect the new name, no. We’ll be sending a number of reminders over the next few months.

How much was spent on the rebrand?

We’re really thankful to Think EQ, a Bolton-based design and branding agency who co-designed the new identity with our young people – this meant that we were able to save the money we would’ve spent on identity design. By the time the rebrand is complete, we will have spent £3,000 from our unrestricted funds on new materials.

Will you be changing your websites, email address and social media accounts?

On September 13, 2019 our new website will be youthleads.uk

We will be on Instagram and Twitter as @YouthLeadsUK

Our email addresses will change from firstname@xplodemag.co.uk to firstname@youthleads.uk but we will still be able to receive emails to our old addresses.