Your brand is how you clearly communicate who you are, what you do and why it matters. A strong brand begins with a simple, memorable mission that committee members and volunteers can confidently explain. Branding is more than a logo — it includes your colours, tone of voice and templates, creating one consistent picture across all communication.
Consistency builds credibility and recognition, supporting grants, fundraising, partnerships and membership growth.
Accessible communication ensures everyone can engage with your toy library. Use plain language, readable fonts, strong colour contrast and inclusive formats to make your branding welcoming and accessible to all.
Your brand is how you quickly and clearly communicate your toy library to the world. It helps people understand who you are, what you do, and why your work matters. Everything covered in Quality Standard 1 feeds into this.
To create that consistency, creating a Style Guide (Also called a Brand Kit) keeps all of your branding information clear, easy to access and helps create that brand recognition that builds trust in your community.
Your Mission
A strong brand begins with your mission. Your mission statement should be simple, clear and memorable. Committee members, staff and volunteers should be able to confidently explain your purpose. If they cannot, this may indicate a need to revisit or refine your mission so it is easier to understand and communicate.
Developing your brand
When taking the next steps, think of your brand as more than a logo. It reflects the larger movement your toy library is part of, supporting play, learning, connection and sustainability in your community (your mission). A strong brand invites members, volunteers, funders and partners to see themselves as part of that movement. Your brand creates one big picture about your toy library. It includes”
A logo that reflects your purpose, including how it is used
Agreed brand colours: both your primary and secondary colours. We're not talking colour wheel primary and secondary colours here; we're talking about the ones you use the most and the ones you use when you need more options.
A consistent tone of voice
Fonts: Font names, heading sizes, body sizes, colour rules
Any icons and Graphics you may use.
Consistency is essential. Your brand should be both seen and felt:
Seen in your logo, colours, templates and publications
Heard in your tone of voice
Experienced in the way your volunteers engage with families
Free or low-cost tools such as Canva or Microsoft templates can assist toy libraries to create professional, consistent materials.
Whether someone visits your website, reads about you in the local paper, attends a borrowing session or speaks with a committee member, the message should be consistent. Inconsistent messaging can reduce credibility and create confusion.
Clear branding strengthens recognition. When your toy library is easily identifiable, you spend less time explaining who you are and more time building trust. Distinct branding supports:
Grant applications
Fundraising and sponsorship
Volunteer recruitment
Partnerships with local services and councils
Member growth
A toy library with distinct branding can confidently answer three key questions:
Who are we?
What do we do?
Why is it important?
When these answers are clear and consistently communicated, your toy library is more likely to be recognised, trusted and valued within your community.
Accessible Communication
Accessible communication ensures that all members of our community regardless of language, literacy, disability or background can understand, engage with and benefit from our toy library. When creating or reviewing your branding consider how accessible your branding is. Consider whether:
Your website and printed materials use plain language
Colours meet contrast accessibility standards
Fonts are easy to read
Information is available in inclusive formats where appropriate
Here are some website that you can use to help determine if your branding is accessible.
• HTTPS://www.stylemanual.gov.au
• https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
Brand Templates
Once you have developed your Style Guide, it's really handy to create templates that you know you will use repeatedly.
Things like:
Letterhead
Social Media Tiles
Email Signatures
Email Templates
Event Poster Template
Sponsor/Grant Recognition Tile
New Toy Alert Tile
Updated:
5 Mar 2026